VI 



PREFACE. 



scientific name tlie translator has chielly had 

 in view the practical aim of enabling readers 

 to identify the animal described with animals 

 exhibited in the gardens of the Zoological 

 Society of London; and accordingly, where 

 an animal is to be found in the catalogue 

 printed for the Society under the title of 

 " List of the Vertebrated Animals now or 

 lately living in the Gardens of the Zoological 

 Society of London" (eighth edition, 1883), 

 he has added the scientific name used in that 

 list, except where the animal can easily be 

 found in it by means of the popular name. In 

 other cases the names used in well-known 

 English works have been added; and ad- 

 ditional vernacular names have sometimes 

 been given from Sterndale's " Mammals of 

 India and Ceylon," Gould's " Mammals of 

 Australia," Elliott Coues' " Report upon the 

 Collections of the Mammals of the United 

 States," and other works. 



The account of the recent observations on 

 the development of the Monotremes, made 



since the writing of the German and I'Vench 

 versions of the work, has been translated from 

 manuscript corrections kindly furnished by 

 the author. 



A more serious divergence from the ori- 

 ginal will be found in the Introduction, in 

 which a few paragraphs have been inter- 

 polated by the translator, for the purpose of 

 making the context more easily understood 

 by readers who may be wholly unacquainted 

 with natural history. In making these addi- 

 tions, however, the translator has carefully 

 adhered to the sense of the writer of the 

 original work. 



The translator is likewise responsible for 

 the compilation of the Glossary, and for the 

 selection of the extracts from the works of 

 travellers and naturalists, containing narra- 

 tives of adventure and additional particulars 

 relating to the habits of the animals described. 

 These insertions are distinguished from the 

 other matter by being inclosed in brackets 

 and printed in smaller type. 



GEO. G. CHISHOEM. 



London, July, iSSj. 



