Z A PRELIMINARY LIST OF THE 



abundant at present, were not observed by him in tbe 

 State and have probably increased in numbers since he 

 collected. Facts of this sort will become more apparent 

 when the list has been completed. It is published in its 

 incomplete condition largely for the purpose of establish- 

 ing a nucleus about which to build up a more thoronghgo- 

 ing account of the vertebrate fauna of the State. The 

 writer has given the mammals only incidental attention 

 while engaged in other work. The list is very imperfect, 

 especially in the small roden ts, shrews and the like, a 

 number of which have been observed but not studied. 

 The lists of reptiles and amphibians probably do not 

 contain more than half of our species. A good many 

 which have been collected by me in sonthern Illinois, 

 doubtless also occur on the Kentucky side of the Ohio 

 river, but I have thought it best to include no species not 

 actually taken in the State. A single month's active col- 

 lecting in the more thinly settled parts of western Ken- 

 tucky would doubtless add a number of these to the list. 

 In collecting fishes my opportunities have been better than 

 for the other groups, and I have been fortunate in having 

 the aid of work done in the State by Commissioner Mc- 

 Donald's assistants. The list will probably be found to 

 contain fully three-fourths of the Kentucky species. 



My thanks are due to the manage rs of the Cincinnati 

 Society of Natural History for the privilege of using a 

 copy of Audubon's "Birds of North America," and espec- 

 ially to Mr. Seth Hayes for courtesy shovvn me during a 

 recent visit to the library of this excellent Institution. 



MAMMALS. 



Cats (Family Felida?). 



1. Panther, Congar {Felis concolor, Linn.). 



From accounts given nie by intelligent men who 



