8 THE MAMMALS, REPTILES, AND FISHES OF ESSEX. 



already been made, form traps for the capture of a 

 considerable number of Marine Mammals, which from 

 time to time are stranded on their shores or become 

 entangled in their numerous sand-banks. The list of 

 these accidental visitors (for such, as a rule, they are) 

 is, proportionately, much above the average of most of 

 the maritime counties of England, where the same 

 facilities for their capture do not exist. 



Ten Marine Mammals, out of the total of twenty- 

 seven, have been noted in Essex. These include 

 the Porpoise and the Bottle-nosed Dolphin, both of 

 which may be frequently seen off this coast, and may 

 therefore count as regular, not accidental, visitors 



REPTILIA AND AMPHIBIA. 



Essex has no extensive sandy wastes to form a 

 home for such British Reptiles as are found flourishing 

 on similar spots in Hampshire and some other parts 

 of England. Nevertheless, our list of Reptilia is not 

 far behind that of other counties, and comprises four 

 out of the nine species on the British lists. Enclosure 

 and cultivation are having an unfavourable effect on the 

 numbers of those species which still remain to us ; and, 

 in some districts, indeed, it would seem as if the Snakes 

 were becoming extinct and would altogether dis- 

 appear before many years are past. This, as natur- 

 alists, we must altogether regret, although the public 



