214 MUSTELAD^. 



Gardens was excessively timid and wild : if it were 

 driven from its close box into the outer part of the cage, 

 which could only be done by force, it would bound 

 recklessly from one side to another, striking itself against 

 the wires with great violence. If, however, it be taken 

 young, it is susceptible of great docility, and the remark- 

 able elegance of its form, the beauty of its fur, and the 

 playfulness of its manners, when thoroughly reclaimed, 

 render it one of the most pleasing of pets : neither has 

 it in the same degree that disgusting odour which cha- 

 racterizes all the Weasels ; for although it has similar 

 scent-glands, the secretion is less fetid, and in the Pine 

 Marten is considered by many to be absolutely agreeable. 

 Hence its name of Sweet Marten, in contradistinction 

 to the Foumart {quasi Foul-marten), or Polecat. Mr. 

 Vyner, however, who has taken many specimens when 

 sporting in France, informs us, that on being skinned, 

 a very unpleasant faint odour is perceived, which is not 

 the case with the Pine Marten. 



In a very learned and elaborate jDaper published in 

 the Cambridge " Journal of Anatomy and Physiology," 

 Prof. Rolleston has enunciated the theory that " the 

 white-breasted Marten {Mustela Foina) was the animal 

 which the ancient Greeks and Romans employed for the 

 same domestic purposes for which we employ the Felis 

 domesticus.'" He says, " I shall address myself to showing 

 that the white-breasted Marten, which is known also as 

 the ' Beech Marten ' or ' Stone Marten,' was function- 

 ally the ' Cat ' of the Ancients." The paper will well 

 repay careful examination. It exhibits the well-known 

 largeness and originality of the author's criticism, and 

 the subject is exhaustively treated from the literary 

 point of view by very numerous quotations from classical 

 authorities. 



