8 THE MAMMALS, REPTILES, AND FISHES OF ESSEX.
already been made, form traps for the capture of a
considerable number of Marine Mammals, which from
time to time are stranded on their shores or become
entangled in their numerous sand-banks. The list of
these accidental visitors (for such, as a rule, they are)
is, proportionately, much above the average of most of
the maritime counties of England, where the same
facilities for their capture do not exist.
Ten Marine Mammals, out of the total of twenty-
seven, have been noted in Essex. These include
the Porpoise and the Bottle-nosed Dolphin, both of
which may be frequently seen off this coast, and may
therefore count as regular, not accidental, visitors
REPTILIA AND AMPHIBIA.
Essex has no extensive sandy wastes to form a
home for such British Reptiles as are found flourishing
on similar spots in Hampshire and some other parts
of England. Nevertheless, our list of Reptilia is not
far behind that of other counties, and comprises four
out of the nine species on the British lists. Enclosure
and cultivation are having an unfavourable effect on the
numbers of those species which still remain to us ; and,
in some districts, indeed, it would seem as if the Snakes
were becoming extinct and would altogether dis-
appear before many years are past. This, as natur-
alists, we must altogether regret, although the public