1879.] MR. E. R. ALSTON ON THE BRITISH MARTENS. 473 



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 abietuni), 

 with the exception of one, which had the breast white (31. foina), 

 and was killed in the county of Antrim." He adds that he had 

 long since remarked that the yellow colour gave place to white 

 with advancing age, and explained the greater number of yellow- 

 breasted specimens obtained by their comparative immaturity 2 . 



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 leaving its summer 

 haunts of woods and rocky places, to inhabit, in the winter, farm 

 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 ever, intruding into the 

 immediate purlieus of human habitations" 3 . 



It will thus be seen that the later and better-informed English 

 faunists gradually approached agreement as to the existence of only 

 one species of Marten in Britain, and that some of them drew the 

 natural though erroneous deduction that Martes sylvatica and 

 M. foina were specifically identical. The fact is, as I believe, that 

 M. foina is not, and never was, a member of the British fauna. 

 During the last ten years I have missed no opportunity of examining 

 native Martens, and have endeavoured to trace out every supposed 

 " Beech Marten " that I could hear of. I have thus seen a very 

 large number of specimens from various parts of England, Wales, 

 Scotland, and Ireland ; and every one has proved to be 31. sylvatica. 

 The late Mr. Bly th, who paid some attention to this question, assured 

 me, shortly before his death, that his investigations had led him to 

 the same result ; and I have been unable to find any competent 

 observer acquainted with the true characters of the species, who has 

 ever seen an authentic British-killed specimen of 31. foina. Mac- 

 gillivray and Thompson were certainly correct in saying that the 

 pale-chested individuals which have usually received that name in 

 this country are merely aged examples of the Pine Marten, or spe- 

 cimens which have faded in museums. Nor does there appear to be 

 the slightest evidence in favour of Mr. Vyner's suggestion that 

 31. foina has been recently exterminated in this country. Such a 

 fate has not overtaken the species on the Continent, where it holds 



1 Brit. Quadr. (Nat. Libr. xx. 1838), pp. 166-173. 



s Nat. Hist. Ireland (.1856), iv. p. 9. 3 Brit. Quadr. 2nd ed. (1874), p. 212. 



