BRITISH MAMMALS 



discovered in places where the living animal has long 



since disappeared. There seems little doubt that in 



days gone by it roamed at large over tracts of country 



where the old forests have been cleared away, and 



not far from the ancient Common already mentioned 



as being our favourite naturalising ground, close to our 



own home, its antlers have been found, and now have an 



abiding place in Letchworth Museum. This linking up 



of a neighbourhood, even one's own parish, with animals 



of the past is very interesting, and we would strongly 



recommend every boy who wishes to know something of 



the history of his own district to visit a local museum, 



and study the fossil remains of animals that have actually 



been secured within the region. Many schoolboys to 



whom we lecture on this subject evince great interest 



when shown local remains of the Tiger, Hippopotamus, 



Mammoth, Red Deer, Irish Elk, Cave Bear, Hyaena, 



Icthyosaurus, Giant Shark, and a number of other 



creatures who lived in bygone forests, swamps and seas. 



Geology has for a long time been the secluded province 



of the few, and has been so characterised by the usage 



of scientific terms, that the average individual has fought 



shy of it ; but with the dawn of what is called regional 



survey, of which the study of rocks, minerals and fossils 



is the basis of research, geology will occupy a prominent 



place in our future surveys, and come into its own. 



The handsome Red Deer is easily the largest of the three 



British species, as it stands four feet in height at the 



withers. The stag or hart (thus Hertfordshire) bears 

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