Fur-Bearing Animals

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. This treatise on Fur-bearing Animals of North America, prepared by Dr. Elliott Coues, Assistant Surgeon United States Army, at present on duty with the Survey, is published as a specimen fasciculus of a systematic History of North American Mammals, upon which the author has been long engaged.

In the forthcoming work, which will be published by the Survey as soon as it can be prepared for the press, it is proposed to treat the Mammals of North America, living and extinct, in the same comprehensive and thorough manner in which the single family of the MustelidA has been elaborated.

The form of the final work, however, will necessarily be modified, in order to bring the whole matter within reasonable compass, as well as to adapt it more perfectly to the wants of the general public, which it is designed to meet The technical and critical portions of the treatise Will be condensed as far as may be deemed compatible with its distinctively scientific character, while the aspects of the subject which are of more general interest, such as the life-histories of the species and the economic or other practical relations which animals sustain toward man, will be presented in ample detail.

Other considerations have also had weight with me in deciding to publish this Monograph of the MustelidA in advance of the general History, and as a separate volume. This family of Mammals is one of special interest and importance, from an economic point of view, as all the species furnish valuable peltries, some of which, like Sable, Ermine, and Otter, are in great demand; while their pursuit is an extensive and important branch of our national industries.