XIII. MAMMALIA OF NORFOLK. (ADDITIONS TO PART I. OF THE FAUNA OF NORFOLK.*) BY THOMAS SOUTHWELL, F.Z.S. Read 25th March, 1884. IN 1871 our Society commenced publishing a series of articles on the FAUNA and FLORA of the County of Norfolk, which have been continued from time to time. To most of these lists large additions have been made since their publication, and the completion of the third volume of our 'Transactions' has been thought a favourable occasion to bring them up to the present date. In some instances the additions have been so numerous, and the changes in arrangement or nomenclature so considerable, that it has been thought desirable to reprint them with the fresh matter incorporated. In other cases a supplementary list only is given. To the Land and Fresh-water, and the Marine Mollusca, so little has been added, that no fresh lists are given; and there are several branches of Marine Zoology which, to the great regret of the Committee of our Society, are at present quite unrepresented. Any of our members having the facilities for studying these branches, will, by doing so, render a great service to the Natural History of the county. It is contemplated in future to bring the lists up to date at the conclusion of each successive volume of our Transactions. The following list of the MAMMALIA found in the county of Norfolk (to the Reptilia and Amphibia there have been no additions) must be considered as supplemental to my lists published by the Society in 1871, and be read in connection with the same. Where nothing worthy of note regarding the species has come to my knowledge during the past thirteen years, the name is simply * See Trans. Norfolk and Norwich Nat. Soc. vol. i. (1870–71) p. 71. repeated. Where additional information is given, it is as much condensed as possible, reference being given to sources whence fuller information may be obtained. Species new to the list are marked with an asterisk (*). The species to be removed from the previous list are three in number, the Oared Shrew, the Greenland Right-whale, and the Black Rat. Seven new species are added; viz., the Parti-coloured Bat, Lesser Shrew, Grey Seal, the Dormouse, Red Field Vole, Atlantic Right-whale, and Pilot Whale, increasing the total from thirty-seven to forty-one species. I have some hesitation in admitting the Dormouse, for reasons which will be given; but as it was, doubtless, at one time indigenous to this county, I have decided to give it the benefit of the doubt; it is quite possible it may never have wholly ceased to exist in some parts of the county. In the list of REPTILIA and AMPHIBIA no change has been made. Since the publication of my contribution in 1871, the list of "The Mammalia of Essex," by Mr. Henry Laver, F.L.S., and that of Yorkshire,* by Mr. W. Denison Roebuck, F.L.S.,-both published in 1881, but by the kindness of their respective authors corrected for me to the present date,-together with the Catalogue of the Mammalia of Northumberland and Durham, by Messrs. Mennell and Perkins, published in 1863-enable me to make a comparison between the Mammalian Fauna of Norfolk and those of the counties named, thus, notwithstanding the absence of published lists for Suffolk and Lincolnshire, fairly representing the distribution of the members of this group on the eastern coast of England from the Thames to the Tweed. In order to facilitate this comparison, I have constructed a table, showing the species occurring in each county, side by side with a complete list of those found in England. The latter is compiled from Bell's British Quadrupeds' (second edition), and includes only the species found in the southern division of the kingdom, of these Bell enumerates seventy-three. From these I have deducted the Pine Martin, which is now proved not to be a British species; the Fallow Deer and Roe Deer, neither of which exist in a truly wild state in England; the Greenland Right-whale, which it is extremely improbable has ever been met with in our seas; and the * Messrs. Clarke and Roebuck's 'Vertebrate Fauna of Yorkshire.' Broad-fronted Beaked Whale, which has proved to be the adult male of the Common Beaked Whale; and have added one species, Vespertilio dasyeneme (Boie) (on the authority of Dr. Dobson), leaving sixty-nine species. By this table, which I append, it will be seen that in the county of ESSEX there are thirty species, which are of constant occurrence, and probably all breed, and might, in that county, almost be called residents: these are marked R in the Table. In this number I include one Cetacean, viz., the Common Porpoise. There are nine species marked A, which must be considered accidental visitors; viz., Common Seal, the Common, Rudolphi's and Lesser Rorquals, Sperm Whale, Beaked Whale (Hyperoodon), Grampus, and Bottle-nose Dolphin, also the Hooded Seal which was taken in the Orwell, in the county of Suffolk, but, as this river empties into Harwich Harbour, Mr. Laver claims it for Essex also; and two marked E, which are probably extinct, but have occurred too recently to be omitted altogether, viz., Marten and Black Rat, making a total of forty-one species out of sixty-nine in the general list. Mr. Laver also suspects the Gray Seal of having occurred on the Essex coast. In NORFOLK there are twenty-eight residents, or regular visitors. I again include the Porpoise, which is abundant every season; also the Common and Grey Seals, which have both been known to produce young on our coast. Of accidental visitors there are ten; viz., Parti-coloured Bat, Ringed Seal, Atlantic Right-whale, Common and Lesser Rorquals, Sperm Whale, Beaked Whale, Grampus, Pilot Whale, and White-beaked Dolphin. The indigenous races of two others are probably extinct, but individuals have occurred recently-viz., the Marten and Badger, and one other, the Dormouse-which it is possible may have been re-introduced; making a total of forty-one species out of sixty-nine. In YORKSHIRE there are thirty-two species which come under the first class R, in which I include the Marten, Badger, and the Red Deer (marking the latter as doubtful), for, although remaining only in a semi-domesticated state in parks, Mr. Roebuck believes in some instances they are, "in all probability, the lineal descendants of the wild stock which formerly inhabited the surrounding districts." Of the second class A, there are thirteen individuals, including the Hairy-armed Bat, which has occurred only on a single occasion; |