NOTE — MAMMALIA. 30 1 



yet be read with profit by any geologist. It is quoted with respect 



and gratitude in the latest edition of Mr. Woodward's l Geology of 



England and Wales.' We are concerned in the honour of all our 



Yorkshire naturalists, but Young needs no defence of ours. His 



opinions on the influence of the Deluge were shared by most 



of his contemporaries, and they were natural to a man of his 

 profession. 



How Williamson was apprenticed to a Scarborough surgeon, was 

 attracted to Manchester, became connected with the Owens College, 

 pursued many and varied scientific studies, until he settled down to 

 his life-work on the fossil plants of the Coal Measures, and at last 

 ended his days full of years and honours : all this, with many pleasant 

 details of a homely life, is told in brisk English, not untouched with 

 humour, in the agreeable pages of this little volume. The concluding 

 chapter, and the revision of the whole, are the work of the wife to 

 whom our author owed so much of the happiness of his later years, 

 which were undoubtedly prolonged by her care. Mrs. Williamson 

 has done her part with excellent taste, and has said no more than 

 was necessary to complete the narrative. 



The position of Dr. Williamson as a man of science stands on 

 a sure basis. In Paleophytology he was at first a pioneer, struggling 

 with many difficulties and often opposed by men of renown. Undis- 

 mayed, unheeding, he toiled on, until in the end, with general 

 approval, he ruled over a conquered country reduced to order greatly 

 by his efforts. 



Dr. Williamson is entitled especially to the esteem and affection 

 of such naturalists as form the bulk of the Yorkshire Union, because 

 of the very human and benevolent regard which he had for them. 

 Any lover of Nature had his encouragement and support, and 

 many a one has been stimulated by his enthusiasm and kindly 



ed zeal. To some 



in these pages. — A.H.P. 



again 



NOTE— MAMMALIA. 



Badger in North Lancashire.— Macpherson in his * Fauna of Lakeland,' 

 I092, pp. 39.45, mentions two instances of Badgers (Metes metes) in North 

 Lancashire. One, without evidence, that the species lingered in a wild state on 

 the Cartmel and Windermere Fells up to about 1830. The other is a record of 

 a capture near Broughton-in-Furness (temp. 1850-60) of a specimen (male?) which 

 was afterwards drowned. The following cutting from the Ulverston Advertiser 

 of August 15th, 1896, may refer to an escape from baiting, or in other words, of 

 a prisoner and not a wild specimen. l A Babger. — On Wednesday last a badger 

 was found caught in a trap at Hoiker.'— S. L. Petty, Ulverston, Aug. 25th, 1896. 



Oct. 1896. 



