CHAPTER IV, 



F A u^N A. 

 SECTION A, INDIGENOUS AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



BY Dr. Ignatius it is reported that it is not yet practicable 

 to state precisely the number of species of animals to be 

 found in Finland, for many classes of moluscs and zoophytes 

 have not been sufficiently studied. 



Amongst the vertebrates there have been reckoned 

 about 60 species of mamifers, including domestic animals 

 and acclimatised species. Of these the more remarkable 

 are the following : 



The bear (Ursus arctos) is met with throughout the 

 whole of Finland up to the north of the Enare Lake, where 

 the forests being thinly sown, the ants more rare, and the 

 berries in less abundance, food fails it. It lives chiefly in 

 ferny lands covered with thick forests. 



The wolf (Canis lupus) is found to the boundary north 

 of Lapland; it commits great devastations, especially during 

 severe winters, when it penetrates in great herds to the 

 vicinity of the habitations of men. 



The fox (Canis vulpes) is spread over the whole land ; 

 the croise fox and the black fox are rare varieties, sought 

 after for their valuable furs. 



The isates (Canis Lag opus} belongs, strictly speaking, to 

 Lapland, but it is met with sometimes even in the south 

 of Finland, particularly in severe winters. 



The beaver (Castor fiber) likewise belongs to the far 

 north. For two centuries past the hunters have killed 

 hundreds annually, but it has become so rare, that it is not 

 known for a certainty still to exist in Finland. 



