THE EXTINCT MAMMALS OF LAKELAND xli 



Otter, Pine Marten, Wild Boar, Horse, Eed Deer, Eoe, Bos 

 longifrons, Sheep, Goat, House Mouse, Short-tailed Field Mouse, 

 and Eabbit. Some of these no doubt are comparatively recent. 

 Unfortunately, no levels were taken. Generally speaking, the 

 smaller bones were found in the accumulated earth, while the 

 most important remains rested in a deep fissure, filled with 

 pebbles and fine clay, some twenty yards from the entrance. 1 

 The clay at the top was very tenacious. Beneath, it was dry 

 and almost of the consistency of lime. After his specimens had 

 been identified, Beecham desired that a complete series of them 

 should be placed in the Kendal Museum. This was accom- 

 plished by their purchase, and they now form the most interesting 

 exhibit of those possessed by the Kendal Literary and Scientific 

 Institution. 



Order GARNIVORA. Fam. GANIBJS. 



THE WOLF. 



■pus, L. 



It is to John Beecham that the credit belongs of having 

 proved the former existence of this animal in Westmorland. 

 That our ' place-names ' point to this conclusion is perfectly 

 true. ' Wolfer Ghyll,' for example, seems to be the Saxon 

 rendering of the French ' Gorge du Loup! If we bear in mind 

 that Wolves have been killed in recent times in the Forest of 

 Fontainebleau, where I first met with this expression, we shall 

 not have much difficulty in convincing either ourselves or others 

 that the former presence in our midst of 'the wolf of the 

 evening ' is something more than mythical. But Beecham 

 actually obtained many lupine bones and teeth in the fissures 

 of Helsfell. Further, he found the entire skeleton of a full- 

 grown Wolf. The poor brute, feeling, no doubt, that its end 

 was approaching, had retired behind a large rock, and there 

 had died in self-imposed solitude. Its fellows respected its 

 remains, which remained undisturbed until the explorer dis- 

 covered it in situ, the bones lying close together. These were 



1 In describing the Helsfell deposits, I am giving information supplied 

 to me by Mr. Beecham himself. 



