9560 Suckkrs. 



gave very disagreeable proofs of its possessing tliis faculty, nor were our hands freed 

 of the disgusting smell until after repeated washings. This example was about to cast 

 its skin, and where the outer cuiicle has been rubbed off the scales bene;ith show the 

 fine steel-blue tint described by Dr. Opel. The Corouella is not very common in the 

 north of Baden, and seems to be principally confined to the dry, thickly wooded glen 

 of the Neckar. Dr. Opel states that the female lays a number of et;«s; one in the 

 possession of Mr. Bucklaud gave birth to six live young ones iu Ooiober, 1862. May 

 not the truth be that the animal is oviparous, but has the power of retaining her eggs 

 up to the hatching point when in adverse circumstances? Perhaps Prof. Bell could 

 help ns to an explanation. — Edward R. Alston ; Slockbrigys, Lesmahaijotv, N. B., 

 April 6, I860, 



Note on the Squirrel. — On the 3rd of February I examined a male shot during the 

 late hard frosts, in company with a female. It was strongly in season : the stomach 

 was full of food and the duodenum of chyle. Query — Is the breeding time of the 

 squirrel forwarded by a local abundance of food? — Charles W. Devis ; Queen^s Pork, 

 Manchester. 



On the Food of the Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris). — .\llow me to corrob(uate the 

 statement, qnotid from Tschudi by your correspondent Mr. Alston (Zool. 9484), as to 

 the squirrel sometimes digging up truffles {Tuber cibarium). Some years ago, at 

 Elveilen, one of my brothers, seeing a squirrel intently scratching a hole in the ground, 

 went (0 the place expecting to liud a nut or an acorn deposited there. To his surprise, 

 there was nothing of the soit, but a freshly dug-up truffle. Ou his mentioning the 

 fact lu me I kept a look out, and it was nut long before I watched a squirrel perform 

 the same action. After giving the animal time to eat part of bis prize, I walked up 

 and secured some of the fragments. Blasius {Swugelh. Deulschl. p. 274) mentions 

 mushrooms as forming part of the squirrel's diet, but until I read Mr. Alston's note 

 I did not know that any one else had observed it feeding on truffles. — Alfred Newton ; 

 Magdalene College, Cambridge, March 1, 1865. 



Liverpool and other Rats and Sail fFaler. — Such readers of the 'Zoologist' as 

 reside upon the banks of the Mersey must have been greatly edified (?) by learning 

 (Zool. 9431) that its waters opposite Liverpool Docks at low tide is probably fresh and 

 drinkable, the novelty affording yet another illustration of the adage, " Go from home 

 to learn the news." Whatever may have been the case some two or three centuries 

 ago, when Liverpool was a mere "creke of the Port of Chester," and the tidal influx 

 infinitely less in proportion to the outflow of fresh-water, to say nothing of springs 

 possibly existing iu the bed of what was then a river, the idea at the present day 

 is simply absurd and preposterous. In short, the Mersey from Runcorn Gap 

 northwardly (notwithstauding its common designation) is a river no longer. It is a 

 considerable estuary, whose huge volume of brine is and has long been constantly 

 augmenting, through the gradual depression of the land, whilst the extensive lines of 

 quay-walls upon either side have in a most remarkable manner straightened the 

 previously circuitous tidal current here (and main channel), thus effecting an improve- 

 ment in the natural scourage and deepening of the channel, invaluable to this the first 

 sea-port of England and the world. So much for Mersey water: I now approach, as 

 awe-struck as may be, the "mighty army of rats" asserted by your correspoudent's 

 informant to have issued, as if wont, from the warehouses, deliberately crossed ihe 



