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. 
AVhether 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 iraegularity 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 Eauna will be found to hold an important place in 
the estimation of the student ; for it will present to him 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 Avork 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 proj>erly 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 
