158 The Mammalia of Kssex ; a Contribution towards a 



manner it may be useful, by dii-ecting attention to the various 

 mammals remaining to us, especially as the class Mammalia 

 is a branch of Natural History the study of which is almost 

 entirely neglected in this country. 



Ask any countryman, or even any well-educated person 

 living in the country, how many species of mice there are m 

 Britain, and not one in ten thousand will be able to answer 

 the question. Even amongst those paying some attention to 

 Natural History, nearly the same ignorance prevails ; birds, 

 butterflies, and moths, occupying their interest, generally to 

 the exclusion of other and equally attractive subjects. 



It is not surprising that the beautiful branches of Natural 

 History are attractive to amateur students, but why is it that 

 the mammals are so neglected ? It may be that they are not 

 found everywhere, as are butterflies and birds, and that they 

 are more difficult to capture and preserve. On the other 

 hand, these species are not so numerous, and any trouble and 

 care expended on them will be quite as profitably employed 

 as in the pursuit of more favoured creatures, for the study of 

 Nature in her various forms is ever an unfailing source of 

 pleasure to those whose minds are fortunately endowed with 

 a taste for enquiry into her laws. 



" I am not vain enough to suppose that I can add much to 

 the zoological knowledge which is yearly becoming more 

 general amongst us. Yet it is from local Faunas — from notes 

 made by different observers in various districts as to the 

 fi'equency or scarcity of species in the counties in which they 

 reside — that the master naturalist must build up his system 

 for a nation. The humblest attempt therefore is not without 

 its portion of utihty." These are the opinions of the Eev. 

 E. Lubbock, in the preface to his Norfolk Fauna, and the 

 words must serve as my apology for presenting the following 

 remarks to my brother naturalists. 



The order and classification adopted is that of the authors 

 of the last edition of Bell's ' British Quadrupeds,' ^ which is 

 the standard work on the subject. 



2 [' A History of British Quadrupeds, including the Cetacea.' By 

 Thomas Bell, F.E.S., F.Z.S., &g. Second edition, revised by the author, 



