2 
PROCEEDINGS : BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
of the study of North American land mammals to the close of the 
year 1900, and to furnish an index to the literature of the &uhjeet 
for the past fifteen years. It is not an expression of individual 
opinion ; and no I’evisionary work has entered into its preparation. 
North America, as here understood, is the entire American continent 
north of a line drawn across the Isthmus of Panama from Colon to 
the City of Panama, together with Greenland, and those islands of 
the West Indies the fauna of which is not purely South American 
in its affinities. 
In 1885 ^ Mr. F. W. True published ‘A provisional list of the 
mammals of North and Central America and the West Indian 
Islands,’ a summary of the North American mammal fauna as 
then known. To the species included in it are here added those 
since recognized, the status of which at the end of the year 1900 
had not been questioned in some recent work of definite mono¬ 
graphic character, where full synonymy and references may readily 
be consulted. Forms in regard to whose standing there is differ¬ 
ence of opinion, but which have not been treated in such a mono¬ 
graphic paper, are included ; but in cases of this kind references are 
given to the conflicting views. The sequence of groups is essen¬ 
tially that of Trouessart’s ‘ Catalogus mammalium tarn viventium 
quam fossilium ’ (Berlin, 1897-1899) with the order revei’sed to con¬ 
form with the prevalent opinion that enumeration should begin with 
the more generalized types rather than with the moi*e specialized. 
The aiTangement of species is alphabetic except in the case of 
genera that have been recently monographed; here the sequence 
adopted by the reviser is followed, and any additions made subse¬ 
quently to the publication of the revision are entered in accord¬ 
ance with their supposed affinities. Under every species and sub- 
s])ecies reference is made to the first publication of the specific or 
subspecific name. To this, when necessary, is added (a) reference to 
first use of current binomial or trinomial name, (b) in the case of 
species described before 1885, but not at that date admitted as 
valid, reference to establishment as members of the North Ameri¬ 
can fauna, and (c) reference to True’s list.^ The si)ecies included bv 
’ Proceedings of the United States National Museum, VII (1S84), j)]). 587-611 (apiien- 
dix). 1885. 
2 No attempt is made in the case of the many species which prove to have l)een com- 
posite, as understood in 1885, to apportion the name then used to each of the component 
parts as they now stand. The word ‘ part ’ in parentheses after the reference indicates 
that segregation has taken place. 
