vi 



subject of record in a local work on natural history, although 

 they may with propriety be shut out from books which treat of 

 the science in its wider range. 



Whether we regard its geographical position, at the extremity 

 of the kingdom, and surrounded so much by the sea as almost 

 to partake of the character of an island ; or whether we take 

 into account the irregularity and diversity of its surface and soil, 

 with the peculiarity of its climate and prevailing winds, there is 

 no county in England that presents such variation of aspect from 

 all besides, as does the county of Cornwall ; and as the ocean 

 which surrounds its in general rocky coasts is to be considered 

 as a portion of itself, and the depths of the billows are constantly 

 presenting to the observer some new object of animal life, it will 

 be long indeed, before the curiosity of an inquirer will be satis- 

 fied, or the subject can be regarded as exhausted. But here 

 again a local Fauna will be found to hold an important place in 

 the estimation of the student; for it will present to hini a sum- 

 mary of the species already known, with their varieties of occur- 

 ence, and the circumstances under which they have hitherto been 

 obtained ; and as it is important that in such a work as this 

 nothing shall be included that is not well authenticated, and 

 that as much as possible by the writer in his proper person, or 

 from the information of such observers as he can confidently 

 trust, so it should be understood that nothing is introduced into 

 the pages of the work that has already obtained a place in 

 general works of science, unless it shall be indispensible for the 

 purpose of rendering what is essential the more clearly under- 

 stood, or in order to correct some false opinion of what has been 

 admitted into the general belief. 



Besides the general enumeration of the species of animals at 

 present existing in the county, it has been judged proper to 

 insert in this work a notice of some which were formerly found, 

 but have become extinct ; and this is done for just the same 

 reason that in writing a history of the nation the subject would 

 not be considered as properly treated, unless it included a notice 

 of the people who at some former time held dominion, although 

 they have long since ceased to exist. Some of these lost animals, 

 as the wolf, the bear, and the wild hog, have disappeared before 



