38 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



of the Chamberlain, for moneys laid out by him at the mar- 

 riage of David II. to the King of England's sister in 1328, 

 occur the items : " Et in Ixxij supertunicis (' surcoats ') de 

 strandlyn, et vij supertunicis de squirrelles," which appear 

 to have been brought from Flanders to Scotland by one Peter 

 Machenar, who is paid his expenses, and who is afterwards 

 called " a Flanders merchant." * Later in the accounts of 

 John of Dunfermline, in 1329, similar items appear — e.g., for 

 fourscore " surcoats " of squirrels {de scorella), and of strand- 

 lings, " xxxij et xiiijs," and, " iiij"^^ supertunicis scorellorum et 

 de strandelings, supernis per empcionem. Et de iiij"^ super- 

 tunicis de scorellis et de strandelings per empcionem in com- 

 poto precedenti," all of which also appear to be foreign 

 merchandise, f 



The Eev. M. G. Watkins sends me the following further in- 

 teresting note in this connection: "It is curious that a cursory 

 inspection of the ' Ledger of Andrew Halyburton, Conservator 

 of the Privileges of the Scotch Nation in the Netherlands, 

 1492-1503, together with the Book of Customs and Valuation 

 of Merchandises in Scotland, 1612,' shows no mention of 

 squirrels, though skins of all other Scotch animals (seem- 

 ingly) are frequently named and priced." [This is part of the 

 same series, published 1867.] 



But Professor Newton's opinion — in lit. — that " our squir- 

 rels could never have had a pelt comparable to that of the 

 animal in cold countries " is sufiicient, perhaps, to explain the 

 omission, so that it would be arguing on insufficient evidence 

 if w^e concluded from these omissions, or from these notices 

 of imported squirrel skins, that squirrels did not then exist 

 in the south of Scotland. 



amongst others : "Of peloure of a tymmyr of skynnis of toddis, quliytredys, 

 mertrikis, cattis, beveris, sable, ferrettis, or swylk utbyr of ilk tymmyr at pe, 

 outpassing iiijd ; of pe tymmyr of skurel, dycht, and letheryt, viii ; of ilk otyr 

 skin a halfpenny." The company in which the "skurel" here finds itself, 

 viz. — that of " beveris," points to Scandinavian or Kussian origin, and to the 

 grey squirrel pelt of commerce. 



* Vide Chamberlain's "Eolls of Scotland," vol. i., p. 30. 



t Op. cit. ("Exchequer Rolls of Scotland"), Edw. Stuart and Burnet, pub- 

 lished by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, 1878. The 

 item " iiijxx "=: fourscore. I have been unable to discover what animal the 

 name strandelings was applied to. 



