2762 Quadrupeds. 



The supposed new Mammal. — As to the true nature of the animal, I confess myself 

 at a loss. My impression was, at first looking at it, that it was a young marten ; and I 

 still cannot help having some leaning to that opinion: certainly not a stoat ; as certainly 

 having no relation to the otter ; for I think nothing of the supposed webbed foot. The 

 mark on the throat and the size of the ears are in favour of its being a marten, and its 

 young condition, shotvn by your observations as to the immaturity of the teeth, is some- 

 what confirmatory of the same solution : but the tail and the general character of the 

 fur do not appear to admit of it. Then comes the question how far hybridism can 

 explain the difficulty. This is extremely rare in wild Mammalia ; indeed I do not know 

 a well-authenticated instance. Whether any of the asserted cases of female domestic 

 cats impregnated by the true wild cat are true or not, it would be very difficult to prove ; 

 and in this case, again, one of them is not in a wild state. The subject appears to me 

 to be beset with difficulties, and not one of the hypotheses strikes me as being free 

 from doubt. I am ashamed of so unsatisfactory a reply to your wish for my opinion, 

 but I cannot really come nearer to a decisive judgment on an isolated fact, without 

 either experience or analogy to guide. — Professor Bell, in a letter to Dr. Morris. 



[Three zoologists, whose names I cannot publish without their consent, have given 

 opinions precisely corresponding with Mr. Gray's. If a doubt still exist on this sub- 

 ject, why not institute a rigorous comparison between the bones of the supposed 

 novelty and those of an ordinary stoat ? — Edward Newman]. 



Is the Squh-rel (Sciurus vulgaris) ever Carnivorous P — In reply to your inquiry 

 about the squirrel, I am decidedly of opinion that it is not carnivorous. I related the 

 anecdote to you exactly as I received it from the mouth of a keeper in the employ- 

 ment of an uncompromising preserver of game, at whose hands all other " fowls of 

 the air and creeping things" find but little mercy, and squirrels and stoats are in- 

 cluded in the same black list. You may remember my remark that his (the keeper's) 

 statement ought to be received cum grano salis. I have since probed the matter to 

 the quick, and submitted the Jack-in-office to a careful cross-examination, the result 

 of which is a perfect conviction on my part that his story was a pure invention of the 

 brain, got up at the moment as a conclusive argument to repel my attempted vindi- 

 cation of his little victims, several of which, recently killed, were lying about the 

 gravel-walks in all stages of decomposition (for the ferret-hutch had been already 

 glutted, and there was no room on the gable end of the barn for another culprit). 

 My expostulations, I grieve to say, have been equally fruitless with master and man. 

 In the extensive and thickly-wooded district to which I refer, the species may survive 

 for many years, in spite of all this persecution. The real offence is the nibbling off 

 the upper shoots of the Scotch fir, during seasons of dearth and scarcity ; a plausible 

 casus belli is thus established against it, and every other crime, possible and impossi- 

 ble, is laid to its charge. " The wish is father to the thought : " the keeper is sure to 

 have a finger in the pie ; he is a ready witness against the accused ; and, under such 

 circumstances, a functionary of this description would almost (except for certain legal 

 terrors, and it may be conscientious scruples) rather shoot a child than spare a squir- 

 rel. That some of the Rodentia will occasionally indulge in animal food there can 

 be no doubt : the rat is a familiar example ; but I firmly believe that the squirrel 

 rarely or never exhibits carnivorous propensities. As to the conduct of animals when 

 kept in confinement, their nature becomes so completely altered by durance vile and 

 the ignorance or neglect of their captors, that it can never be considered a fair index 



