THE MAMMALIAN FAUNA 



OF THE 



EDINBURGH DISTRICT 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 



THE late Mr E. R. Alston, in the closing sentences of his 

 Catalogue of the Mammalia of Scotland, 1 pointed out to 

 Scottish naturalists that the distribution of the mammalian- 

 life of the country was much in need of revision, and cited 

 the Shrews, Mice, and Voles as especially deserving of 

 attention. Impressed with the truth of his remarks, I have 

 been endeavouring during the last few years to work out 

 in some degree of detail the distribution in our own neigh- 

 bourhood of the above-mentioned groups, and also of the 

 Bats, which had been equally neglected. My original 

 intention was to communicate to the Royal Physical Society 

 the results of my observations on these groups alone. Being, 

 however, also in possession of a mass of data bearing on 

 the past and present distribution of the other recent animals 

 of the class Mammalia occurring in the district, I ultimately 

 decided to combine the two sets of notes, and lay them 

 before the Society in the present form. 



The "Edinburgh District," as here understood, embraces 

 the valley of the Forth, and such parts of the adjoining areas 



1 Published iu 1830 by the Glasgow Natural History Society as part of its 

 " Fauna of Scotland, with special reference to Clydesdale and the western 

 district. " 



