The Zoologist — May, 1874. 3973 



I shall conclude these extracts with one which is justlv intituled 

 "a remarkable physiological facl"-indeed so remarkable is it that 

 I should fear to repriut it, but that the onus will rest on other 

 shoulders. I could certainly have wished that Mr. Black«all had 

 entered more into detail, that he had given us particulars of the 

 first association of three animals so different in their natures and 

 assigned some possible, if not plausible, reason for the uupre- 

 cedented occurrence; however, T must leave all surmises to my 

 readers. I have confidence in the good faith of the narrator, 

 although I suspect the story is susceptible of some explanation 

 which does not appear. 



"A spaniel bitch belonging to 3Ir. Robert Scholes, of Cheetham HHl 

 near Manchester, in the autumn of the year 1830, brought up a kitten and 

 a fawn of the fallow deer, which she attended to as assiduously as if they bad 

 been her own offspring. Instances of animals, when deprived of their jouncr 

 attaching themselves to the progeny of other species endowed with physical 

 and mental powers differing widely from their own are of frequent occurrence • 

 and the warmth of affection usually manifested towards the nurselin-s on 

 such occasions proves how deeply the parental feeUngs are implanted in the 

 infenor orders of animated beings. I bave known the domestic cat for 

 example, take charge of young squirrels and young hares, which but for 

 the powerful mfluence of this active principle, would in all probability have 

 fallen victims to feline voracity. But what renders the case before us 

 peculiarly interesting to the physiologist is the fact that the bitch was only 

 fourteen months old and never bad whelps; it is reasonable to suppose 

 therefore, that the secretion of milk in her teats was promoted by the 

 excitation induced by the repeated efforts of the kitten and fawn to derive 

 sustenance from that source. The fawn increased in growth so rapidly that 

 it soon greatly exceeded its foster-mother in stature."— P. 205. 



I cannot close the volume without expressing my conviction 

 that It never should have been published in its present form • con 

 taming as it does many passages of great interest, these ought to 

 have been arranged with greater care, and such paragraphs as 

 that I have cited at the head of this notice should have been 

 wholly eliminated, as entirely misrepresenting the present state of 

 our knowledge, and unworthy of the reputation the author's other 

 writings have attained. 



Edward Newman. 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. IX. 



