108 PHILOSOPHY OF ZOOLOGY. 



under which it took place, as illustrations of the history 

 of species, and as furnishing marks by which we may 

 trace the changes produced in their geographical distribu- 

 tion. 



4. Extirpated Animals. Under this head are included 

 those species which, though they do not now live in this 

 kingdom, still continue to flourish, in a wild state, in other 

 regions more favourable to the continuance of their race. 

 Among the extirpated British quadrupeds, may be enu- 

 merated the wolf, brown bear, beaver, boar, fallow-deer, 

 antelope *, ox, and horse. The extirpated birds are fewer 

 in number, being chiefly the capercailzie, crane, and egret. 

 The two last occasionally appear as stragglers. 



5, Extinct Animals. These no longer occur in a living 

 state on the globe. Our extinct quadrupeds are few in 

 number,-*-such as the fossil elephant, rhinoceros, and Irish 

 elkf. 



* The only notice I have seen of this animal ever having inhabited Bri- 

 tain, is in a paper giving "An account of the Peat-pit near Newbury in 

 Berkshire," by JOHN COLLET, M. D. where there is likwise another proof of 

 the occurrence of the bones of the beaver in this country, in addition to 

 those which Mr NEILL has so carefully collected, in the Edinburgh Phil. 

 Journal, vol, i. p. 177. " A great many horns, heads, and bones of seve- 

 ral kinds of deer, the horns of the antelope^ the heads and tusks of boars, the 

 heads of beavers, &c. are also found in it ; and I have been told, that some 

 human bones have been found ; but I never saw any of these myself, though 

 I have of all the others." Phil. Trans. 1757, p. 112. 



j- Large horns of a stag, differing in size from the present kind, are fre- 

 quently dug up from marl-beds, but whether they are the relics of a distinct 

 species, or only of a variety, has not been determined. The remains of a 

 fallow-deer and ox likewise occur. The sculls of the latter are so superior 

 jri size to those of the present races in the Highlands, which are nearest to a 



