INTRODUCTION 



In 1950, Marshall C. Gardner (1950a, 1950b) began the first com- 

 prehensive listing of Maryland mammals, but he completed only the 

 sections dealing with marsupials, insectivores, and bats. This has been 

 the only statewide study of Maryland mammals ever undertaken, al- 

 though a number of sectional accounts have appeared, including those 

 by Goldman and Jackson (1939), Bures (1948), Hampe (1939), and 

 Bailey (1923). In addition, Mansueti (1950) treated in detail the 

 extinct and vanishing species of the State. 



The present survey originated in the mid-1950's, but intensive work 

 on it was not begun until 1962. During the course of the study, field 

 work was conducted in all parts of the State except the Allegheny 

 Mountain section. Specimens collected during this field work, and the 

 large series of Maryland mammal specimens available in the national 

 collections, form the basis for the present survey. In the "specimens 

 examined" sections of the following accounts, the specimens are in 

 the collections housed in the U.S. National Museum unless otherwise 

 noted. Abbreviations used in the text for other institutions from which 

 material has been examined are K.U. for Museum of Natural History, 

 University of Kansas, U. Mich, for Museum of Zoology, University of 

 Michigan, and U. Md. for University of Maryland. All measurements 

 given in the accounts are in millimeters. 



Several species are included in the body of the text for which there 

 are as yet no valid records for the State. These have been indicated by 

 placing the common names in parentheses. They are included because 

 of the virtual certainty that they are a part of Maryland's mammal 

 fauna. Of one of these species, a specimen was taken in West Virginia 

 only a few feet from the Maryland state line ; as for the others, Mary- 

 land contains abundant suitable habitat and they are known to occur 

 both north and south of the State. 



Distribution maps have been prepared for all land species except 

 introduced forms and certain ones that have been restocked or are 

 so widespread in distribution that they have been recorded from every 

 county in the State. On the maps, crosshatched areas represent probable 

 distribution, shaded symbols indicate specimens examined, unshaded 

 symbols indicate published records or other reports that appear to be 

 valid, and an unshaded symbol with a dot in the center indicates a type 



1 



