i894. NOTES AND COMMENTS. 249 



Acclimatised Rats and Cats. 

 A NEW interesting case of the gradual adaptation of animals to 

 their surroundings is quoted in a recent number of Public Opinion from 

 the Pittsburg Dispatch. It appears that in the cold-storage warehouses 

 in Pittsburg there were originally no rats or mice. The temperature 

 in the cold rooms was too low. The keepers soon found, however, 

 that the rat is an animal of remarkable adaptability. After some of 

 these houses had been in operation for a few months, the attendants 

 found that rats were at work in the rooms where the temperature was 

 constantly kept below the freezing point. They were found to be 

 clothed in wonderfully long and thick fur, even their tapering snake- 

 like tails being covered by a thick growth of hair. Rats whose coats 

 have adapted themselves to the conditions under which they live have 

 domesticated in all the storage warehouses in Pittsburg. The pre- 

 valence of rats in these places led to the introduction of cats. Now, 

 it is well-known that pussy is a lover of warmth and comfort. Cats, 

 too, have a great adaptability to conditions. When cats were turned 

 loose in the cold rooms they pined and died because of the excessive 

 cold. One cat was finally introduced into the rooms of the Penn- 

 sylvania Storage Company which was able to withstand the low 

 temperature. She was a cat of unusually thick fur, and she thrived 

 and grew fat in quarters where the temperature was below 30 deg. 

 By careful nursing a brood of seven kittens was developed in the 

 warehouse into sturdy, thick-furred cats that love an Icelandic clime. 

 They have been distributed among the other cold storage houses of 

 Pittsburg, and have created a peculiar breed of cats, adapted to the 

 conditions under which they must exist to find their prey. These cats 

 are short-tailed, chubby pussies, with hair as thick and full of under 

 fur as the wild cats of the Canadian woods. One of the remarkable 

 things about them is the development of their " feelers." These long 

 stiff hairs that protrude from a cat's nose and eyebrows are, in the 

 ordinary domestic feline, about three inches long. In the cats culti- 

 vated in the cold warehouses the feelers grow to a length of five and 

 six inches. This is probably because the light is dim in these places, 

 and all movements must be the result of the feeling sense. The 

 storage people say that if one of these furry cats is taken into the 

 open air, particularly during the hot season, it will die in a few hours. 

 It cannot endure a high temperature, and an introduction to a stove 

 would send it into fits. 



Living Specimens of Protopterus. 



Those zoologists who attended the conversazione given by the 

 local committee to the members of the British Association in the 

 University Museum, had the opportunity of seeing a zoological exhibit 

 of very unusual interest. Dr. H. O. Forbes, the Director of Museums, 

 Liverpool, exhibited on behalf of the Derby Museum living specimens 



