MAMMALS 



34. Common Hare. Lepus europaus, Pallas. 

 Bell — Lepus timidus. 

 As elsewhere much scarcer than formerly, 

 and its numbers are diminishing yearly. An 

 account of the packs of harriers in the county 

 will be found in the chapter on Sport. 



35. Rabbit. Lepus cuniculus, Linn. 



Warrens are numerous, and the animal is 

 abundant everywhere. Enormous numbers 

 are killed and brought to the markets. Rab- 

 bit warrens will be referred to in the chapter 

 on Sport. 



UNGULATA 



36. Red Deer. Cervus elophus, Linn. 



The history of the red deer and of the 

 chase in Devon and on its borders will be 

 found in the chapter on sport. 



According to Hooker the roe deer [Capreolus 

 caprea) in his time was found in Devon. 



CETACEA 



37. Common Rorqual. Balcenoptera musculus, 



Linn. {B. physalis, True, Proc. U.S. 



Nat. Mus. xxi. 617) 

 The body of one of these animals was 

 found off the Eddystone in October 1831 

 and towed into Plymouth. It was preserved, 

 and is now in the British Museum. In 1863 

 a dead whale, which proved to be a rorqual, 

 was found in the Channel and taken to 

 Falmouth, and it is now I believe at the 

 Alexandra Palace, and in 1875 in the month 

 of January another was washed upon the 

 shore near Teignmouth. In January 1879 

 another was found floating near the same 

 place and it was brought into Looe. It was 

 a male 64 feet 7 inches long, and its circum- 

 ference behind the pectoral fins 38 feet. It 

 was seized for the Crown and sold for j^io. 

 In October 1885 two dead rorquals were 

 brought into Plymouth and exhibited. One 

 was found near the Start Point, and the other 

 near the Eddystone. They were male and 

 female about the same size, the former just 

 60 feet long, the female a little larger. They 

 were on show for some days.' Besides these 

 there have been other instances of the occur- 

 rence of these great animals on the coasts of 

 the county. 



38. Lesser Rorqual. Balanoptera rostrata, 



Fabricius. {B. acuto-rostra, Lac^p.) 

 On 18 May 1887 the Lowestoft fishing 

 smack, the Bluebell, landed on the Barbican, 

 Plymouth, what the captain described as ' a 

 big fish with his mouth full of hair.' This 

 proved to be a young female of the lesser 

 rorqual which had been caught in the nets in 

 the Channel 60 miles south-west of the Scilly 

 Islands. Its length was 12 feet 7^ inches. 

 It was sold by the boat's crew for ^^3 1 75. dd. 

 and carried round the town on a pony-cart 

 for exhibition. The skull was obtained for 

 the Museum of the Plymouth Institution. 



» Vide Trans. Plym. Inst. ix. 314. 



39. Balanoptera {Eschrichtius) robustus (Lillje- 



borg) 

 Bones of this species were some years since 

 washed up on the beaches of Babbicombe and 

 Petitor, Torbay ; these and some bones cast 

 ashore on the coasts of Sweden belonging to 

 two or at most three individuals, are the only 

 remains of B. robustus known to science." 



40. Sperm Whale. Physeter macrocephalus, 



Linn. 

 Bellamy states that the carcase of a whale 

 of this species was cast ashore some years be- 

 fore the time of his writing at the mouth of 

 the Erme.' Another was found off Ilfra- 

 combe in the month of February 1845.* 



41. White Whale. Delphinapterus leucas, 



Pallas. 



The late Mr. Philip Henry Gosse in a 

 letter received by me through a relative states 

 that he saw a white whale oiF Berry Head in 

 the summer of 1832. The following is an 

 extract from Mr. Gosse's letter : — 



On August 5th 1832 I was returning from New- 

 foundland to England, and was sailing up the 

 British Channel close to the land, when just off 

 Berry Head I saw just under the ship's bow a large 

 cetacean of a milky white hue, but appearing 

 slightly tinged with green from the intervening 

 stratum of clear water. It was about 16 feet long 

 with a round bluff head. It continued to swim 

 along before the vessel's head a few yards beneath 

 the surface for about ten minutes maintaining our 

 rate of speed which was five knots an hour, all 

 which time I enjoyed from the bowsprit a very 

 good view of it. It could have been no other 

 than the white whale Beluga albicans of Lesson.^ 



The late John Gatcombe {Zoologist, 1886, 

 p. 364) states that <Mr. J. C. Willcocks, a 



" Trans. Dev. Assoc, vol. i. pt. 4, p. 65 ; Ann. 

 Nat. Hist. XV. 492. 



^ Natural History of South Devon (1839), p. 197. 

 * Zoologist, 1845, p. 912. 

 ^ Trans. Plym. Inst. iv. 1 54. 



339 



