NOTES AND QUERIES. 141 



with its teeth, and running across the road disappeared in the long grass on 

 the ether side. — M. S. Pkmbrey (in 'Nature'). 



On the Assumption of the Ermine Dress in Stoats.— Sometime ago 

 you expressed a wish for an opinion, founded on observation, as to whether 

 the assumption of the ermine dress in the Stoat is the result of a gradual 

 change of colour in the hair, or an actual growth of new hair (1884, p. 112). 

 Having during this winter examined several Stoats more or less in this 

 dress, I send you the result of my observations. Among those procured iu 

 this neighbourhood was a very interesting specimen which was trapped in 

 the second week in February, and was then evidently reassuming the brown 

 garb of summer, the people on whose farm it was taken regretting that they 

 had not been able to trap it earlier, as it had been seen on several occasions 

 and was quite white a month before. In this specimen the brown covers 

 the upper part of the head and extends in a line along the spine to the 

 tail. It is these parts which, as I have often observed before, are the last to 

 turn white, and would, therefore, probably be the first to turn brown again, 

 When the fur lies in its natural position the brown appears dark on the 

 head and nape, paler on the small of the back, still paler on the lower back, 

 and darker again at the root of the tail. On raising the fur the reason of 

 tli is is apparent. On the head every hair is brown, and brown from tip to 

 base; on the back the hairs have only their distal portion brown, and 

 some even are uncoloured ; on the lower back still more are uncoloured. 

 and those that show any brown are merely tipped with that colour. 

 Coupled with the fact that there is no appearance of a " moult " (if I may 

 use this convenient term in the case of a quadruped), or of any loose hairs 

 about the body, I think that the evidence afforded by this specimen goes to 

 prove that the change is effected by a gradual change in the colour of the 

 hairs, and not by a change of coat; and also that the change (from white 

 to brown at all events) commences at the point and not at the base of the 

 hairs. A change of coat during the inclement season would be very incon- 

 venient to the Stoat. Two very nice milky white Ermines were procured 

 in the neighbourhood earlier iu the season, and 1 saw two more at Mr. 

 Darbey's in Oxford. Iu the case of these the only brown showing was 

 a ring round each eye, giving them a curious spectacled appearance. — 

 Oliver V. Aplin (Bloxham, near Banbury.) 



Hybrid Rats. — A very curious rat was trapped here in the garden last 

 November, and, as it may possibly have been a hybrid, between a Black 

 aud a Brown Rat, I think it may be worth reporting. It was a large rat 

 measuring 18 iu. from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail. The 

 predominating colour was brown, but the shoulders, a baud running along 

 the whole length of the back, and the tail, were black. The black murk on 

 the shoulders resembled the mark which one sees on the shoulders of so 



