112 CATALOGUE OF THE MAMMALIA OF 
sion to the weight of authority, rather than to our own opinion, 
which would have little or no importance. 
Professor Owen's classification is founded on the characters of 
the brain, and these appear to yield data for an arrangement 
more natural and harmonious than that based upon the den- 
tition, or the structure of the locomotive organs. 
It chiefly differs from the system of Cuvier in the re-arrange- 
ment of the sub-class Unguiculata, from which are taken the 
Rodentia and the Edentata (except the family Monotremata) to 
form the sub-class Lissencephala; and the Marsupialia and 
Monotrematous Edentata, to constitute the Lyencephala. 
Owing to the large extent of uncultivated and wild country, 
which, happily for the Naturalist, is still to be found in our dis- 
trict, our Mammalian fauna is rich in species, and of considerable 
interest from the comparative abundance of some of the larger 
animals, such as the Badger and Otter, which cannot long con- 
tend against the murderous propensities of civilized man. It is 
strange, therefore, that so little attention has been paid to the 
subject by our members; and how little, the following enumera- 
tion of local works from which we have derived assistance will 
show. 
An incomplete, but very interesting list of our Mammalia, is 
to be found in Wallis’s delightful History of Northumberland 
(1769). In this work none of the smaller species are alluded 
to, but of the larger ones much of interest is recorded, the 
more important parts of which we have transferred, generally 
in the author’s own words, to our pages. ; 
In Brewster’s History of Stockton, to which one of our ex- 
presidents—Mr. Hogg—contributed the Natural History portion, 
there is no mention of the Mammalia. 
Sir Cuthbert Sharp’s History of Hartlepool is equally silent, 
except that, probably as being doubtful and exceptional creatures, 
the ‘“‘ Cetaceous and Pennated Animals” are honoured with a 
passing mention. The “ Porpess,” “ Grampus,” and “ Common 
Seal,” however, exhaust the list of these. 
In Mr. Selby’s admirable “ Fauna of Twizell,” nineteen wild 
species of Mammalia are enumerated, but there is little remark 
