MAMMALS. 



53 



Relates exclusively to the fissiped Carnivora. 



"In a general way, the correlation of size with geographical distribution may be formu- 

 lated in the following propositions: 



" (1) The maximum physical development of the individual is attained where the conditions 

 of environment are most favorable to the life of the species. Species being primarily limited in 

 their distribution by climatic conditions, their representatives living at or near either of their 

 respective latitudinal boundaries are more or less unfavorably affected by the influences that 

 finally limit the range of the species .... 



" (2) The largest species of a group (genus, subfamily, or family, as the case may be) are 

 found where the group to which they severally belong reaches its highest development, or where it 

 has what may be termed its center of distribution. In other words, species of a given group 

 attain their maximum size where the conditions of existence for the group in question are the 

 most favorable, just as the largest representatives of a species are found where the conditions 

 are most favorable for the existence of the species. 



" (3) The most 'typical' or most generalized representatives of a group are found also near 

 its center of distribution, outlying forms being generally more or less 'aberrant' or specialized 

 Thus the Cervidre, though nearly cosmopolitan in their distribution, attain their greatest 

 development, both as respects the size and the number of the species, in the temperate 

 portions of the northern hemisphere. The tropical species of this group are the smallest of 

 its representatives. Those of the temperate and cold temperate regions are the largest, 

 where, too, the species are the most numerous. . . .The possession of large, branching, de- 

 ciduous antlers forms one of the marked features of the family. These appendages attain 

 their greatest development in the northern species, the tropical forms having them reduced 

 almost to mere spikes, which in some species never pass beyond a rudimentary state. ..." 

 (p. 310). 



Geographical Variation among North American Mammals, especially in re- 

 spect to size. <Amer. Nat. t X, pp. 625-627, Oct., 1876. 



Abstract of the preceding (No. 28). 



Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Kentucky. | N. S. Shaler, director. | Vol. 

 I, Part ii. | - | The American bisons, | living and extinct. | By J. A. Allen. [ 

 With twelve plates and map. | - | University press, Cambridge: | Welch, 

 Bigelow, & Co. j 1876. Also: 



Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, | at Harvard College, Cambridge, 

 Mass. | Vol. IV, No. 10. | — | The American bisons, living and extinct: | By J. A. Allen. | 

 Published by permission of N. S. Shaler, director of the Kentucky | Geological Survey. 

 With 12 plates and a map. | University press, Cambridge: | Welch, Bigelow, & Co. | 1876. 



4°, pp. i-ix, 1-246, 1 col. map, 12 pll., 1311., 2 woodcuts in text. Edition of 500 copies. 



These two publications were simultaneous, and only differ in the titles. The following 

 are the contents: — 



Title, p. i. 



Preliminary note (by N. S. Shaler), p. iii. 

 Introduction, pp. v-ix. 



Part I. 



1. Distinctive characteristics and affinities of the bisons, pp. 1-3. 



2. General historical account of the remains of extinct bisons hitherto found in North 



America, pp. 3-7. 



3. Description of the extinct species, pp. 7-31. 



4. Geographical distribution and geological position of the remains of the extinct bisons of 



North America, pp. 32-35. 



5. Belation of the existing species of bisons to the extinct species, pp. 35-36. 



6. Description of the existing species, pp. 36-70. 



Part II. 



1. Geographical distribution, past and present, of Bison americanus, pp. 71-191. 



2. Products of the buffalo, pp. 191-201. 



3. The chase, pp. 202-215. 



4. Domestication of the buffalo, pp. 215-221. 



