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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
existed in these realms, the magnificent remnants of which in 
many parts still strike the beholder with awe and admiration, 
afforded for centuries an impenetrable retreat for these animals, 
from which it was well-nigh impossible to drive them. It was 
not, indeed, until all legitimate modes of hunting and trapping 
had proved in vain, until large prices set upon the heads of 
old and young had alike failed to compass their entire destruction, 
that by cutting down or burning whole tracts of the forests 
which harboured them, they were at leDgth effectually extir- 
pated. 
In the course of the following remarks it is proposed to 
deal, first, with the geological evidence of the former existence 
and distribution of wolves in the British Islands ; secondly, 
with the historical evidence of their survival and gradual 
extinction. 
Under the latter head it will be convenient to arrange the 
evidence separately for England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland : 
and, as regards England and Wales, to subdivide the subject 
chronologically into (1) the Ancient British period; (2) the 
Anglo-Saxon period ; and (3) the period intervening between 
the Norman Conquest and the reign of Henry VII. 
In this reign, it is believed, the last trace of the wolf in 
England disappeared, since history thereafter is silent on the 
subject. In Scotland and Ireland, however, this was by no 
means the case, as, later on, we shall have occasion to show. 
G-eological Evidence. 
Owing to the great similarity which exists between the 
skeleton of a wolf and that of a large dog, it is sometimes 
extremely difficult for any but a good anatomist to distinguish 
between them. Professor Owen, in his “British Fossil Mam- 
mals,” has remarked upon this difficulty, and has pointed out 
the chief distinguishing characters which may be relied upon 
for identification, and which lie chiefly in the skull. 
So far as we have been enabled to collect the evidence, it 
would appear that undoubted remains of the - wolf have been 
found in the following localities, for a knowledge of many of 
which we are indebted to Professor Boyd Dawkins’ able paper, 
“ On the Distribution of the British Post-Glacial Mammals,” 
published in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society.* 
Berkshire. — Windsor (Mus. Geol. Survey). 
Derbyshire. — Pleasby Vale (Mus. Geol. Survey); Windy Knoll, 
Castleton (Dawkins, “ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.” xxxi. p. 246, and 
xxxiii. p. 727) ; Creswell Crag Caves (Mello and Busk, “ Quart. 
Journ. Geol. Soc.” xxxi. p. 684) ; Dawkins, op. cit. xxxii. p. 248, 
and xxxiii. pp. 590 and 602. 
* See Vol. xxv. 1869, p. 192. 
