Distribution of British Animals . 39 5 
animal had become scarce, and, by the 13th century, was only 
to be met with, according to Giraldus de Barri, in one river in 
Wales, and another in Scotland. If we may credit Boece, they 
were found in plenty, even so late as the 15th century. It was 
termed Llosdlydan by the Welch, in the 9th century, and, in 
the Highlands of Scotland its Erse name, Losleathan, still holds 
a place in the vocabulary of the Gael. 
Among the noxious animals which have been extirpated by 
the efforts of the hunter, we may enumerate the Wolf and the 
Bear. The Wolf continued in Ireland to maintain its ground, 
so late as the beginning of the 18th century (1710), though it 
had been extirpated in Scotland thirty years before, and in 
England at a much earlier period. The Bear , which in Wales 
was regarded as a beast of the chace, equal to the hare or the 
boar (. Ray . Syn. Quad. p. 314.), only perished, as a native of 
Scotland, in the year 1057. 
To this extensive catalogue we might have added another,— 
the Antelope, the remains of which, along with the bones of 
deer, boars, and beavers, were found in a peat-bog at Newbury, 
Berkshire.— Phil. Tran . 1757, p. 113. But there is no accom- 
panying description, indicating to which of the two European 
species (A. Rupicapra or Saiga) it belonged. 
From the preceding statements, we seem warranted to con- 
clude, that the progress of society is exerting, and has exerted a 
powerful influence on'the geographical distribution of British ani- 
mals. A few species, which formerly roamed through the woods, 
in freedom, have been reclaimed from a savage state, as the horse, 
the ox, and the boar. Others have been so persecuted by the 
sportsman, or disturbed by the farmer, that they have been 
compelled to retire to the more uncultivated and inaccessible 
districts, as a temporary asylum from their foes. While a third 
class, furnished with fewer resources, and exposed to a severe 
persecution, have perished from off the land. 
The same effects appear to result from the progress of socie- 
ty throughout Europe, and, we may add, throughout the whole 
earth. The animals, which in this country have been driven to 
a corner, are, on the Continent, experiencing similar encroach- 
ments on their haunts. The animals which society, in this 
country, has succeeded in extirpating, have, in like manner, been 
