340 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



ents. He states that they are very rare, but are known to 

 the hunters as living mainly upon the prairie-dogs, and in- 

 habiting their dens, the tracks of the ferrets being: often vis- 

 ible in the snow, passing from one hole to another, during 

 ... the winter. 



It is to be hoped that with this hint in regard to the spe- 

 cies additional specimens may be forthcoming, and their 

 true character determined. Unfortunately the specimen of 

 Mr. La Munyon was not accompanied by the skull, thus ren- 

 dering it impossible to determine whether it is a true Puto- 

 rius like the mink, or a Mustela, and more allied to the pine- 

 marten, or the so-called "sable" of Northern New York. 



AN EGG SIX CENTURIES OLD. 



In removing a portion of the town wall of Kaschau, which 

 dates from the twelfth century, a hen's egg was found im- 

 bedded in the middle of some fine sand, which filled a cubic- 

 al space in the solid wall. The shell is yellowish-brown, 

 speckled like a tobacco-leaf, but perfectly preserved. It is 

 conjectured that it was placed there when the wall was built 

 by reason of some superstition ; perhaps with the hope of 

 rendering the wall impregnable. 1 (7, 1873, xxiii., 360. 



THE FOSSIL HOG OF AMERICA. 



Mr. Klippart, of Ohio, at the recent Hartford meeting of 

 the American Association, gave the details of his discovery 

 of a laro-e number of skeletons of the fossil hosr of America, 

 to which brief reference had been previously made by Pro- 

 fessor Newberry in his report on the geology of Ohio. These 

 were found while digging the artesian well of the city of 

 Columbus, and were obtained at a depth of from twenty to 

 thirty feet. Several skeletons were complete, and the whole 

 series is one that furnishes the means heretofore wanting; 

 for determining the entire osteology of the animal. This 

 hog is the Platygonus compressus of Le Conte, and is closely 

 allied to the peccary, although with a longer and very slen- 

 der snout. 



DALL ON THE BIRDS OF ALASKA. 



A paper has been published by Mr. Dall on the birds of 

 the Aleutian Islands, especially of that portion of the region 



