446 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
considered as. decidedly supporting the opinion that they are 
essentially different.’ .No mew information was here given as to 
the supposed distribution of the animals in this country.* In 
Scotland, however, the elder Macgillivray had better opportunities 
for. observation, anda comparison of specimens. convinced him ‘of 
‘the indivisibility of the species... Young specimens, he says, 
haye yellow throats, and are the Pine Martens of authors; while 
‘in old individuals the whole fore-neck and part of the breast are 
white, or greyish white, or pale grey mottled with brownish. The 
yellow colour on the throat fades in specimens kept in Museums; 
SO, as; at length to be scarcely perceptible.’+ In Ireland, 
W. Thompson came to similar conclusions, observing that: ‘all 
the native specimens which have come under my own notice were 
yellow-breasted (Martes abietum), with the exception of one, which 
had the breast white (M. foina), and was killed in the county of 
Antrim.’ He adds that he had long since remarked that the yellow 
colour gaye place to white with advancing age, and explained the 
greater number of yellow-breasted specimens obtained: by’ their 
comparative immaturity. t 
The author who has most recently treated of the question is 
Mr, Bell, . In his revised second edition of the ‘Quadrupeds”: he 
fully accepts the, specific distinction of the two forms, regarding 
which, he was formerly so doubtful, and quotes a letter from 
Mr, R.'T. Vyner, who ‘concludes that the Beech Marten is ‘at 
present much less\ common than the Pine, and is, indeed, very 
nearly extinct,in England, which is accounted for by its habit 
of leaying its. summer haunts of woods and rocky: places}: to 
inhabit, in the, winter, farin buildings, faggot-stacks, and other 
similar localities, and thus becoming exposed to various means of 
destruction. .The Pine Marten, on the contrary, continues to 
inhabit, at all seasons of the year, its accustomed retired’ haunts, 
rarely, if eyer, intruding into the immediate ipriies 0 of sion 
habitations. § 
It will thus, be seen thatthe later and better-informed Ehslish 
faunists, gradually,approached agreement) as’ to: the existence ‘of 
* ‘British Quadrupeds,’ Ist ed (1837), pp. 167—176. [Reference might also be 
made here to a paper by Mr. Eyton, ‘ Ann, Nat. Hist.’ 1840, p. 290.—Ep.] 
+ ‘ Brit, Quady.’(Nat. Libr. xx. 1838), pp. 166—173. 
t ‘Nat, Hist. Ireland’ (1856), iv. p. 9. 
§ ‘British Quadrupeds,’ 2nd ed, (1874), p. 212. 
