BRITISH MAMMALS. By L. Harrison Matthews. New Naturalist No. 21.

1952 1st edition. 8vo (150 x 223mm). Ppxii,410. Colour and b/w plates, illustrations, bibliography. Green buckram, spine titled in gilt.

This is a detailed study of the mammals of the British Isles, of which "we have only about fifty species of land mammals ...if the whales, and the northern seals that rarely visit our shores are added, the list extends to about eighty at most." Chapters include: mammal natural history; mammal structure and function; moles, shrews, and their allies; bat biology; British bats; rabbits, hares and rodents; more about rodents; beasts of prey; seals; deer; whales in general; whales of British seas; the origin of the British mammal fauna. An appendix gives a list of living British mammals.