List of the Fauna of the County. 179
cetacean on any part of our Essex coast; but I feel certain
that it ought to be in our list. Perhaps someone with better
opportunities than myself will be able to give an instance of
its capture.
D. tursio. Bottle-nosed Dolphin.—This generally reputed
rare animal has occurred twice within my own observation.
One occurred a few years since off Harwich, the specimen
being about 10 feet long; and the other was shot in the
Colne a few months since, as I recorded in the 'Zoologist'
for 1882, p. 147. This specimen, like the last, was a female,
and was about 8 feet long. In 1829 one was taken in the
Thames below the Nore, and its skeleton is in the museum of
the College of Surgeons. In most of the drawings of the skull
of this animal the teeth are represented as truncated ; this is
no doubt the result of wear, and is incidental to age; but in
both those individuals examined by me the teeth were sharp,
and slighly directed inwards and backwards. The stomachs,
in both cases, were empty, except that they contained a large
number of the ear-bones (otoliths) of the Gadidae: I recog-
nised those of cod, haddock, and whiting. I fancy this is one
of the most easy to kill of the family; I have known one
caught by a cod-hook in the lip and killed; and the one in
the Colne succumbed to a charge of small shot.
From the above list it will be seen that I claim for Essex
a total of forty mammals, besides the three doubtful ones,—
the common marten (Mustela foina), grey seal (Halichaerus
gryphus), and red deer (Cervus elephas). There are probably
some other members of the order Cetacea which ought to be
included in this Catalogue.
Those I have mentioned belong to the following orders :—
Cheiroptera .... 7 species.
Insectivora . . . . 5 ,,
Carnivora . . . . . 8 ,,
Rodentia . . . . .12 ,,
Ruminantia . . . . 1 „
Cetacea ..... 7 ,,
40 ,,