Excerpt from The Land and Sea Mammals of Middle America and the West Indies, Vol. 4

In my previous volume. The Synopsis of the Mammals Of North America and the Adjacent Seas, the field covered was from the northern boundary of Mexico to and including the Arctic Ocean. The present work is supposed to contain all the Mammals Of the remaining portion of the North American continent and the con tiguous seas, from the northern boundary of Mexico to the Province of Cauca, South America. Including the coast islands, as well as those of the Bahamas and the West Indies whose fauna is not completely related to that Of South America. In the general treatment of the named forms the method adopted in the previous work has been Slightly elaborated, and brief statements of the habits Of the animals contained in the various families. And sometimes in the genera, have been given. Together with the English name for each species or race, and keys for genera. Subgenera, Species, and races whenever these were sufficiently numerous to make such analytical tables desirable. For a very large number of the Species and races it is well understood that no English names exist, and these had to be manufactured for the occasion, and are practically of little assistance for the recognition of the difierent animals: but Latin names appear to be distasteful to a small number Of the laity. And only those in the vernacular are satisfactory, and it is to aid these that this departure from the pre vious plan has been made. Numerous named species of many genera of Mammals have SO close a resemblance to each other, both in their outward covering and cranial characters. That Often it is very difficult to distinguish one from the other, and for them Keys are probably less satisfactory as a means of determining the various forms than for any other class Of animals: but it seems that there is a desire for such aids. Which to many have become necessary, and therefore an effort has been made to meet this need, which it is hoped will serve the pur pose intended. The illustrations throughout the volume comprise not only various representations Of the cranium of some selected species of nearly every genus and subgenus, as in the Synopsis, but in addition a figure is given of some species either of a family or genus. Or possibly both, as the peculiarities of the animals seemed to require for a better comprehension of their appearance in life. To those unfamiliar with the diversified forms of the many mammals dwelling within the limits embraced in this volume, these figures may be of assistance, and enable them more easily to recognize the animals whose descriptions are given in the text.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.