53 



been caught some time before in ToUymore Park, county of Down. 

 Mr. R. Ball, of Dublin, informs me that black rats, with the breast 

 white, have been reported to him as once common about Youghal, 

 county of Cork, though they are now very rare or perhaps extinct. 

 But until April last, when a specimen was sent from Rathfriland, 

 county of Down, to the Belfast Museum, I had not an opportunity 

 either of seeing or examining the animal. This individual differs 

 from the M. Rattus as described by authors, and also from speci- 

 mens preserved in the British Museum, and in the collection of this 

 Society, in the relative proportion of the tail to that of the head and 

 body ; in having shorter ears, and in their being better clothed with 

 hair, as is the tail likewise ; and in the fur of the body being of a 

 softer texture. The difference in colour between the M. Rattus and 

 the present specimen is, that the latter exhibits a somewhat trian- 

 gular spot of pure white extending about nine lines below the breast, 

 the fore feet being of the same colour. 



The following is a comparison of this specimen with the M. Rattus 

 as given by Mr. Jenyns. The same dimensions, with the very trivial 

 difference of the ears being half a line less, appear in Mr. Bell's 

 " British Quadrupeds." 



M. Hibernicus. M. Rattus. 



in. line. in. line. 



Length of the head and body 7 6 ., 7 4 



head 110 .. 110 



ears 9 .. 11^ 



tail 5 6 .. 711 



from the base of the ear to the 



} 



snout J 



from the tarsal joint to the end 1 , „ 

 of the toes J 



Tliese differences incline me to consider this animal distinct from 

 M. Rattus, and being unable to find any species described with which 

 it accords, I propose to name it provisionally M. Hibernicus. Should 

 future investigation prove it to be a variety only of M. Rattus, it can 

 be so considered under the present appellation. 



* Lepus Cuniculus, Linn. Rabbit. Persons who take rabbits in 

 the north of Ireland distinguish two kinds, the one they call the 

 burrow, the other the bush rabbit. The meaning of the former term 

 is obvious, but of the latter it may be stated that the animal is so 

 designated, in consequence of having a " form" like the hare, and 

 which is generally placed in bushes or underwood. The circumstance 

 is noticed at present in connection with a specimen of each kind 

 which I have the pleasure of presenfing to the Society. 



CervusAlces, Linn. Elk. A horn of the true elk, C.AIces, was some 

 time since presented to the Natural History Society of Belfast, as that 

 of the fossil Irish species, C. Hihernus. On inquiry from the donor 

 I learned that it had been given him by a relative residing in Tyrone, 

 and in whose possession it had for a long time been on account of 

 the value attached to it as a relic dug out of a peat-bog on his own 

 property in that county. Further particulars cannot now be ob- 



