Pre-ffistoric Mammalia Associated with Man. 409 



from the portion of the country conquered by thein, and now 

 lives in the smaller breeds of Wales and Scotland, jynere the 

 Romanised Kelts took refuge. 



About that time also it was supplanted by a larger breed 

 probably brought over from Friesland, the home of the Saxon 

 invader. Whence the sheep and goat and Bos longifrons came 

 is a question I will not dare to enter upon ; but all of them 

 appear simultaneously in Britain, and all are associated with 

 man. It seems to be highly probable that they were introduced 

 by him into our island. The true elk Avas very rare, and has 

 left its remains only in one place — in Newcastle in a sub turbary 

 deposit. The red-deer had vastly increased in numbers since 

 the post-glacial epoch, and very nearly replaced the rein-deer. 

 Its remains, however, show the effect that; a more limited 

 range had on the development of the antlers. In post-glacial 

 times, while England formed part of the mainland of Europe, 

 they were very large ; in pre-historic times after Britain became 

 insulated they were smaller. A decrease of size is also notice- 

 able in those used for food in the time of the Romans, while a 

 minimum, is reached in those which are now living in certain 

 restricted parts of England and Scotland. The wolf and fox 

 were very abundant, but the brown bear was by no means 

 common. 



We will now pass on to the comparison of the pre-historic 

 animals with those living in Britain at the time it was subject 

 to the Roman power, and with those which are living at the 

 present day. The Irish and the true elk had disappeared from 

 Britain before the landing of the Roman legions ; with these 

 exceptions all the animals still lived on. To the Romans we 

 are probably indebted for a new species of deer, the fallow- 

 deer ; for it has never been found in any post-glacial or pre-his- 

 toric deposit, while in refuse heaps of Roman age it is by no 

 means uncommon. At all events its presence in Britain dates 

 from the arrival of the Romans. After this time in proportion 

 as civilization increased on the haunts of the wild animals, they 

 disappeared one by one from before the face of man. The last 

 historical notice we have of the beaver is that afforded by 

 Geraldus Cambrensis in the year 1.188, when he met with it in 

 the river Teivy, in Cardiganshire, on his tour through Wales to 

 collect volunteers for the first Crusade. The brown bear be- 

 came extinct in the year 1057, if there be any truth in a legend 

 of the Gordon family in Scotland. The wolf, which was 

 sufficiently abundant in Sussex to eat up the corpses of the 

 Saxons left on the field of Hastings by Duke William 



" Vermibus atque lupis avibus canibusque voranda 

 Deserit Anglorum corpora strata solo," 



lingered on in England until 1306, in Scotland until 1680, and 



