178 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



Critical note on Mr. J. B. Tyrrell's paper, entitled " Cata- 

 logue of the Mammalia of Canada exclusive of the Cetacea," 

 b)- Ernest E. Thompson. 



Being one of the members of the Institute who objected to tlie 

 publication of Mr. Tyrrell's paper on account of its being without 

 value as a zoological contribution, I have been asked to put my objec- 

 tions in more specific form for publication as a pai't of the Proceedings 

 and as a fitting commentary on the paper. But since a full extended 

 critique on the errors and vague generalizations of which it is chiefly 

 composed, would far exceed the limits of allotted space, and would 

 result in a paper more lengthy than the original, I will point out briefly 

 the wrong principles on which it is based and will give a few examples 

 of the matter that chiefly is i-eprehensible in the catalogue. 



The only value that a scientific paper in this field can have, must 

 come either from its new facts or from its carefully compiled and 

 collated facts, and of course in both cases absolute precision and 

 correctness are essential. 



In the case of compiled facts, it is, not merely a rule of courtesy, 

 but an inflexible law of scientific writing that all quotation and 

 assistance must be acknowledged with due credit to its proper author- 

 ity. It is hardly credible that any one Avill deny what is so fully 

 accepted by all exj^erienced writers, and yet it appears as though 

 Mr. Tyrrell had set out with the express intention of running counter 

 to these principles throughout his paper. 



Passing over without comment the general vagueness in all matters 

 relating to geography, and the annoying omission of dates in nearly 

 all references to time, I will briefly dii-ect attention to a few charac- 

 teristic paragraphs. The Panther (Felis concolor) is given as, " Found 

 in rough wooded regions in Southern Quebec, etc." If the writer 

 has any reliable records of his own for this, surely he should have 

 given them, or if he has it on other authority he should have given 



