Quadrupeds . 1635 



all by the fore paws of the animal, which were used in running-. This story is less 

 marvellous than the old one of the rats using one of their companions, lying on his 

 back, as a sledge, and his tail as the harness. — J. Wolley ; 26, Mount Street, Grosve- 

 nor Square, November 20th, 1846. 



Anecdote of a Kitten swallowing a Steel Skewer. — A circumstance has lately come 

 under my notice, which you may perhaps deem worthy of a place in the ' Zoologist,' 

 although it appears to me of so extraordinary a nature, that unless I had known it as 

 a fact I think I should have been inclined to disbelieve it. A black kitten, in the 

 house in which I resided, had appeared for several days to be very unwell, and was 

 continually straining, as if to get something up from its throat which was incommoding 

 it. This (as I said) continued for some time ; when a gentleman one day, while ex- 

 amining it, perceived, about two inches below the chin, a hard point projecting almost 

 through the skin. This at first he thought must be a bone, but upon further exami- 

 nation it appeared to be a steel point, which he easily forced through the skin, and 

 after making a small incision about it he could draw it further out, which he did ; and 

 to his surprise it proved to be a steel skewer of more than seven inches in length, which, 

 as is usual, had a small ring at the end of it ; it had also a small piece of string at- 

 tached to it, on which I suppose the kitten had found a piece of meat. In trying to 

 swallow this, it must have got the skewer so far in its throat that it could not get rid 

 of it again. The kitten is now thriving, and promises to be a fine cat. — E. E. Mont- 

 ford ; East Winch, near Lynn, Norfolk, December 28th, 1846. 



Occurrence of Scotophilus serotinus at Folkestone. — While staying at Folkestone, 

 in the latter end of August and beginning of September, I noticed bats, of a rather 

 large size, very plentiful : having obtained a few specimens, I found they differed 

 notably from the Noctula, the commonest of our large-sized bats. On showing them 

 to Mr. Gray, of the British Museum, he pronounced them to be the serotinus. I be- 

 lieve the only hitherto recorded British locality for that species is the neighbourhood 

 of London. — H. N. Turner, J un. ; 1, Upper Belgrave Place, Pimlico, November 23rd, 

 1846. 



Habits of Roman Dogs. — " As we are on the subject of dogs, I may as well notice 

 some particulars of the habits of this animal in connexion with the general subject. 

 Louis* Bonaparte (Prince of Canino), brother-in-law of Mr. Wyse, and rival of 

 Charles Waterton in knowledge of brute instincts, has drawn the attention of natu- 

 ralists to the system of life pursued by the dogs of Rome. You are aware that no 

 sewerage exists here, except the cloaca maxima ; and that, having no regular dustmen 

 or street contractors, the inhabitants are accustomed to throw out the garbage and 

 refuse of their houses, which is deposited generally in some blind corner appointed for 

 that purpose by the police, and decorated with a large inscription on the wall, Immon- 

 dezzaio, i. e. ' rubbish shot here.' It appears that though several hundreds of these 

 established depots exist in Rome, not one is unappropriated, but has become, by 

 usurpation or regular transfer, the fee-simple of some particular dog, who will not 

 suffer his rights of flotsam and jetsam to be invaded by any squatter or new comer, but 

 rules supreme master of the dung-heap he has acquired. Some cases of co-partner- 

 ship in a corner have been observed, but generally with brothers on the death of the 

 parent ; and desperate battles occur occasionally about ' fixity of tenure,' as in Tippe- 



* So in original, but certainly Charles Lucien. 



