EXTERMINATION OF ANIMALS. 



187 



that they will eat only of one particular species of plant, and will 

 perish sooner than feed upon other plants, though closely allied to, or 

 mere varieties of, their favourite food. This is instanced most conspicu- 

 ously perhaps in the case of the larva of the ringlet butterfly (Hipparchia 

 hyperanihus) ; of the brown heath butterfly (Hipparchia pamphilus) ; 

 of the nettle-butterfly (Vanessa Urticce) ; and in the case of almost all 

 the* aphides: the first of these feeding exclusively on the annual poa- 

 grass ; the second on the dog's-tail grass* ; the third on the nettle ; and 

 most of the various species of the last example living entirely upon a 

 single species of plant, only certain parts of which in some instances 

 give nourishment to one particular kind of aphis, from which circum- 

 stance it is not uncommon to find the leaves, stalks, &c. infested by 

 different species. The prevention, then, of any animals like these 

 from becoming extinct, it will be seen, must depend upon the existence 

 and wide distribution of those peculiar plants from which they derive 

 their sustenance* 



Leaving that division of my subject relating to the total extinction 

 of animals, the consideration of their partial extermination, with special 

 reference to the British Kingdom, now claims our attention. 



Naturalists are well aware that as the cultivation of the earth, the 

 chief employment of mankind, progresses, certain animals either, from 

 fear, compulsion, or other causes, recede in search of other quarters 

 where they may rest undisturbed and in the full gratification of their 

 wants, until once more being encompassed by the further advance of 

 cultivation, and again subjected to the assaults of man, they gradually 

 diminish in numbers, and eventually become extirpated. The enclosing 

 of land, the felling of timber, the sports of the field, and similar acts, 

 have also driven and are now driving many animals from our island. 



To the followers of the chase we may attribute the extermination of 

 the wolf, bear, wild boar, and beaver from this country. 



Pennanty when alluding to the extirpation of wolves, confesses that 

 he cannot state for certain when the last wolf was destroyed in Scot- 

 land ; but says, upon the authority of Hollingshed, that the flocks in 

 that country suffered extensively from their ravages in the year 1577. 

 He adds, also, that he is informed that at the time of his then writing 

 (1 7^8) none were to be found there. It is said, however, by more recent 

 writers, that the last wolf that inhabited Scotland was killed at Lo- 

 chaber, by Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, about the year 1677- A 



Insect Miscellanies, page 24. 



