ItEPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF MAMMALS IN THE U. S. 

 NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1885, 



By Frederick W. True, Curator. 



REVIEW OF IMPORTANT ACCESSIONS. 



In importance the specimens received during this period compare fa- 

 vorably with those acquired during the previous year. None are new to 

 science, but many represent species not previously in the collection. 

 The proprietors of the great menageries of the country, and the various 

 scientific bureaus of the Government have made important contribu- 

 tions as hitherto. The number of private contributors reached twenty- 

 nine. 



TERRESTRIAL MAMMALS. 



United States. — One of the most interesting specimens of North 

 American mammals was a fairly good skin of the black-footed ferret 

 (P. nigripes), received from Mr. G. H. Ragsdale, of Gainesville, Tex. 

 A skin of Perognatlius fasciatus was obtained from the same collector. 

 The only other North American specimens of special interest were in- 

 cluded in a collection made by Mr. E. W. Nelson, in Arizona. (Ace. 

 15602.) Mention of a portion of these specimens has been made in a 

 previous report (see Museum Beport, 1884, p. 130). Among the skins 

 received this half-year were two excellent examples of Abert's squirrel 

 and two. of the Arizona squirrel (8. Aberti and 8. arizonensis). The 

 collection also contained a badger and good specimens of the coyote, 

 wolf, antelope, mule deer, &c. 



Central America and the West Indies. — From Mr. Jose C. Zeledon the 

 Museum received a skin of a black jaguar (Felis onca). (Ace. 15574.) 

 Among the spoils of the expedition of the U. S. Fish Commission steamer 

 Albatross to the island of Cozumel, Yucatan, were two peccary skins, 

 two of the coatimundi (N'asua narica), and an opossum (Didelpliys aurita). 

 (Ace. 15718.) 



"Accessions of osteological material are referred to in the report on the Depart- 

 ment of Comparative Anatomy. 



79 



