MAMMALIA. 391 



If we should be inclinctl to question which is greater, tlie 

 good or the evil of which they are the unconscious instruments, 

 we must not limit our attention to one species, one country, 

 or one period, but let our views be wide, comprehensive, and 

 unprejudiced, ever bearing in mind, that after all, we oidy 

 '"know in part," and '"see as through a glass darkly." And 

 this considered, we shall probably arrive at the conclusion, 

 that here, as in all other departments of nature, so far as we 

 are capable of observing, there springs 



" From partial evil universal good." 



In concluding our notice of Kodent animals, we may briefly 

 refer to one or two well-known species. Professor Bell 

 remarks, in treating of the Common Squirrel of England 

 {Scitiriis vulgariii) : — " The form and habits of this elegant 

 and active little creature combine to render it one of the most 

 beautiful and entertainini]; of our native animals." In Ireland 

 we are debarred from the opportunity of witnessing its gam- 

 bols ; for in that country it is not now indigenous. There is a 

 tradition that the Squirrel was common in Ireland before the 

 destruction of the native woods. " It was re-introduced a few 

 years ago into the county of Wicklow, where it is said to be 

 fast increasing in number;"* and it abounds in some places 

 in the counties of Longford and Westmeath.f 



The fur of the English and Scotch Hare is well kno\vn as 

 valuable to the hatter, while that of the Irish Hare is worth- 

 less. It is only of late years that it has been ascertained 

 that the difference is not confined to the fur, but that the two 

 animals arc specifically distinct; J and still more recently, 

 Mr. W. Thompson has arrived at the conclusion that the 

 Hare of Ireland is identical with that known as the Alpine, 

 or varying Hare of the Scotch mountains, notwithstanding 

 the great difference in locality and habits. In this opinion 

 Mr. Waterhouse concurs ; so that it may now be regarded 

 as an established fact, there are in reality but two species of 

 Hares in these islands. 



The Beaver {Fig. 310) is an animal associated in our minds 

 with the wondrous labours and social instincts which it mani- 



* Thompson's "Report." 



t My authority for this fact wa.s the late Jliss Edgeworth — or to use that 

 name bv wliich her memory is endi-arcd to the young, "Maria Edgeworth." 



X Bell's British Quadrupeds. Thompson on the Irish Ilare. Transactions 

 of the Koyal Irish Academy, vol. xviii. 



