1898. J 107 



BRITISH AND IRISH VERTEBRATE ZOOI.OGY. 



ASketch of the Natural History [Vertebrates] of the British 

 Islands. By F. G. Afi,ai,o. Edinburgh and Lrondon, W. Black- 

 wood & Sons, 1898. Price 6^. net. 



The author of " A Sketch of the Natural History of Australia " has now 

 turned his attention nearer home and has given us the benefit of his 

 experience on British Vertebrates. There can be no doubt, that a book 

 on the lines laid down by Mr. Aflalo was wanted. In many respects, the 

 work before us indeed fulfils its purpose of giving, in concise form, an 

 introduction to the handbooks to county faunas already published. It 

 is well printed, there is a good index to the work, and the illustrations, 

 though few in number, are mostly excellent, and there are few misprints. 

 The story of the Hedgehog subsisting in the kitchen on Cockchafers (p. 37), 

 we fanc)^ comes under the latter categor}'. But according to the title of 

 the work, it purports to be a sketch of the Natural History of the British 

 Islands ; we should therefore expect to find reliable information on the 

 vertebrate animals of Ireland, as well as on those of Great Britain. In 

 this respect, however, the book is disappointing, as the author has not 

 thought fit to acquaint himself sufiiciently with Irish natural history. 

 A mere look at the bibliography will show us that Mr. Aflalo does not 

 know that a second edition of Mr. More's valuable list of Irish Birds 

 was issued ; and this edition has been in print now for eight years ! 

 When the author describes in glowing language that the huge Moose 

 browsed on the forest trees of Ireland (p. 3), he is particularly unfortunate, 

 since the " Irish Elk" (which we presume is the animal he means) was 

 certainly an inhabitant of the open country — not the forest. 



That the Irish Rat has always a white patch on the breast (p. 73), has 

 been disproved some years ago by Messrs. Clarke and Barrett-Hamilton, 

 who showed that it was present in only a small proportion of the speci- 

 mens examined. That the Harvest Mouse is "all but unknown" in 

 Ireland (p. 74) would lead one to suppose that it occurs in this country, 

 which it certainly does not. 



Any young Irish naturalist, anxious to take up the study of Reptiles 

 or Amphibia, who wishes to know are there one or more species of 

 Lizard in Ireland, only obtains the curt information (p. 302) that 

 ♦' Lizards are abundant," which is all the more unsatisfactory, as he learns 

 by experience in the field afterwards that lizards are, as a matter of fact, 

 decidedly scarce. 



It has been shown years ago, that what was formerly regarded in 

 Ireland as the Norway Haddock is really another species belonging to 

 a different genus. Yet on p. 347 the author repeats the erroneous state- 

 ment that the Norway Haddock lives on the Irish coast, and also (p. 348) 

 that Coitus gobio is "in parts of Ireland exceedingly rare." No Irish 

 specimen of the latter fish has ever been authenticated, and even 

 Thompson disbelieved its reported occurrence in the North of Ireland. 



The remark that the Blackfish and the allied Centrolophus britannicus "are 

 small and rare fish on our coast " (p. 359) does not impart a vivid impres- 

 sion of the nature of these species. The specimens of the former in the 

 Dublin Museum are over a foot long. 



