240 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
on the “invertebrate type,”"—that is to say, the rods are turned towards, 
and not away from, the light, as they are in the lateral eyes of vertebrates. 
MAMMALIA. 
Martens in Herefordshire.—I promised to let you know the history 
of the Herefordshire Marten-cat which was presented to the British 
Museum last year, and at the same time to try and furnish some informa- 
tion about other specimens of this now rare animal procured in this county. 
The specimen in the British Museum (dark brown with maize-coloured 
throat) was caught in a vermin-trap in a covert called “ Paradise-brake,” 
close to the house, in March, 1878. The keeper (Edwin Rogers) who 
caught it called it a Pine Weasel, and reported that he came upon the 
foot-prints of another soon afterwards; but has not seen or heard of one 
from that time to the present. Mr. H. Wood, of White House, Vow- 
church, Hereford, has a stuffed specimen of the Marten, which he informs 
me was caught by his keeper, Thomas Howard, in Lowerhouse Wood, in 
the parish of St. Margaret’s, about twenty-five years ago. Its colour isa 
light brown, with a white throat, but it is said to have been darker when 
killed, and to have since faded, either from exposure to the light or from 
the action of the chemicals used for preserving the skin. Mr. Wood 
remembers to have seen another Marten, which was killed in the orchard 
above his house perhaps thirty-five years ago. This specimen was much 
darker in colour than the one now in his possession. It was preserved at 
the time, but was subsequently given away, and he is now uncertain 
whether the specimen is still in existence or not. He adds that “ many 
years ago” a yellow-throated Marten was killed near Urishay Castle, about 
three miles from where he resides, and was described at the time in the 
Hereford papers as a “ Pine Marten.” Mr. Greathead, of Whitfield, near 
St. Devereux, about four miles from here, informs me that about the year 
1860 three Martens were killed in this neighbourhood, and that none have 
been seen since. The old keeper who killed them described them as very 
like young fox-cubs, and, in regard to size, intermediate between a fox and 
a ‘fitchew,” or Polecat. The Rev. G. M. Watkins informs me that 
’ Whitlock, the keeper at Kentchurch Court, says he has not seen a 
“ Marten-cat” for twenty years; not since 1866, when one was trapped at 
Kentchurch, just by the little brook that runs into the River Monnow. 
His father, forty years ago, used to kill four or five every year near Mon- 
mouth, in a large wood called “ Whitehill.” The last I have heard of was 
seen just two years ago. Jn the spring of 1884, Mr. Walter Steward, 
R.N., was wading in the River Dore, when he saw a Marten (exactly like 
the one we sent to the Museum, dark brown with yellow throat) crossing 
the stream by means of a tree which had fallen across, and carrying a rat 
in its mouth. Mr. Steward, being in the water not far from the tree, had a 
