2 HOLLISTER. 



ors and travelers in the Islands, that they may be able to collect 

 intelligently and to know the important species to be sought for 

 or saved in certain localities. Doubtless hundreds of valuable 

 specimens are annually lost to science through a lack of proper 

 appreciation of the immense value of certain specimens from 

 many localities. This is especially true of the larger mammals, 

 the skulls alone of which, carefully labeled as to locality, are often 

 of the greatest importance, and might be readily saved by sports- 

 men, even though it were impossible at the time to preserve the 

 skins. 



The key to the families is purely artificial, and is based on 

 Philippine species only. Easily discerned characters, chiefly 

 external, or at least conspicuous in freshly-killed examples, are 

 used whenever possible. It has been the chief aim to avoid 

 technicalities as much as possible without destroying the work- 

 ing value of the key, that it may be serviceable to sportsmen 

 and travelers, without special study of mammalian structure. 

 The key refers to the pages in the list proper where the genera 

 and species of the family are listed; and under each genus is 

 given a brief synopsis of characters common to all the Philippine 

 species. To make them more serviceable, by the use of the 

 most conspicuous characters, these generic diagnoses, like the 

 key itself, are based solely on Philippine species and are not 

 intended for use outside the Islands. Many characters used will 

 fail in species from other regions. The list proper is supposed 

 to contain all the species described from or reported from the 

 Islands, with a reference to the original description, the present 

 generic combination, and all synonyms with type-localities in the 

 Philippines. After this, is given the type-locality of the recog- 

 nized form and a list of the islands from which it has been 

 recorded in literature, with an authority for each record. After 

 the list proper is a "Hypothetical list" of species apparently 

 erroneously reported from the Islands by Casto de Elera, a list 

 of type-localities in the Philippines, and a bibliography of papers 

 dealing with Philippine mammalogy. 



The time has not yet come to write more than a preliminary 

 list of Philippine mammal names ; and not until a thorough sur- 

 vey of the Islands is made, topotypes of all described forms 

 assembled, and general collecting carried on in all localities, will 

 it be possible to prepare a real manual of Philippine mammals. 



U. S. National Museum, July 1, 19 ii. 



