NOTES AND QUERIES. 115 



calling for remark is the Natterjack Toad, which has once been procured in 

 the parish. Higham, it appears, " can boast of few fish except those which, 

 swimming in the Thames, are caught by Gravesend fishermen," and the 

 author, who refers very briefly indeed to the local Crustacea, has nothing 

 to tell us about the Land and Freshwater Mollusca, of which we should 

 have supposed that the adjacent marshes would have yielded some 

 interesting forms. 



Yorkshire Lepidoptera.— All who are interested in the working out 

 of the geographical distribution of animals will be prepared to welcome the 

 list of Yorkshire Lepidoptera which Mr. Geo. T. Porritt, F.L.S., of 

 Huddersfield, has been preparing at the instance of the Yorkshire 

 Naturalists' Union, in whose ' Transactions ' it will shortly appear, being 

 now in the printer's hands. Assistance having been given by Yorkshire 

 collectors, and full attention paid to the extensive bibliography of the 

 subject, Mr. Porritt has written what is probably the best county-list of 

 Lepidoptera in existence. It includes 1344 out of the 2031 known 

 British species, or a proportion of about two-thirds. 



MAMMALIA. 



Food of the Hedgehog.— I am able to corroborate the statement of 

 your correspondent (p. 25) as to the sucking of eggs by the Hedgehog. 

 One I kept in my garden for some time last summer contrived to get into 

 the hen-house, in which one of the hens was sitting on thirteen eggs, which 

 disappeared one by one until three only were left. The hen then forsook 

 them, and a day or two afterwards I found the Hedgehog in the nest-box, 

 half buried in the straw, and two or three of the remaining eggs broken. — 

 C. Young (Llandaff). 



Otters and the Floods. — The extreme wariness of the Otter and its 

 nocturnal habits have probably often caused it to escape notice, or at least 

 to be looked upon as a rare animal in many districts where it is not really 

 uncommon. But here, at any rate, I think I have good reason to regard 

 it as scarce, for till last October I had not for years heard of any Otter 

 having been killed near this town, either by the hounds or otherwise, and 

 though I have been constantly, and at all hours, on the banks of the 

 Waveney, I have found very few traces of the presence of this animal. 

 The fact, therefore, that during the last few months several Otters have been 

 observed in the river, or the dykes connected with it, is I think worth 

 noting. Like the rest of the county, we have suffered all through the 

 autumn and winter from the excessive rainfall, and all our low-lying 

 meadows have been repeatedly inundated. These high floods must have 

 driven many Otters from their river-bank securities, and this may account 

 for their unusual appearance in the open river. The thick and muddy 



