118 



MUSTELID.E. 



in PL xxiii. fig. 13, of the " Reliquiae Diluvianae," 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 of the 

 caves at Oreston : and the author of the " Reliquiae Dilu- 

 vianae " 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. 



