128 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



the south, and were seen in Canobie before they were known 

 in Langholm to the north of Canobie. But Mr George John- 

 stone, forester, Castlemilk, Lockerbie, informs Mr Service 

 that in 1854 there were a few in the Lockerbie woods, pos- 

 sibly a dozen. He was told by the older inhabitants that 

 about ten years before that, a pair had been brought and let 

 off — say 1844.* Mr Johnstone adds that they perceptibly 

 increased every year up to 1878. " Their numbers might be 

 about four times that of 1854. This year their numbers are 

 much less, which I attribute to the long and severe winter." 



Mr Dalziel, forester and gamekeeper at Hoddam Castle, 

 says there were none there till 1850. "In that year a pair 

 made their appearance. The old woods of Hoddam are very 

 extensive, and abound with hazel, oak, and beech, which give 

 the principal food of the species." Mr Dalziel thinks there 

 may be 400 or 500 squirrels now upon the same number of 

 acres of woodland. Mr Dalziel came to Hoddam in 1848 

 from Eaehills estate. He says there were no squirrels on 

 that estate or anywhere in the neighbourhood of Moffat f at 

 that time. 



Mr Eobert Service — to whom I am entirely indebted for 

 my data from Dumfriesshire — writes me as follows: "James 

 Service (my father) never saw a squirrel alive until he went 

 to Houghton House, near Carlisle, in 1854. He had been 

 previously in Argyleshire, Bute, and twenty years in Ayrshire. 

 My mother always resided in the neighbourhood of Dumfries, 

 and never saw squirrels until she went to Houghton. They 

 were strictly preserved there, and in winter were fed in front 

 of the mansion." In the same year Mr John Croll reports 

 having seen squirrels " when coming on the coach by the 

 Langholm and Langtown road across by Gretna to Dumfries." 



In the neighbourhood of Dumfries they seem to have ap- 

 peared for the first time about 1860, according to evidence 

 collected by Mr Service. Mr W. Lennon, Crichton Eoyal 

 Institution, Dumfries, who was born and has resided in Dum- 

 friesshire all his life (aged now sixty-five), says the first 



* If an actual and successful introduction took place tlien, it is quite pos- 

 sible tliat even Carlisle owes its population to this centre. 

 + In the north of the county. 



