THE ANNALS OF IRISH ZOOLOGY. 435 
not only on account of the early date at which it was written, 
but because it contains a reference to the existence in Ireland of 
at least two animals which have long been extinct there, namely, 
the Wolf and the Wild Boar. The passage is as follows :—“ Quis 
enim verbi gratia lupos, cervos, et sylvaticos porcos, et vulpes, 
taxones, et lepusculos, et sesquirolos in Hiberniam deveneret.”’ 
In the ‘ Topographia Hibernica’ of Giraldus Cambrensis (A. D. 
1183-86) we have the earliest work in which there is anything 
like a detailed account of the fauna of Ireland, and considering 
the date of its composition and the circumstances under which it 
was written, it must be allowed to be a highly creditable pro- 
duction. At the same time it must be borne in mind that 
Giraldus—evidently a very credulous man—wrote down not only. 
what he saw and observed for himself, but what others told him 
upon mere hearsay report; hence there is much mingling of truth 
with fiction in his work. Again, his knowledge of the country 
must have been very limited, extending, it may be assumed, no 
further than the English occupation then extended, over con- 
siderable parts of Leinster and Meath, and small parts of Munster 
and Ulster.* Even supposing that he went everywhere where the 
English had established themselves, still by far the larger part of 
Treland was altogether unknown to him, except by vague reports 
of his English friends or by very doubtful descriptions from the 
few Irish of the subjugated parts who would still remain on their 
lands in subjection to the English. 
These circumstances, the too great credulity of the writer, 
and his limited acquaintance with the country through which he 
travelled, preclude us from attaching too high a value to his 
remarks on the fauna of Ireland. They are, nevertheless, too 
important to be overlooked in any memoir of the writers on Irish 
Natural History. To examine critically all that Giraldus has 
written on this subject would require a great deal more space 
than can be here devoted to it. It must suffice if we glance 
rapidly at some of the more interesting points upon which he 
has touched. 
After some introductory chapters on the situation of Ireland 
and its physical aspect, the winds and rain with which it is 
* His first visit to Ireland was in 1183; his second, in company with 
Prince John, in 1185, 
