2008 Quadrupeds. 



base of the penis are two follicles, secreting a dark brown substance, dry and lumpy, 

 but friable between the fingers, most insufferably musky, the odour from which is 

 strongly diffused by the animal during life. 



" From the width of the gape, the length of the teeth, and the power of the jaws in 

 this species, together with the ferocious eagerness with which my captive specimens 

 snatched at large cockroaches, I conjecture that its insect-prey is large ; probably noc- 

 turnal beetles and the larger moths and sphinges." — P. H. Gosse,in 'Proceedings of 

 Zoological Society] Nos. 176 and 177. 



Sagacity of a Cat. — We have a young cat in our house we call Toby, who, among 

 other frolicsome tricks, exercises his sagacity by opening the doors. It was often a 

 matter of surprise that the door which opens into the garden should frequently be 

 found open : the cause was soon discovered, for Toby was seen one day swinging into 

 the passage suspended to the handle of the latch. It is really curious to observe the 

 means used by the kitten to effect his purpose : he springs up to the latch, puts one 

 paw through the handle, by which means he suspends his body against the door ; with 

 the other paw he pats the latch until the door opens. Toby seems fond of this sport, 

 which he repeats many times in the course of a day. There is another door which he 

 readily opens ; we suppose by similar means. I should not have noted down the gam- 

 bols of a kitten, had I not an impression on my mind that this species is capable of 

 exhibiting a far greater degree of sagacity than is usually attributed to them, and 

 which is more fully developed when the animal is kindly treated. — W. Bentley ; 3, 

 Critchell Place, December, 1847. 



Habits of the Field-Mouse. — The notice (Zool. 1901) of the young otter holding on 

 by the fur at the root of the parent's tail, induces me to state that, at the end of last 

 October, I witnessed something similar take place with the field-mouse and her young. 

 Happening to be standing in a field from which potatoes were being raised, I observed, 

 in and around a furrow which the plough had just made, a field-mouse and seven or 

 eight young, fully two-thirds grown. Four or five of them were running in different 

 directions, at a pretty rapid rate ; but three others were firmly attached to the hinder 

 part of the mother. She seemed to drag them away with considerable difficulty, 

 judging from the comparatively slow progress she made. After having drawn them 

 eight or ten yards, and being pursued, she parted company with them, turned round, 

 sat up upon her hind legs like a squirrel, rubbed her face, and then scampered off at 

 full speed. — G. Gordon ; Birnie, December, 1847. 



Rats feeding on Eels. — " In cutting through an embankment in a field adjoining the 

 river Lune, the other day, for the formation of one of the culverts rendered necessary 

 by the passing of the North-Western Railway in that direction, the labourers met with 

 between 15 lbs. and 20 lbs. of eels, some quite fresh, and others in the last stage of 

 putrefaction. They varied from a quarter to half a pound in weight, and consisted of 

 the common silver-bellied or river eel, and Lilliputian specimens of the conger or sea 

 eel. The latter, of course, had come up with the tide. As teeth-marks were visible 

 on the heads of most of them, it was conjectured they had been destroyed in that way, 

 and stored for winter provision, by some animal whose retreat was not far distant. 

 This proved to be the case. On digging a little further out bounced a matronly rat, 

 with seven half-grown young ones at her heels. The workmen gave chase, and ulti- 

 mately succeeded in killing both mother and progeny, with a solitary exception, the 

 trunk of a neighbouring tree affording an asylum to one of the family. The embank- 

 ment is about 100 yards from the water's edge, so that it must have required consider- 



