52 



been caiight some tlme before in Tollymore Park, county of Down. 

 Mr. R. Bali, of Dublin, informs me that black rats, with the breast 

 •vv-hite, have been reported to him as once common about Youghal, 

 county of Cork, though they are now very rare or perhaps extinct. 

 But until April lašt, -vvhen a specimen was sent from Rathfriland, 

 count}^ of Do\vn, to the Belfast Museum, I had not an opportunity 

 either of seeing or examming the animal. This individual differs 

 from the M. Rattus as described by authors, and also from speci- 

 mens preservcd in the British Museum, and in the coUection of this 

 Society, in the relative proportion of the tail to that of the head and 

 body ; in having shorter ears, and in their being better clothed w'ith 

 hair, as is the tail likewise ; and in the fur of the body being of a 

 softer texture. The difference in colour between the M. Ratius and 

 the present specimen is, that the lutter exliibits a somewhat trian- 

 gular spotof pure white extending about nine linesbelowthe breast, 

 the fore feet being of the šame colour. 



The following is a comparison of this specimen \vith the M. Radus 

 as given by Mr. JenjTis. The šame dimensions, with the very trivial 

 difference of the ears being lialf a line less, appear in Mr. Bell's 



" British Quadrupeds." 



M. Hibernicus. M. Rattus. 



in. line. in. line. 



Length of the head and body 7 6 .. 7 4 



head 110 .. 110 



ears 9.. O 11| 



tail 5 6.. 7 11 



from the base of the ear to the lig 



snout , J 



from the taršai joint to the end 1 , - 



of the toes j 



These differences incline me to consider this animal distinct from 

 M. Rattus, and being unable to find any species described -vvith which 

 it accords, I propose to name it provisionally M. Hibernicus. Should 

 future investigation prove it to be a variety only of M. Ratius, itcan 

 be so considered under the present appellation. 



* Lepus Cuniculus, Linn. Rabbit. Persons who take rabbits in 

 the north of Ireland distinguish two kinds, the one they call the 

 burrow, the other the bush rabbit. The meaning of the former term 

 is obvious, but of the latter it may be stated that the animal is so 

 designated, in conseąuence of having a " form" likę the bare, and 

 which is generally placed in bushes or under\vood. The circumstance 

 is noticed at present in connection mth a specimen of each kind 

 which I have the pleasure of presenting to the Society. 



CervusAlces, Linn. Eik. A horn of the true eik, C. Akės, -n'as some 

 time since presented to the Natūrai History Society of Belfast, as that 

 of the fossil Irish species, C. Hibernus. On inąuiry from the donor 

 I leanied that it had been given him by a relative residing in Tyrone, 

 and in whose possession it had for a long time been on account of 

 the value attached to it as a relic dug out of a peat-bog on his o\va 

 property in that county. Furthcr particulars cannot now be ob- 



