Mr Harvie- Brown on the Squirrel in Great Britain. 31 



II. Early Chajpters in the History of the Squirrel in Ch^eat 

 Britain. By J. A. Hakvie-Brown, Esq., F.Z.S., etc. 

 Part II. — Mythological, Heraldic, and Historical Evi- 

 dence in Scotland. 



(Read 15th December 1880.) 



Before proceeding to a new part of this paper, I wish to 

 correct two errors in my last. 



For M'Curtius, read M'Curti?i's. 



O'Brien's Dictionary is not the oldest of the three I men- 

 tioned, so the absence of the name iora in O'Brien's cannot 

 be held as important evidence of the absence of the species 

 in Ireland, when present in the other two. 



I may add that Mr E. M. Barrington, in a paper read before 

 the Eoyal Dublin Academy this year, and which I now hold 

 in my hand, treats very fully of the species in Ireland, and 

 will make it unnecessary for me to trouble you with further 

 details. One point, however, I mention further on, in which 

 I slightly differ with Mr Barrington as to one of his argu- 

 ments used against the indigenosity of the squirrel, although 

 I certainly am of the same opinion with him on the main 

 issue. 



MYTHOLOGICAL EVIDENCE IN SCOTLAND. 



Now to continue : — It may be said that evidence of the 

 occurrence of the squirrel in S. Scotland in early times, is to 

 be found in the valuable Eunic scroll upon the monumental 

 stone of Euthwell, where a squirrel is depicted climbing a 

 vine or other fruit-bearing tendril, and feeding upon the clus- 

 ters of fruit. But I am inclined to think that, like the use 

 of the name Con, this knowledge of the animal is an im- 

 ported knowledge, and does not necessarily prove its presence 

 in these early times. The Eev. Chas. Swainson is quite of 

 opinion that the squirrel might appear upon such ancient 

 monuments. " From its red colour," he writes to me, " it was 

 always associated with the old Northern God Donar or Thor. 

 And in the Edda we read of the great ash-tree Ygdrasil, whose 

 branches embrace the world, on the crown of which sits an 



