430 . THE ZOOLOGIST, 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS, 



A Vertebrate Fauna of Lakeland: including Cumberland and 

 Westmorland, with Lancashire north oj the Sands. By- 

 Rev. H. A. Macpherson, M.A. With a Preface by R. S. 

 Ferguson, F.S.A. 8vo, pp. i— civ, 1 — 552, with Map and 

 Illustrations. Edinburgh : David Douglas. 1892. 



The Preface by Mr. Ferguson and the coloured map appended 

 to this volume furnish the reader with a good idea of the faunal 

 area of which it treats. It would be difficult to convey an 

 adequate notion of the variety and extent of the contents without 

 writing at considerable length ; but we may attempt a brief notice 

 of the more salient features of the work. 



The writer of the Preface strikes a key-note when he says that 

 modern changes must have greatly affected the fauna of Lakeland. 

 Up to the end nearly of the last century thousands of acres 

 in Lakeland were lying waste in open common. Enclosure Acts 

 were obtained, and between 1780 and 1820 thousands of acres of 

 heathy hill and rushy swamp were enclosed, and converted into 

 cultivated fields and verdant meadows. Many tarns, such as Tarn 

 Wadling, Gibb Tarn, &c, have been drained, and the corn now 

 waves in rich profusion where fish once swam. Large areas long 

 ago denuded of their ancient scrub have been replanted. 



A consideration of these facts has naturally prompted an 

 enquiry as to the former condition of the country, and an 

 examination of the records, both published and unpublished, has 

 revealed to the discriminating eye of our author a mass of most 

 interesting material for a natural history of Lakeland, which in 

 the present volume he has endeavoured to reduce to method and 

 order. The task can have been no light one, for it embraces a 

 considerable variety of subjects. 



Amongst the introductory chapters is one on the naturalists 

 of Lakeland. Here we find the names of Dr. Robinson, who wrote 

 " An Essay towards a Natural History of Westmorland and Cum- 

 berland," in 1709;* James Clarke, the author of a Survey of the 

 Lakes (1787); Richardson, who wrote a paper on the Fauna of 



* Under the title " A neglected Essay on Natural History," a review of 

 Dr. Robinson's work appeared in ■ The Field,' 26th April, 1879. 



