PREFACE. 



The present Catalogue purports to give the names and the number 

 of specimens of Mammals in the Field Columbian Museum up to 

 the date of issue. When the Author took charge of the Depart- 

 ment of Zoology, as constituted in this Institution, the collection of 

 Mammals was composed of a limited number of mounted examples 

 furnished by the Ward Natural Science Establishment of Rochester, 

 New York, many of them not freshly prepared, and nearly all with 

 unreliable data of locality, causing them to be practically of little 

 scientific value specifically, but useful to a certain degree as repre- 

 sentatives of genera. There were no mammal skins, and consequently 

 a study collection did not exist. At the present time a fair start has 

 been made, and about fifteen -thousand specimens are now in the 

 Museum collection, the major portion, as is proper, being unmounted 

 and reserved for scientific study and comparison. Knowing that the 

 value of a museum's material depends greatly upon how much is 

 available for scientific research, it has been the Author's policy to 

 restrict the number of mounted specimens to as few as would give a 

 proper conception as possible to the visitor, of the Order, Family, and 

 usually the species, represented. To go beyond this would be but 

 the production of useless repetitions, wearying to the observer and 

 profitable'[to no one. Naturally, when beginning the formation of a 

 collection, the material nearest at hand was sought, and consequently 

 the mammalian fauna of the United States occupies the largest 

 portion of the Catalogue. The Author has not, however, been un- 

 mindful of exotic forms, and as many foreign species have been pro- 

 cured as possible, rather special attention having been given to Wild 

 Horses and African Antelopes, — important and beautiful creatures 

 advancing rapidly toward extinction. Although purchases have 

 been liberally made, yet by such means the making of a collection 

 would be necessarily slow and unsatisfactory, for the main dependence 

 for achieving success and a collection at the same time is, of course, 

 work in the field. The expedition to Africa under the Author's 

 leadership produced large results, and numbers of valuable speci- 

 mens were secured, the majority being various species of Antelopes. 

 By keeping collectors constantly at work, mostly thus far in North 

 America, it has been possible to bring together a sufficiently large 

 number of specimens to constitute a nucleus for the grand collection 

 it is hoped the Museum may eventually possess, and cause it to take 



