640 THE AMEBIC AN NATURALIST [Vol.XUV 



THE MAMMALS OF COLORADO 

 Colorado Mammals. 1 — About seven years ago I called on Mr. E. 

 R. Warren at Colorado Springs, and saw his collection of mam- 

 mals, then recently begun. It was a small affair, easily laid out 

 on the parlor table. Since then, Mr. Warren has labored un- 

 ceasingly, visiting many different parts of Colorado, and has 

 accumulated an immense series of skins. The collection soon out- 

 grew its original quarters, and is now housed in a special build- 

 ing, in numerous cabinets which are already overcrowded. 

 While mainly a Colorado collection, it includes many species 

 from other parts of the country, obtained in exchange. Mr. 

 Warren has not only collected all these materials for taxonomic 

 investigations, but has paid much attention to the habits of the 

 animals, and in particular has secured a splendid set of photo- 

 graphs showing them in their native haunts. The logical out- 

 come of all this excellent work, a book on Colorado mammals, 

 has just appeared. It contains descriptions of all the species 

 Mnd subspecies known to inhabit I he state, with numerous illus- 

 trations, showing the living animals and the skull of each genus. 

 It is so far technical that it contains exact descriptions and all 

 other details needed for precise classification and identification, 

 but each form is also discussed in a popular manner, often with 

 entertaining anecdotes. Heretofore the study of Colorado mam- 

 mals has seemed too difficult for any one not a specialist, but 

 with the aid of this book it is made easy for any intelligent per- 

 son, or as easy as such a subject, from its nature, can be. The 

 only regret I have about the work is that there is not more of it: 

 I should have liked a chapter on fossil mammals (especially of 

 the later periods), and one on parasites of mammals. 



Apart from my great pleasure in the book itself, I can not 

 other than regard the manner of its production as a good omen. 

 Mr. Warren has lately been appointed honorary curator of Col- 

 orado College Museum, but he is essentially an amateur, in the 

 best sense of that word. He resembles the numerous amateur 

 naturalists of England, who have done so much for science; like 

 them, he has labored for the love of the work, without recom- 



