Quadrupeds. 276 1 



has been visiting, steadily awaiting his re-appearance, to conduct him home, always 

 keeping near him, and particularly at night, when the footsteps of any one are heard 

 approaching. It is still more curious that, previous to the assault alluded to, the dog 

 used to growl at Mr. Tuckett, who had once punished it for fighting with a small 

 terrier of his own. It would seem as if the animal was impelled by some unaccount- 

 able instinct to defend Mr. T. from a threatened danger. — Communicated by Dr. 

 Hodgkin. 



Curious Act in a Dog. — Mr. James Reeve, floor-cloth manufacturer, formerly of 

 Little Tichfield Street, about sixty years since had occasion to call at a relation's in 

 the City Road, and from thence to some part of Hoxton, to settle a large account in 

 the way of business. Somewhere near Finsbury Square a dog suddenly fawned about 

 him, which he endeavoured to drive off, but failed in his efforts ; when passing a dead 

 wall, a few minutes after, the dog began to growl, and made a sudden stop under a 

 lamp fixed to the wall, and in the shadow he saw a man standing in a very suspicious 

 manner ; and a few yards further on, under the next lamp, the dog acted in the same 

 manner, and Mr. Reeve in the gloom saw a second man in the same posture as the 

 first: he did not think much of the occurrence at the time. When he reached Hox- 

 ton the party was from home, and he was unable to pay the money : the dog returned 

 with him to near the place where he first saw him, and disappeared. Some weeks 

 after, a man who had occasionally been employed by Mr. Reeve sent an urgent mes- 

 sage to him from Newgate, where he was lying under sentence of death for a burglary : 

 when Mr. R. went, this man informed him that the night he went to pay the money 

 himself and a confederate intended to waylay and rob him, but seeing the dog pre- 

 vented them, as it appeared so ferocious. The dog was a common-looking dark 

 mongrel, about the size of a large terrier. — Id. 



The supposed new Mammal (Zool. 2676). — I have carefully examined the animal 

 sent by Ur. Morris for my opinion, and I am convinced that it is only a common stoat. 

 It cannot be a young polecat or pine marten which had lost its long hair, because the 

 teeth are well formed, and agree exactly with those of the stoat, and are much smaller 

 than those of a young polecat or pine marten. It has no relation to the otter ; and, 

 indeed, differs so little from the usual appearance of the stoat in change of fur, that 

 I am satisfied if my friend Mr. Tomes had had an opportunity of examining the spe- 

 cimen, he would have seen that it had no affinity to the genus Lutra. There is no 

 ground whatever for believing it a hybrid. — Mr. Gray, of the British Museum, in a 

 letter to Professor Bell. 



The supposed new Animal described by Dr. Morris. — As I have hazarded some 

 erroneous opinions on this subject, I now venture a few remarks in vindication 

 of my ignorance. My observations were based on the description given of the 

 animal in a proof sheet forwarded to me by Mr. Newman, and were not at the time 

 intended for publication: however, that gentleman thought the dimensions there 

 given of some of the British Mustelids, from fresh specimens, worthy of insertion, 

 and in due time therefore they appeared. In the winter of 1846-7 an unusual num- 

 ber of the stoat occurred in the white or ermine fur, and I procured nearly a dozen, 

 more or less in that state, for the purpose of examining closely the change of fur. 

 Having thus made a tolerably close acquaintance with the species, I do not believe I 

 should have made so great a mistake had an opportunity occurred of inspecting the 

 specimen described as something extraordinary. — Robert F. Tomes ; Welford, Strat- 

 ford-on-Avon, February 20, 1850. 



