viii INTRODUCTION. 



jjublished in 1878, and the classification of Seals and Cetaceans 

 is that of Prof. Flower, as given in Bell's work, and in Mr. 

 Southwell's recently published ' Seals and Whales of the British 

 Seas'; while papers by Mr. St. George Mivart on the Insecti- 

 vora, Mr. E. R. Alston on the Rodentia, and Prof. Flower on the 

 Carnivora, have been consulted as to the arrangement of those 

 respective groups. Two species given by Bell are omitted from 

 the present list, and one is added. The latter, a bat — Vespertilio 

 dasymeme — is included on the authority of Dr. Dobson's mono- 

 graph. The species omitted are the Beech Marten and the 

 Greenland Right- Whale. Mr. E. R. Alston has demonstrated 

 that there is but one British species of Marten, the true Beech 

 Marten never having occurred (P.Z.S., 1879, p. 468; Zool., 1879, 

 p. 441). The Greenland Right- Whale {Balcena 7?iysiicetus L.) 

 has hitherto been included in the British fauna upon evidence so 

 unsatisfactory that modern faunists invariably express grave 

 doubts as to the validity of its claims. It has therefore been 

 deemed the wiser plan to omit it altogether, the strong probability 

 being that all Right-Whales killed in British seas have been refer- 

 able to B. biscayensis^ a species whose differentiation as such dates 

 subsequently to all the records of British occurrences. 



As to the extinct British mammalia, it having been considered 

 desirable to include notices of animals which had ceased to exist 

 in Yorkshire within historical periods, the species — five in number 

 — of which Mr. J. E. Harting treats in his work on * Extinct 

 British Animals,' have been inserted in the list in their correct 

 zoological sequence. Their names, and that of the Great Auk, 

 are, however, printed in old English characters, and left un- 

 numbered, as not being now entitled to rank as true members of 

 the British fauna. 



Birds. — When considering what system of classification 

 should be adopted for the arrangement of this class, difficulty was 

 experienced in coming to a decision, and it was only after some 

 hesitation that one was finally arrived at. Had Professor 



