NORTH 



WEST 





HI — If 



EAST 



FOURTH FLOOR. 



The Collections of Carnivores, Marsupials and Small Mammals upon which 

 this Guide Leaflet is based are exhibited in the northwest quarter of Hall No. 

 406 of the East Wing, fourth floor of the Musetim. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



The collections in the Hall of Fossil ]\Iammals were gathered 

 together under direction of Professor Henry Fairfield Osbom, Curator 

 of the Department, Vice-President and Trustee of the Museum. They 

 are chiefly the result of expeditions to the various Rocky ^Mountain 

 States, where the richest localities for such specimens are found. 

 These explorations, the funds for which are provided by the generos- 

 itv of the Trustees of the Museum, have been systematically carried 

 on since 1891. The Cope Collection of Fossil Mammals, purchased in 

 1894, and various exchange collections from foreign museums, are 

 also exhibited in this hall. 



Besides the general guide to the Collection of Fossil Vertebrates, 

 re-issued in October, 1903, a series of special guides, each covering 

 one or more important zoological groups, is in course of preparation. 

 These treat of the evolution of each race of animals, and the various 

 problems and theories that are illustrated by the specimens in the 

 hall, more fully than could be done in the general guide. 



The present number treats of the Fossil Carnivores, or Flesh-eating 

 Mammals, the Marsupials, or Pouched Mammals, the Rodents, In- 

 sectivores. Bats and others, which may be grouped together as Small 

 ]\Iammals. This is the second special guide: the first, treating of the 

 Evolution of the Horse, was published in 1902. Others shortly to 

 appear are on the Titanotheres, the Elephants and the Dinosaurs. 



Editor. 



