1899.] 0>' WILD GOATS OF THE -IGEAX ISLANDS. 599^ 



which an imimal that had turned white in southern regions was 

 during the spring a ver}' conspicuous object), and the occasional 

 turning white of individuals in southern regions where the white- 

 turning habit had long since been dropped by the majority of the 

 species, was, especially among Stoats, in Mr. Barrett-Hamilton's 

 opinion, the cause of the numerous reported instances ' of the 

 assumption of white in mild winters in England. Both these 

 phenomena, i. e. the late moult and the tendency of solitary indivi- 

 duals of non-white-turning races to revert to the white-turning 

 habit, were, at first sight, of apparently little use, or perhaps eveu 

 dangerous to the species in que-tion. On further consideration, 

 however, it appeared that their utility was probably to be found in 

 the opportunity afforded by their means of adaptation to changed 

 climatic conditions ; it being obvious that, in countries where an 

 animal, if it turned white in winter, would have to go about in that 

 conspicuous garb for some time after the disappearance of all 

 snow and fi'ost, those individuals which turned less white than 

 their companions would have a better chance of surviving, and so 

 would become (as is the case in southern countries) the dominant 

 feature of the race ; whereas the occasional individual reappearance 

 of the white-turning habit gave an opportunity to the species for 

 its general reassumption, should climatic conditions become more 

 severe. 



Mr. Allen had pointed out that in Lepvs americanus the spring 

 moult " occurs quite as early and proceeds just as rapidly (if not a 

 little more so) in the females as in the males, and that the moult 

 is practically completed before the young are born "' (op. cit. p. 122) : 

 but Mr. Barrett-Hamilton stated that the latter part of this state- 

 ment was not true for the south of Ireland, where the Variable 

 Hare was still in winter-coat in early May, whereas its young were 

 usually born at a very much earlier date, the- exact date of their 

 birth depending almost entirely on the weather. 



Mr. E. M. Corner read a note on the vai'iations of the patella 

 in the Divers, Grebes, and Cormorants, by n hich, as he believed, 

 the functions of the bones in these birds might be explained. 



A communication was read from Marquis Ivrea on the AVild 

 Gfiats of the ^gean Islands. A series of heads and some photo- 

 graphs of the Goats of the islands of Antimilo and Joura were 

 exhibited, with the object of showing that the effect of a cross 

 between Capra cefjagmis and C. hircus (such as had been proved to 

 have occurred on the former island) was not to produce an animal 

 corresponding to 0. dorcas (Eeichenow), and that consequently the 

 Goat of Joura had not, as was generally assumed, been so produced, 

 but was, as a matter of fact, a local variety of the Wild Goat, for 

 which the name C. (pc/arjms, var. jourensis, was suggested. 



' See various communications to the ' Field.' 



39* 



