60 INTRODUCTION. 



trial quadrupeds, would probably have shared the 

 same fate, had it not been protected as subservient 

 to the amusement of the great* 



Of those which remain, fifty in number, none 

 are of sufficient size or strength to be formidable 

 to man in personal encounter ; and those which 

 are most injurious to him, are general' ly the smallei 

 and more prolific species, which he finds it impos- 

 sible to extirpate, although he succeeds in reduc 

 ing* their numbers within moderate limits. 



Of these fifty species one only is Alpine, namely, 

 the White or Varying- Hare, which inhabits the 

 higher valleys of the Grampians, and other moun- 

 tainous districts of the north. There are two spe- 

 cies, however, which become white in winter, the 

 Hare just mentioned, and the Ermine ; the former 

 remaining 1 at that season at a considerable eleva- 

 tion, the latter occurring nearly at the level of the 

 sea, as well as at great heights. All our Bats, 

 fifteen in number, being purely insectivorous, be- 

 come torpid in winter, when it would be impos- 

 sible for them to find a sufficient supply of food. 

 The Hedgehog, which is essentially insectivorous, 

 although it also feeds on vegatable substances, also 

 hybernates; as probably do the Shrews, at least 

 in some degree. Of the other quadrupeds which 

 pass the cold season in a state of inaction, one, 

 the Badger, is omnivorous, and another, the Dor- 

 mouse, frugivorous. The Squirrel, the Water-Rat, 

 and perhaps some of the smaller Rodentia, appear 

 also to undergo a degree of torpidity, varying in 

 duration and intensity, according to the state of 

 the temperature. 



The Mammalia, excluding the Cetacea, may be 

 disposed into nine orders or larger groups : Quad- 

 rumana or Monkeys, Cheiroptera or Bats, Insecti- 



