Sucklers. 8945 
Porpoises and Salt Water.—Is there not some error in supposing that salt water 
is necessary in keeping ,the porpoise in confinement? (See Zool. 8874). At this 
moment I caunot state my authority, but somewhere I have read of shoals of a species 
of porpoise being frequently seen in the Amazon River, far beyond tidal influence. 
Again I think I have heard of these creatures occurring in the Trent, near Gains- 
borough, which, if I mistake not, is beyond the reach of salt water. Certainly in the 
Norwegian fjords I have seen both porpoises and the grampus sporting about where 
the water was only perceptibly brackish —George Norman; Hull, January 2, 1864. 
Supposed Old English Rat.—I think I can explain the occurrence near Beverley 
of the rat, as recorded by Mr. Boulton (Zool. 8872). The fact of the rat having been 
killed in a barge on the River Hull, furnishes, in my opinion, the explanation. The 
barge bad, in all probability, brought a cargo of foreign produce from Hull, and the 
rat along with it. _A rat, nearly black in colour, and with an unusually long develop- 
ment of tail, bas long been known to me here, occurring as it does very frequently in 
cargoes from warm climates. Only a fortmight ago I saw a specimen on board a 
vessel which had brought a cargo of wheat and rosewood from San Francisco. It 
was in the hold of the vessel, sitting on a log of rosewood, nibbling away at some 
stray grains of wheat. Some years ago I had a colony of these “ interesting 
foreigners” in my own warehouse. They came among sume bundles of eork-wood 
from Spain. Possibly, after all, it may be the same as the old English rat, now 
nearly exterminated. It is smaller than the common or Norwegian rat; and, like 
many other foreigners, lank and apparently ill-conditioned.—Jd. 
Anecdote of « Weasel—I witnessed yesterday a curious instance of cunning in a 
weasel. We were all at dinner when the tortoiseshell cat appeared on the lawn 
carrying a large weasel by the back of the neck. I at once ran out, and made the cat 
loose her hold; the weasel was alive and struggled to get away, but the cat again 
seized him by the neck. The weasel, finding that his struggles were useless, ceased 
to move, and hung like a dead weight in the cat’s mouth. The latter then dropped 
him on the walk, apparently as dead as a stone, and moved away to a little distance. 
I approached the weasel, who lay on his side perfectly motionless, and, just as I was . 
going to turn him over, I saw him open one eye and take a rapid look round, and in 
another second he had darted across the lawn and under a thick Acuba. The cat 
caught sight of him at once and bounded after him. Then followed a most exciting 
chase. The weasel got between the laurels and the fence on Mr. Forbes’ side close by 
the kitchen door, ran from there to the little gate with the cat after him, then doubled 
back like a fox and almost went into the kitchen, making the laurels rattle as they 
rushed through them. Finding no escape at either end of the fence, the weasel made 
a bold dash across a corner of the lawn, and got very nearly into the row of laurels 
between the two gates, when the cat sprang upon him, and I thought it was a case of 
a “kill in the open,” as a fox-hunter would say. However, the little weasel fought 
' most pluckily, and for about ten seconds there was a very sharp skirmish. The cat 
_ tried to seize him by the neck, and the weasel showed wonderful activity in eluding 
her grasp. Twice he sprang at her face and tried to seize her, but got knocked down 
both times, first with a right-hander and then with a left, which the cat most scienti- 
fically delivered as he rushed in. Finding, therefore, that he had little chance of 
winning the fight, the weasel made another bolt, almost running up against me as I 
stood quite still looking on, and hid himself among some rolls of turf that were heaped 
up by the new walk. The cat evidently did not hunt by scent, but only like a grey- 
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