Biology_of_Mustelids_Vol_1.pdf

5
Editor's Preface
The papers collected in this volume were translated by the
Russian Translation Service of the British Library Lending Division, then
known as the National Lending Library, during 1970-71.
The selection of papers for translation reflects the editor's
own research interests, since it was made before the idea of pllblication
came up:
it is not comprehensive, and unfortunately some of the interesting
titIes quoted, in the references to those which have been done, are difficuIt
to obtain.
The additions of maps showing most of the places mentioned in the
papers, and of indices, should assist the general reader.
A bibliography
of further translations available in this field may be useful to the
specialist.
Cranial terminology has been standardised as much as possible.
Readers unfamiliar with it should consult a standard anatomical text:
I
used Gilbert (1968), in which the skull of a camivore (the cat) is very
clearly described and illustrated.
See also The Handbook of British
Mammals , edited by H.N. Southern (1964 : new edition in prep.).
The two common names, "stoat" and "ermine" are used intercba.ngea.bly
for Mustela erminea. "Emine" usually ( but not necessarily )
refers to the animal when in white winter dress, and the word may be
singular or plural (some writers add an "s").
''Weasel'' refers to Mustela
nivalis.
Russian custom is to list Soviet and foreign references separately,
and in the Soviet lists, the papers appear in order of the cyrillic alphabet,
not of the arabic of the translation.
References to Western literature
which were obviously wrong or incomplete have been corrected where possible,
although no systematic check against sources was made, nor have bibliographies
been rigorously sta.nda.rdi.sed.