A COMMENTARY ON NOS. VII. AND VIII. OF " THE NATURALIST." 2l)l 



from a burrow what he supposed to be a Rabbit, but which proved, to his asto- 

 nishment, a Fitchet- Weasel ; it did not attempt to bite him, though he instantly 

 let it drop on discovering his mistake. The young of this species are thinly co- 

 vered at birth, with a whitish hair, which is succeeded by woolly fur of a uniform 

 dark brown colour, though exhibiting the usual pale markings upon the head. 

 They frequently develop their permanent teeth previously to the shedding of the 

 first set, continuing to exhibit a complete series for a few weeks. 



Respecting the occurrence of Papilio podalirius in the New Forest (p. 38), 

 more stress ought surely to be laid on the circumstance, that many of our rarest 

 Lepidoptera, as Mancipium daplidice, Deilephila euphorbia, D. galii, D. lineata, 

 D. celerio, &c, have chiefly been met with along the line of our south coast ; 

 wherefore the question is at least fairly admissible, whether some of them should 

 not rather be considered as occasional stragglers, than as tx*uly indigenous to the 

 country ? It is certain that Acherontia atropos has been frequently met with far 

 out at sea, as I have myself observed with Macroglossa stellatarum, Cynthia car- 

 dui, Colias edusa, and numerous others, some of them of very small size. With 

 such facts before us, it seems at present that we have trivial arguments for the 

 contended indigenousness of Papilio podalirius, even granting that a very few 

 specimens have from time to time been captured within the realm of Britain. Is 

 either of Mr. Allis's specimens a female insect ? For it is needless to add that 

 the males are considerably the more erratic. 



In Mr. Allis's extremely interesting paper on the incongruity of the compo- 

 nent groups of the Rasores (a view in which I heartily concur), it is stated that 

 " gallinaceous birds see at their birth," also, " (I believe without exception,) run 

 from their nest as soon as hatched," and " always pick up their own food as 

 soon as they run from the shell." Is Mr. A., however, prepared to assert this of 

 the Pterocles and allied genera (composing, I consider, an extremely distinct and 

 well-marked family), which are generally understood to be incapable of leaving 

 the nest for some time, being fed by the parent ? Another anomalous group is 

 presented by Hcemapodius and its various allies, birds of peculiar form, and 

 wanting the hind toe, and which are undoubtedly more distinct from the Tctrao- 

 nidcz, than this latter from the Pavonidce. The Struthionidce should certainly 

 not be admitted among the Rasores, as such a combination merges two obvious 

 and recognised divisions, to form one that is vague and comparatively indefin- 

 able ; a junction which could only have originated in abstract theoretical views, 

 based on deductions from insufficient, data. I think it must be confessed, how- 

 ever, that the difficulties of achieving a perfectly unobjectionable arrangement, 

 are insurmountable ; as there will always be anomalous groups, which refuse to 

 conform to any comprehensive division. Witness, for example, the Larks, the 

 Calamophilus, the Paradoxornis, the Menura, the Psophia, the Phcenicopterus, 



