120 The Naturalist in Siluria. 



examination of the skin, when turned inside out, hindered 

 me from noticing that the frontlet and crown of the head, 

 with a portion of the nape of the neck, still preserve their 

 normal hue — a light bay. The other specimen, however, 

 is nearly as white as a true Arctic ermine. That it is the 

 cold which causes this blanching is generally acknow- 

 ledged among naturalists, as also that an extreme degree 

 of it is necessary to produce the change. Hence was I 

 puzzled at its having come about in a winter so mild as 

 the past one had been all through. On reflection, how- 

 ever, I think it likely that these stoats turned white in 

 one or other of the two preceding winters, — perhaps 

 partially in both, — and during the summers intervening 

 they had not gone back to the bay colour. 



It is rare to meet with White Stoats so far south as 

 Gloucestershire, though instances have occurred, some 

 even in Cornwall ; and Mr. Bell, in his " History of British 

 Quadrupeds," tells us of such in the classic region of 

 Selborne itself. 



A PROLIFIC WEASEL. 



In The Live StocJc Journal of August 18th, 1881, I 

 made mention of a gill Ferret that had brought forth 

 eleven young, and was successfully suckling them with 

 but eight teats ! They were then about a month old, and 

 the owner, a labouring man in my employ, brought them 

 to me for examination. Mother and all were enclosed in 

 a rough deal box, and on removal of the lid, a curious 

 spectacle was presented. Twelve vermiform creatures, 

 looking as much reptile as quadruped, all white, with a 



