240 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



The London School Board have now the subject of Natural History 

 Collections before them. The following extracts are from the ' Daily 

 Mail': — "Tempting as may seem the offer of the entire contents of a 

 museum for £51, some members of the London School Board (March 2nd) 

 seemed disinclined to purchase on the principle that it was too cheap to be 

 good. [W e are entirely of that opinion. — Ed. Zool.l The collection in 

 question is at present in the possession of the Shoreditch Public Libraries 

 Committee, and consists inter alia of: — Twenty-four cases of birds intact ; 

 9 cases of birds broken, the whole being somewhat dirty ; 223 birds un- 

 mounted, badly preserved, and probably not worth the trouble of mounting ; 

 15 Emu and 20 Guillemot eggs; 291 eggs and 14 nests; 14 boxes of 

 eggs ; 68 jars of reptiles; 57 boxes of shells; cabinet of Lepidoptera 

 (cabinet in bad condition, and the specimens attacked by mites); 43 boxes of 

 Lepidoptera, 32 of Coleoptera, 8 of Hymenoptera, and other Lepidopteral 

 rubbish ; 26-drawer cabinet of minerals, fossils, and shells (cabinet very 

 bad); 28 boxes of minerals, very dirty and unclassified; 2 cases and 2 

 cabinets of minerals ; a collection of polished pebbles, garnets, &c, about 

 1£ tons in weight ; groups of coral, coins in cases, cases of medals, bones, 

 tiles, glass jars, boxes, &c. One member was very sceptical as to the worth 

 of the museum. He asked if the word ' mite ' was not a misprint for 

 * mice,' but was informed, amid laughter, that ' mite is right.' In the end 

 the Board resolved to purchase mites and all, provided one and a half tons 

 of loose fossils were thrown in. The whole collection, it was stated, cost 

 about £1000." 



The Rev. J. Conway Walter has contributed some interesting notes on 

 " Fox and Dog Hybrids near Horncastle," to the April issue of ■ The 

 Naturalist.' Mr. Walter exhibited, at the meeting of the Lincolnshire 

 Naturalists' Union in 1897, a case containing two stuffed specimens of a 

 cross between a Fox and a Dog, the sire being a male Fox (Vulpes vulpes), 

 and the mother a half-bred bitch between Shepherd Dog and Whippet. The 

 mother was bought by M. Suchetet with a view to further experiments. 

 Since then several similar hybrids have been produced in the same neigh- 

 bourhood. In one case, at Ashby Puerorum, a farm-bailiff, named Cross, 

 tied his Shepherd bitch near a Fox-earth, and the one pup reared is now in 

 the possession of Mr. Frank Dymoke, of Scrivelsby Park. In another case 

 a gamekeeper near Louth tied a bitch in a wood, in the nutting season, to 

 give warning of trespassers, and subsequently the bitch had pups, evidently 

 a cross with a Fox. One of these is now in the possession of Mr. Waltham, 

 dealer in china, High Street, Horncastle. Another is in the possession of 

 Mr. E. Walter, farmer, of Hatton, a cousin of Mr. Stafford Walter, who bred 

 the original hybrids, which were exhibited in 1897. 



