A handbook to the carnivora. Pt. I, Cats, civets, and mongooses / by Richard Lydekker.

  • Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A handbook to the carnivora. Pt. I, Cats, civets, and mongooses / by Richard Lydekker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    AUTHOR’S PREFACE. Among the great Order of Carnivorous Mammals the Cats will always claim the largest share of general interest, not only on account of their including some of the largest and most power- ful of all beasts of prey, but likewise from the beauty of their form, the elegance of their coloration, and the gracefulness and activity of their movements. Accordingly, in the present volume of the “Naturalist’s Library,” this group of the Order has been treated in comparatively full detail, and a large num- ber of the species illustrated by plates, whereas in the less- known group of Civets, Mungooses, &c., the amount of space devoted to each genus and species is naturally less, and the illustrations are much less numerous. In both groups every existing species hitherto described is mentioned, together with its most important synonymy; but in several instances the question of the right of a particular form to be regarded as a species, or merely as a variety, is left more or less open. In the compilation of the volume especial assistance has been derived from Mr. W. T. Elan- ford’s “ Mammals of British India,” from Professor St. George Mivart’s work on “The Cat,” and his papers on the Cats and Civets in the “Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” and also from various memoirs by Mr. Oldfield Thomas, published in the same serial. RICHARD LYDEKKER.