INTRODUCTION 



specimens of Lynx), Lausanne Agricultural School (skull of 

 Ursus "formicarius " from the Alps), Munich (type of Spalax 

 grzecus Nehring), Berlin Agricultural High School (type of 

 Arvicola ratticeps stimmingi Nehring), Breslau (skulls of foxes), 

 Leiden (co-types of Arvicola arenarius de Selys-Longchamps), 

 Copenhagen (Mus fseroensis and small carnivores), Christiania 

 (Sorex, Evotomys, etc.), Stockholm (Swedish carnivores and 

 rodents), Cambridge (Mustela erminea ricinse, Lemrnus lemmus 

 " crassidens ") and Edinburgh (rodents from northern Scotland). 

 Private collections which have been in the same generous 

 manner placed at my disposal are those of Mr. Angel Cabrera, 

 of Madrid (Spanish mammals, including several types), Dr. 

 Enrico Festa, of Turin (Italian mammals), Mr. Angelo Ghidini, 

 of Geneva (Swiss and north Italian mammals), and Dr. Fernand 

 Lataste, of Cadillac-sur-Garonne, France (carnivores and micro- 

 tines). 



The total number of specimens on which this work is based 

 approximates 11,500. All those of which definite record has 

 been made are enumerated in the paragraphs headed : Specimens 

 examined.* Absence of a note to the contrary indicates that 

 all the specimens from a given locality are in the British 

 Museum. Discrepancies frequently occur between the number 

 of " specimens examined " and the number tabulated in the final 

 paragraph as forming part of the Museum collection. These 

 result from the fact that under " specimens examined " are 

 included duplicates as well as registered specimens, while only 

 the latter appear in the final lists.! 



For the purposes of this Catalogue, "Western Europe" is 

 regarded as including the continent of Europe outside the 

 frontiers of Russia; also the immediately adjacent islands, and 

 Spitzbergen, Iceland, and the Azores. The members of the 

 living mammal fauna of this region, exclusive of the cetaceans, 

 pinnipeds, and species such as Bubalus bubalis in Italy and 

 Simla sylvanus % on the Rock of Gibraltar, which certainly owe 



* In these lists 11,372 specimens are recorded. They are distributed 

 as follows : Inseotivora, 1,777 ; Chiroptera, 2,210 ; Carnivora, 877 ; Kodentia 

 Duplieidentata, 379, Rodentia Simplioidentata, 5,854 ; Ungulata, 284. 



t Certain duplicates have been transferred to the United States 

 National Museum since the lists of " specimens examined " were prepared. 

 No attempt has been made to alter the records in the lists on this account ; 

 but the U.S.N.M. numbers of such specimens are frequently to be found 

 in the Tables of cranial measurements. (All numbers above 10,000 indicate 

 specimens in Washington.) 



X For use of this name in place of " Macacus inuus," see Thomas, Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. London, 1911, pp. 125-126, March, 1911. 



