396 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
THE EXTINCT BRITISH WOLF. 
Br J. E. HARTING, F.L.S., F.Z.S. 
( Concluded from p. 269.) 
Historical Evidence. — Ireland. 
F ROM the scanty and more or less inaccessible nature of the 
records relating to the natural history of Ireland, compared 
with what exists in the case of England and Scotland, the result 
of a search for materials for a history of the wolf in Ireland has 
proved less satisfactory than could have been wished. Never- 
theless, some curious fragments of information on the subject 
have been collected from various sources, and are now brought 
together for the first time. 
There is abundant evidence to show that wolves formerly 
existed in great numbers in Ireland, and that they maintained 
their ground for a longer period there than in any other part of 
the United Kingdom. In bygone ages they must have fared 
sumptuously amongst the herds of reindeer and Irish elk, which 
at one time were contemporary with them ; and the discovery 
of numerous skeletons, often entire herds of deer, imbedded in 
the mud of ancient lakes, has led to the surmise that these 
animals probably perished in this way in their attempts to 
escape from packs of pursuing wolves. 
Giraldus Cambrensis, who lived in the reigns of Henry II., 
Richard I., and John, and who visited Ireland in 1183 and again 
in 1185-6, when he accompanied Prince John there, has left a 
curious account of the wild animals then existing in Ireland, 
amongst which is included the wolf. He adds, “ the wolves 
often have whelps in the month of December, either in conse- 
quence of the great mildness of the climate, or rather in token 
of the evils of treason and rapine, which are rife here before their 
proper season.” * 
* “ Topographia Hiberniae,” lib. ii., cap. xxvi., p. 726. Ed. Dimock, 
vol. v., p. 112. And not only wolves, but crows and owls bad young at 
Christmas. Tom. cit., p. 112. 
