Bibliographical Notices. 299 



eluded in the English fauna, eight are exclusively met with in a do- 

 mesticated state, viz. the Horse, Ass, Hog, Dog, domestic Cat, Sheep, 

 Goat, and Fallow Deer ; and into most lists, in this category only is 



the Ox entitled to admission Our catalogue contains 59 species, 



50 of which are wild. Our northern latitude impoverishes our fauna 

 in Bats, or we might show a still greater comparative richness. That 

 tlie fauna of our district is naturally rich, and has been well worked 

 out, the following figures will show : — 



Wild Spedeo. ToUl Speoiea. 



" British faima 67 75 



Shropshire 26 35 



Staffordshire 29 37 



North Kent (Greenwich Club) 30 39 



Cornwall 39 48 



Northumberland and Durham .... 50 59." 



In their observations on the species, the authors give some interest- 

 ing remarks on the Cliillingham cattle, the Otter, and the Badger. 

 Tliey differ from Professor Owen in their views on the descent of the 

 first of these animals, claiming for its ancestors the wild cattle that 

 roamed the hills of Northumberland when " the beaver built its dams 

 on our rivers, and the bear and wolf preyed upon the roe-deer in our 

 forests." Prof. Owen's opinion is that the Chillingham cattle, vrith 

 all our larger domesticated breeds, were introduced, in a tame state, 

 by the Romans. "The Roman cattle, from whence he derives the 

 Chillingham race, are, he says, descendants of the Indian Brahmin 

 cattle (Bo9 Indicus, Linn.), which were procured by the Romans 

 from the Greeks, by the Greeks from the Egyptians, and by these 

 from India, probably through the intervention of the Syrians or 

 Persians." "The Highland Kyloes and the Welsh Runts, he con- 

 siders, are more probably the descendants of the cattle possessed by 

 the Britons at the time of the Roman invasion, inhabiting as they 

 still do the mountain fastnesses to which the Celtic population re- 

 tired ; and these were, he thinks, the descendants of a wild British 

 race, probably identical with ihe Bos longifrotis, whose remains occur 

 in the New Pliocene strata, in the brick-earth deposits, drift-gravels, 

 and bone-caves." Messrs. Mennell & Perkins discuss this question 

 at some length ; and we certainly think that they bring forward 

 more and stronger reasons for differing from Professor Owen's views 

 than for agreeing with them. 



Respecting the Otter, the authors observe, " Our district at the 

 present day may, we think, very properly be designated the head- 

 quarters of this fine animal. It is abundant in all the rivers and 

 larger streams, and even the smaller burns can often testify to its 

 predatory visits. Increasing population, combined with bitter en- 

 mity to this terrible foe of the finny tribe, has almost exterminated 

 the Otter in many parts of the country where it was formerly abun- 

 dant, and caused it to retire to wilder, more remote, and less fre- 

 quented districts. In haunts like these, and especially in North 

 Northumberland, the Otter exists in, comparatively speaking, un- 



