2638 Quadrupeds. 



The Wild Cat. — In the October number of the ' Zoologist' (Zool. 2587) you in- 

 sert a query respecting the truth of the existence of a wild cat in the British woods, 

 and will feel obliged to any observer for information on this disputed subject. Allow 

 me to add that this subject might be soon settled if you have any correspondents in 

 the North of Scotland, where it is said to occur frequently. When a boy, residing in 

 Scotland, I have frequently seen what is generally supposed to be our wild cat, and 

 which differs, in my opinion, very much from " the domestic cat having become wild," 

 in size, form and colour. And if I mistake not there is a specimen of the wild cat, 

 from Scotland, in the Museum of the Zoological Society, along with a specimen of 

 the Felis maniculata — the alleged origin of our domestic breed. The comparison of 

 these specimens will be of some interest. I have written to a friend in Scotland to 

 procure one and send it to you, that you may have ocular proof of the existence or 

 otherwise of the Felis catus of Linneus. — /. Mcintosh; Milton Abbey, November 2, 

 1849. 



[My correspondent puts the question rather differently from myself. I have not 

 mooted, neither am I prepared to moot, the large question, " Is there a Felis catus 

 of Linneus ?" My question runs thus : " Is there in the woods of Britain a cat spe- 

 cifically distinct from that universally domesticated ? " — Edward Newman.'] 



Puppies nursed by a Barren Cat. — I saw, for the first time, on the 14th of this 

 month, two terrier puppies — about a fortnight old — carefully tended and nestled 

 under a black cat, who appeared anxious and uneasy on my taking one of them out 

 of the basket to examine him. The owner of the puppies — an ironmonger, in Vic- 

 toria Boad, Pimlico — told me that their mother having been stolen a few days before, 

 he had placed the puppies in the basket, covered them with a piece of carpet, and 

 fed them by dipping their noses in a saucer of milk and forcing them to swallow the 

 milk. The motherless little ones in their basket, and the operation of feeding them, 

 appeared greatly to interest the house cat, a female five years old, who has never had 

 any kittens, and she frequently stood looking into and rubbing herself against the 

 basket, as though inclined to step in. At length, two days before I saw them, the 

 puppies, having had their noses well soused in the milk, as usual at their meal times, 

 were restored — wet-faced and sneezing — to their basket, when Puss, who had atten- 

 tively watched the whole proceedings, quietly stepped into the basket, — a low hamper, 

 — licked the puppies dry, and cowered over them like an ordinary feline mamma. 

 She has since steadily adhered to her proteges, who often fruitlessly attempt to suck 

 their barren foster-mother, and are in return most tenderly cleaned and caressed by 

 her. The puppies are short-tailed, clumsy little urchins, about the size of half-grown 

 kittens. — Edward Brotvn Fitton; 53, Upper Hurley Street, October, 1849. 



Food of the Water Vole (Arvicola amphibius). — Several years ago I met with a 

 very large quantity of separated valves of the common mussel in the burrows of water 

 voles, but not one was opened by a portion of the shell opposite the hinge having 

 been eaten away, as mentioned by Mr. Gurney (Zool. 2588) i in this instance the 

 hinge itself was eaten, and the valves separated entire. I mention this to show that 

 different means are resorted to, to attain the same end, — and most probably by the 

 same animal, — on different occasions and places ; but can give no opinion as to 

 which of the two animals it is to be attributed. — Robert F. Tomes ; Welford, Strat- 

 ford-on-Avon, November 5, 1849. 



