NOTES AND QUERIES. 105 



is there stated (pp. 226, 227) that "in Ireland, doubtless owing to the 

 mild climate, the Mountain Hare does not turn white in winter." This 

 error was doubtless copied from Bell's ' British Quadrupeds,' notwith- 

 standing that we pointed out the fallacy of it twenty years ago, on the 

 appearance of the second edition of that work. Since then we have 

 not only received the assurance of several sportsmen and good observers 

 in Ireland that Bell was mistaken in his assertion, but we have had 

 ocular demonstration of the fact by shooting several Irish Hares, and 

 seeing others shot by friends, in all stages of change from brown to white. 

 —Ed.] 



The Black Rat in London.— As the occurrence of the old English 

 Black Rat, Mus rattus, is becoming less frequent every year, it may be of 

 interest to note that a young one, a female, was caught on the business 

 premises of Messrs. S. E. Norris and Co., at Shadwell, East London, in 

 February last. During the same week that this specimen was trapped, 

 several Brown Rats, Mus decumanus, were caught in the same part of the 

 building. — A. D. Lapsworth (Woodford Green). 



CETACEA. 

 Food of the Dolphin. — In Sept. 1893, the men on board the Prince 

 of Monaco's yacht lying off Corsica captured a Dolphin, which on being 

 hauled on board was opened and the contents of the stomach immediately 

 placed in alcohol. Subsequent examination by Prof. L. Joubin, of Rennes, 

 showed that at the time of its capture this Dolphin had just made a large 

 meal of cephalopods. Mauy of them were so little injured that there was 

 no difficulty in determining the species, and the following were recog- 

 nised : — Enoploteuthis margaritifera, Ruppell (four specimens), Chiro- 

 teuthis veranyi, d'Orbigny (three specimens), Loligo vulgaris, Lamarck, 

 Todarodes sagittatus, Steenstrup, Onychoteuthis lichtensteini, Ferussac, 

 Heteroteuthis dispar, Gray (?), and three examples of a new species which 

 Prof. Joubin has described and figured (Bull. Soc. Zool. France, tome xix. 

 1894, p. 64) under the name of Ctenopteryx cyprinoides, aud which appears 

 to be allied to Ctenopteryx Jimbriatus, described by the Norwegian zoologist 

 Appelof. The particular species of Dolphin is not mentioned, but we may 

 assume from the name Dauphin applied to it that it was the common 

 Delphinus delphis, Linn., which is not only plentiful in the Mediterranean, 

 but comes into our own waters. On the Cornish coast especially it some- 

 times appears in considerable numbers, and is frequently taken in the 

 fishermen's nets. An examination of some of these, according to Couch, 

 has proved that the food of this cetacean is not confined to cuttle-fish and 

 Crustacea, but that Pilchards, Mackerel, and other fish are also habitually 

 taken. — J. E. Hartikg. 



