118 MUSTELID &. 
in Pl. xxiii. fig. 13, of the ‘“ Reliquiz Diluviane,” fully 
equals in size that of the largest Putorius ermineus, and 
exceeds the fossil jaw figured by Dr. Schmerling, in his 
work on the Fossils of the Belgian Caverns. 
Further evidence of the antiquity of the Weasel is 
adduced by Dr. Buckland, on the authority of Mr. Clift, 
from marks of nibbling by the incisor and canine teeth of 
a small quadruped, of the size of a Weasel, on the ulna of 
a Wolf and the tibia of a Horse, found fossil in one ef the | 
caves at Oreston: and the author of the “ Reliquiz Dilu- 
vianse” observes, with his usual acumen, that, ‘‘ the weasel’s 
teeth must have made their impressions on the bones of the 
wolf and horse before they were buried in diluvial mud.” 
The account which Mr. Bell has given, in his History of 
the existing Quadrupeds of Britain, of the food and habits 
of the Weasel, is, however, scarcely reconcileable with the 
idea of its applying its slender acuminate teeth to the act 
of gnawing bones, and we shall be justified, therefore, in 
requiring further evidence before admitting the Putorius 
vulgaris into the catalogue of British Fossils, as the as- 
sociate of the extinct Mammalia of the Oreston caves, 
Fig. 41. Fig. 42. 
Kent’s Hole. 
Fossil Stoats, nat. size. 
