210 MUSTELAD^. 



descend to the ground and destroy not only Mice, Rats, 

 Moles, and other small quadrupeds, but Rabbits, Hares, 

 and, as it is asserted, even Lambs. They are very de- 

 structive to game of every kind, and to all sorts of 

 domestic poultry, from the Pigeon to the Turkey. It has 

 also been stated that in Scotland the Marten, as well as 

 the Fox, will descend to the sea-shore at low tide, and 

 carry off numbers of the large muscle, Modiola vulgaris, 

 to feed upon them ; and Professor Rolleston speaks of 

 their " fruit-eating tendency when in a state of domesticity, 

 which is significant, as it separates them more or less from 

 the true Weasels." 



There are few groups in the whole class of quadrupeds 

 which offer more stubborn difficulties to the zoologist, 

 as regards the discrimination of the species, than the 

 Martens. Agreeing not only in the more essential 

 generic characters, but in the general tone and arrange- 

 ment of the colours, there has always been some diffi- 

 culty in ascertaining, especially with the two British 

 Martens, whether they constitute varieties only, or 

 whether they really possess distinctive specific characters. 

 Albertus Magnus, followed by Agricola, Gesner, and 

 Aldrovandus, have all treated of them ; though, with the 

 exception of Agricola, they throw but little light upon 

 the present question. He indeed describes them as 

 distinct, and assigns to them the same differences in 

 habit, as have since been attributed to them by Buffon. 

 But Linnaeus did not recognize the distinction ; and it 

 is only in the last edition of his Systema Nature, that 

 he appears even to have been aware of the variety. 

 "Varietas duplex rusticis," he observes; " Fagorum 

 gutture albo ; Abietum gutture flavo." Klein and 

 Brisson revived the former opinion of their being dis- 

 tinct ; and although Daubenton, with the caution of an 



