INTRODUCTION. 3 



Forest district has been a haven of refuge for some 

 that would otherwise have been extinct. 



Yet, with the total number of recognised British 

 Mammals seventy-two, viz., forty-five terrestrial and 

 twenty-seven marine the list of Essex Fauna com- 

 pares very favourably. 



Of the former, thirty-eight (not counting two 

 doubtful Bats, Rhinolphus ferrum-equinum and Ves- 

 per tilio murinus, which I have thought fit to reject) 

 will be found described in the following pages, while 

 another, an introduced animal (a species of Jackal), 

 probably exists in Epping Forest. 



It is true that three of these species, the Badger, 

 Marten, and Polecat, are now rare, especially the last 

 two ; yet evidence satisfactorily shows that in the 

 early part of this century all of them were fairly 

 abundant, and up to the present time individuals have 

 since continuously existed. 



Deer, in a wild condition, exist to-day in very few 

 English counties. Yet, in consequence of the survival 

 in Essex of the virgin woods of Epping Forest, we 

 are enabled to claim these interesting animals as 

 members of our Fauna, as they undoubtedly have 

 been from time immemorial. Fallow Deer remain 

 until the present time. Red Deer were known up to 

 the early years of this century, when the presumed 

 last surviving members of the wild herd were removed 



