360 REPORT—1840. 
difference of colour attributed to these animals appears to me 
of no value as a specific character, as in course of shedding 
their fur they become particoloured, the breast as well as the 
body presenting at the same time the colours of the Beech and 
the Pine Marten*. Certain data for including Felis Catus in 
the Irish catalogue are wanting: it is said to frequent the wild 
district of Erris (co. Mayo). Vulpes vulgaris is commont. 
Order 4.—GLIREs. 
Fam. Castoride. 
Ireland, Great Britain. 
0 Arvicola amphibius, Desm. 
0 »  arvalis, Gm. (agrestis, Brit. au- 
thors). 
0 »  rubidus, Baill. (riparia, Yarrell). 
Of the genus Arvicola, there is not any species known to 
me as indigenous to Ireland. 
Fam. Muride. 
Ireland. Great Britain. 
0 Sciurus vulgaris, L. 
0 Myoxus avellanarius, Desm. 
0 Mus minutus, Pall. (messorius, Shaw.) 
Mus sylvaticus, L. 
»  Musculus, Z. ao 
» Rattus, L. (2) +- 
», hibernicus, Zhomps. 0 
», decumanus, Pall. + 
Sciurus vulgaris is not now a truly native animal}; it was in- 
troduced a few years since to the county of Wicklow, where it 
is said to be fast increasing in numbers. Rutty, in his Natu- 
ral History of the County of Dublin, (1772,) vol. i. p. 291, re- 
marks that it is “‘said to have been found in the wood in 
* When the above was in the press, Mr. Eyton published in the Annals of 
Nat. Hist. (Dec. 1840, p. 290) some valuable remarks on the British Martens, 
tending to prove that they are in reality but one species. He states that the 
young animal has the yellow breast attributed to the Pine Marten, and the adult, 
the white breast of the common “species.” I had also long since remarked that 
the yellow colour of the breast gave place to white. This view would satisfac- 
torily explain why the yellow-breasted one—MM. Abietum—should appear to be 
the more common with us, as by far the greater proportion of animals that fall 
victims to man are those which have not arrived at full maturity. 
+ Canis Lupus, L. Smith, in his History of Kerry (p. 173), states that 
Wolves were not entirely extirpated in Ireland until 1710. That noble race of 
domestic animals, the Irish Wolf Dog, so successfully used in their pursuit, has, 
since no longer required, been neglected, and must now, I fear, be called 
extinct. 
{ There is a tradition that the Squirrel was common in Ireland before the 
destruction of the native woods. 
