136 The Irish Naturalist, 



determined whefher the large species of newt has since become extinct, 

 or whether the faculty of taking interest in Natural History matters 

 has become lost among the inhabitants of the county. 



Mr. Thompson records the Common Newt from Belfast and Sligo, and 

 mentions that Mr. M'Calla had found it at Tuam, and Dr. R. Ball at 

 Youghal. It has been known from the Co. Dublin for a great many 

 years. We have received specimens at the Museum of this species from 

 the following localities : — Cashel, Co. Tipperary (Miss Kelsall) ; Cappagh, 

 Co. Waterford (R. J. Ussher) ; Armagh (Rev. W. F. Johnson) ; Bushy 

 Park, Co. Roscommon (A. R. Nichols) ; Waterford (A. Neale) ; Lake 

 Mentrim, Co. Meath ; Mullingar, Co. Westmeath ; Giant's Causeway, 

 Co. Antrim ; Raheny and Howth, Co. Dublin (R. F. Scharff) ; Ivucan, Co. 

 Dublin (J. N. H albert); Borris, Co. Carlow (R. I. Acad. Fauna and 

 Flora Committee) ; and Cork (R. A, Phillips). 



R. F. Scharff, Dublin. 



MAMMALS. 



Hedg-ehogrs in Captivity. — In Mr. Barrett-Hamilton's paper on 

 " Irish Mammals " in the Irish Naturalist for this month (March) the 

 following sentence appears : — 



" It is a pit}^ that Mr. Lj^dekker has not given us any notes on the 

 habits of the Hedgehog in captivity." 



Having kept Hedgehogs at different times perhaps a few remarks about 

 them may be interesting. 



When first caught they are very shy, but after a time they learn to 

 know who feeds them. Hedgehogs will eat almost anything, but as they 

 belong to the carnivora they must have meat frequently when in captivity 

 to keep them health}-, besides bread and milk, boiled potatoes, etc. 



We had one Hedgehog that would lay his bristles down smooth and 

 allow himself to be stroked without rolling up. He got so accustomed 

 to be handled and fed by children that he would draw a little cart made 

 out of a paste-board box. He was attached to this by a tape passed over 

 his head with two traces, after the style of the American trotting 

 harness. He was usually kept in a box with wire on the front of it, but 

 sometimes made his escape. The garden he dwelt in was large and 

 walled in, and after two or three days' absence he was generally found 

 rolled up in a nest of grass and leaves under a bush. We had him about 

 a year when during one of his outings he was found as usual, but alas ! 

 poor Peter was no more, ^\'■hat was the cause of his demise we cannot 

 say. 



Hedgehogs are not cleanly in their habits, and are generally infested 

 with fleas. Knowing this, we once spread a white cloth on the ground, 

 placed a Hedgehog on it and sprinkled it plentifully with Keating's 

 Insect Powder, when the fleas left it in great numbers, the white cloth 

 enabling tis to see them. In some houses Hedgehogs are kept for killing 

 black beetles, and it is said answer the purpose well. 



M. Jose Simpson, Ballymena. 



The Irish Stoat. — Naturalists will be startled to read in the y^««. 

 Mag. Nat. Hist, and more fully in the Zoologist, for April, that in the 

 opinion of Messrs. Oldfield Thomas, and G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton, 

 our Irish Stoat must be regarded as a new species, intermediate between 

 the Stoat of Great Britain and the Weasel. These gentlemen describe 

 the animal under the name of Futorins hibcrnicus, and point out that it 

 differs from the British Stoat and approaches the Weasel in its small 

 size, and the less extent of whitish colour beneath the body. As a 

 colloquial name the}' suggest " Assogue," an anglicised transliteration of 

 the Irish name of the animal — Easog There will be, no doubt, much 

 comparison of Irish with English Piitorii by naturalists, and, if the 

 distinctions indicated, be found constant, one of the most important 

 additions to the Irish fauna within recent years will gladly be welcomed. 



=— — Ka 



