PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT. 



ppOR many years Tomes and Alston's edition of Bell's 

 History of British Quadrupeds has been the standard 

 work on recent British Mammals, and although several attempts 

 have been made to oust it from its place, not one can be said 

 to have been entirely successful. Even the elaborately illustrated 

 work of Mr J. G. Millais is, by its very price and size, placed 

 outside the reach of the ordinary reader. 



Increasing Interest in the Study of British Zoology. 

 — The number of students of this branch of British natural 

 history has greatly increased of late years, and their progress 

 has been much impeded by the want of some more recent 

 work than Bell's. In no other branch has the growth of 

 knowledge or the change of view developed at a greater rate, 

 and yet there is no work in existence offering in convenient 

 form an authoritative summary of the information now avail- 

 able, with an indication of the lines upon which future research 

 is most needed. 



The Design of the Work. — • The present work is 

 designed to meet the above want. Its author has had its 

 production before him for over twenty years, and the book 

 has been in his hands a labour of love. During this period 

 he has been in constant touch (or correspondence) with all 

 the leading local naturalists, and received from them much 

 valuable assistance. He has consulted and critically examined 

 all printed references to his subject in scientific and periodical 

 literature, and made use of and referred to all notes of genuine 

 value. 



It was at first intended to produce merely a new edition of 

 Bell's book, but as the work proceeded this was found im- 

 possible, so great has been the advance of knowledge, so complete 

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