Bibliographical Notice. 77 



English examples, yet we possess in our own collection a beautiful 

 specimen taken in the river llother, in Sussex, a few years ago, 

 whose fur is still as dark as that of any otter we ever met with in 

 Ireland. But one species of Lutra can be recognized as a denizen of 

 the British Islands. 



We are reluctantly compelled to point out an error as regards 

 the geographical distribution of the hedgehog* (Erinaceus europceus). 

 " The hedgehog," our author says, " has not hitherto, so far as we 

 know, been met with in Ireland." Now we can state, from our own 

 experience, that it is generally distributed there ; but if he had 

 appUed this remark to a different animal, the weasel {Mustela vul- 

 garis), though not quite correct, he would have been nearer the 

 truth. The stoat {Mustela enninea) is common in Ireland, where it 

 never becomes white during the winter ; and the term " weasel " is 

 always applied to it and not to its lesser congener, which, in all pro- 

 bability, is now extinct. During our early youth, about the year 

 1824, in the far west of Ireland (county of Mayo) we once saw a 

 weasel run across a road and take refuge under a heap of stones. 

 Its diminutive proportions and short tail at once attracted our at- 

 tention ; and summoning to our assistance some men who were 

 engaged in repairing a wall, the stones were removed, one by one, 

 until at last the little animal made its appearance, and was quickly 

 despatched. Bewick's ' Quadrupeds ' was then a familiar book 

 Avith us ; and the admirable figure of the weasel, with which 

 the specimen precisely corresponded, removed all doubt as to the 

 species. Like " The Last of the Mohicans," it was probably the 

 ultimate representative of its race. Such, indeed, was the opinion 

 of the late Mr. Thompson of Belfast, to whom we related the inci- 

 dent several years afterwards. At any rate our subsequent exertions 

 to procure another example of the true weasel proved fruitless ; nor 

 have we ever succeeded in obtaining a recent specimen in that 

 country, or met with others who have been more successful than 

 ourselves. 



A propos of Ireland, we are glad to find that the so-called Irish 

 hare {Lepus hihernicus of the first edition) has been rejected as a 

 species, and now finds its true place as a geographical variety of the 

 mountain hare (Lepus variabilis), so common in the hilly parts of 

 Scotland. In the comparatively mild climate of Ireland this animal, 

 like the stoat, does not become white in winter, a circumstance 

 which probably first induced the late Mr. Yarrell to suggest that it 

 should be specifically distinguished, as the ostcological differences 

 are really imimportant. But even when transported to the soutli of 

 England the Irish hare will change colour during severe seasons, as 

 we can assert from personal experience. About the year 1850 the 

 late Lord Mayo sent fourteen to the late Lord Leconfield, who 

 turned them down in Petworth Park, one of the finest in England, 

 surrounded by a lofty wall of more than twelve miles circumference. 

 Here they increased rapidly, being much more prolific than the 



* This mistake has since been corrected in an erratum slip. 



