XNxii YORKSHIRE— VERTEBRATE FAUNA. 



summer visitant. The four Seals are all species which from their 

 rarity in England cannot be expected to occur ; and most of the 

 nine cetaceans can only be looked for as rare stragglers. But it 

 is somewhat surprising that the Common Dolphin, which inhabits 

 the south coast of England in more or less numbers, should not 

 have been recorded as visiting the Yorkshire seas. 



Comparisons of the mammalian fauna of Yorkshire with those 

 of other districts for which lists have been published, show that 

 the chief differences are in the bats and the marine forms. The 

 terrestrial species, being nearly all of universal range in Britain, 

 are present in all the lists. As the value of comparisons lies in 

 their bearing upon questions of geographical distribution, it is 

 interesting to find that the Dormouse is absent from the Norfolk 

 fauna, and that, although present in Yorkshire and in Northum- 

 berland, its range does not extend into Scotland. That of four 

 of the Yorkshire bats also — the Noctule, the Hairy-armed, Reddish- 

 grey, and Whiskered Bats — falls short of Scotland, although the 

 two latter are found in Northumberland and Durham. It is but 

 of little use to pursue the comparison so far as regards the Seals 

 and cetaceans, which usually rank as stragglers in all lists. 



Regarding the extinct species, little need be said. The forms 

 included in Mr. Harting's work on ' Extinct British Animals ' are 

 all that it is desirable to enumerate in such a work as this, being 

 the only species which have survived in Britain to within the 

 historic period, and whose former existence can be proved by 

 other than palseontological evidence. Of these the Reindeer has 

 never in historic times occurred south of Caithness : the evidence 

 of the Beaver's existence in Yorkshire is entirely etymological, and 

 that of the Brown Bear as entirely palseontological ; while the 

 former presence of the Wild Boar and the Wolf is attested by 

 strong, reliable, and concurrent testimony. 



The chief work which remains to be done for the Yorkshire 

 terrestrial mammalia is to ascertain more completely the distribu- 

 tion — and especially the altitudinal range — of the smaller species, 

 notably the Shrews, Mice, and Voles. The Lesser Shrew, 

 Harvest Mouse, and Red Field- Vole, though all recorded, are 

 scarcely known, and much overlooked. 



