PRINCIPAL HISTORIC MAMMALIA. xxix 



The absence of the beaver and the dormouse from Ireland must be due to the exist- 

 ence of some barrier to their westward migration from the adjacent mainland, and the 

 fact that the Alpine hare is indigenous, while the common hare is absent, implies that, so 

 far as relates to the former animal, the barrier did not exist. The bearing of this on the 

 ancient geography of Britain and Ireland will be examined in the chapter which relates 

 to the Prehistoric age. 



Conclusion. 



In this short sketch of the principal Mammalia of Great Britain and Ireland the most 

 important facts to be noted are the that reindeer lingered in Caithness to the middle of 

 the twelfth century, that the fallowdeer was introduced by the Romans in Britain, whence 

 it found its way into Ireland, probably in the reign of Henry II. The larger breeds of 

 cattle of the Urus type were imported into Britain, from their ancient homes, by the 

 English, while the smaller dark animal, the Bos longifrons, which, as we shall see in the 

 4th Chapter, was the only domestic ox in Britain in the Prehistoric age, and as late in 

 the Historic Period as the invasion of the English, retreated to the Highlands of Corn- 

 wall, Wales, and Scotland, along with the original Celtic and Gaelic population. The 

 larger oxen were probably brought into Ireland by the Scandinavians. The domestic cat 

 was probably imported into Britain by the Romans, about the same time as the fallow- 

 deer. 



Neither the wild urus nor the bison have left any trace of their existence in the Historic 

 Period, either in Britain or in Ireland. 



