186 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



OCCASIONAL NOTES. 



White Stoats. — Whether it is that during a winter when much snow 

 falls these creatures are not so easily seen, or that at such a time they are 

 not so much abroad, I am not prepared to say, but it always seems to me 

 that a mild winter is the most productive of these animals in their white or 

 partly white garb, and the past mild season has helped to confirm my sup- 

 position. In this neighbourhood they have been met with in comparative 

 plenty in all stages of change, and some of them have been very prettily 

 marked, reminding one at first sight of a spaniel dog. One I saw — a very 

 Luge specimen — appeared at a short distance to be of an uniform gray colour 

 on the upper parts, and lighter underneath, but on closer inspection it 

 proved that brown hairs were scattered amongst the white all over the body, 

 which gave it such a peculiar appearance. This was probably an old one, 

 as its teeth were very much broken and decayed. The most remarkable 

 that has come under my notice was one wholly white except the charac- 

 teristic black tips to its tail. It is the first I have ever seen not having some 

 indications of tin- dark summer coat. It is my usual experience that if the 

 body is perfectly white, the head in a greater or less degree shows some 

 marks of the dark dress, and especially on the crown ; but the specimen in 

 question has no such markings, for except a few scattered gray hairs about 

 the eyes, its head is as uniformly white as the rest of its body. I may 

 mention that its eyes were of the usual dark colour. Has the unusual 

 occurrence of these creatures during the past winter been noticed by other 

 correspondents'? — G. B. Corbin (Kingwood, Hants). 



The Lesser Horse-shoe Bat (llhinolophus hipposideros) in York- 

 shire. — I have to record an interesting addition to the bat-fauna of York- 

 shire, specimens of the Lesser Horse-shoo Bat having been sent me by 

 Mr. Henry Laver, of Colchester. They were collected in January, 1876, 

 in a cave near Eavestone, Ripon, a very wild and exposed part of the 

 country, 700 feet above sea level, and sent to Mr. Laver by Mr. James 

 Ingleby, of that place. I have had some correspondence with Mr. Ingleby 

 on the subject, and he informs me that the species is the prevalent one of 

 his neighbourhood, the others occurring there but sparingly in numbers. 

 Of the Long-eared Bat, which in some parts of Yorkshire is the com- 

 monest species of all, he has only found one or two examples, while the 

 Whiskered Bat, which I recorded in ' The Zoologist' for April, was the 

 first of the kind he ever saw. T fully agree with Mr. Laver's deter- 

 mination of the species as R. hipposideros. — W. Dhnison Roebuck (Sunny 

 Bank, Leeds). 



