The Age of Mammals in
Europe, Asia, and North America
By HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN
A.B., SC.D. PRINCETON, HON. LL.D. TRINITY, PRINCETON, COLUMBIA, HON. D.SC.
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, HON. PH.D. UNIVERSITY OF CHRISTIANIA,
PRESIDENT AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY,
PRESIDENT NEW YORK ZOÖLOGICAL SOCIETY
ILLUSTRATED BY 232 HALF-TONE AND OTHER FIGURES,
INCLUDING NUMEROUS MAPS, GEOLOGICAL SECTIONS,
FIELD VIEWS, AND REPRODUCTIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
OF MOUNTED FOSSIL SKELETONS AND OF THE
FAMOUS RESTORATIONS BY CHARLES R. KNIGHT.
Royal 8vo $4.50 net Carriage extra
“The Age of Mammals” is not written for the palæontologist only. No zoölogist interested in mammals, birds, fishes, or reptiles can fail to find it of value. The geologist finds here the clearest exposition that has been given of the succession of geological events in the mammal-bearing continental formations of the Tertiary and Quaternary of the Western States. The anthropologist finds in the closing chapter on the Pleistocene a key to most of the problems which confront him as to the time of man’s first appearance. The botanist may refer to it for the succession and evolution of flora.
To the general reader it offers the first connected account of the history of life on the earth during the later geological epochs, a record embodying the very latest results of the active research going on in this direction at the present time. In so far as science has succeeded in piecing together the fragmentary evidence of the rocks, this volume contains glimpses into the remote past of the continental outlines, the climate, vegetation, and animal life of the epochs preceding the “Age of Man.” The text is supplemented by a very original and suggestive series of illustrations, notable among which are numerous half-tone reproductions from the famous restorations of extinct mammals by Charles R. Knight, many of which are published here for the first time. Moreover, there is appended to the volume an invaluable Classification of the Mammalia, which gives not only the systematic position but also the geologic and geographic distribution and the popular names of all the important genera of mammals, both living and fossil.
Comments on The Age of Mammals
“Students of palæontology have awaited impatiently the past few years a promised work on extinct mammals by Professor Osborn. In his ‘Age of Mammals,’ expectations have been more than realized.”—S. W. Williston, in Science, Feb. 17, 1911.
“Dr. H. F. Osborn is a great palæontologist; in this book he has gathered together the work of a life-time, and that work, besides being original and constructive, is also critical and selective. The result is a great book.” “While it is an incomparable text-book, a work of reference to the student, and, no doubt a fruitful field for the controversialist of the future, it is a work which can be read with interest and satisfaction by the ‘genial omnivore,’ as Huxley called him, the general reader.”—The Field, Jan. 7, 1911.