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THE ZOOLOGIST 



but Mr. Harting is no doubt right in saying that Linnaeus may also have 

 been influenced by the colour. No one can lament the necessity for 

 changing familiar names more than I do; but I feel perfectly convinced 

 that the sooner we boldly make such changes as are demanded by the laws 

 of priority, the sooner we shall attain stability in nomenclature. I do not 

 quite understand the meaning of the last paragraph of the editorial note 

 about the transference of the Weasel from the genus Mustela, in which 

 Linnaeus placed it, to the geuus Putorius. M. martes was the type of the 

 genus Mustela, of which the first division was made by Cuvier, who gave 

 the name Putorius to the Stoats and Weasels ; bnt I do not know whether 

 we are to infer from the editorial that Mr. Harting considers the Martens 

 and Weasels to be congeneric. If not, I cannot understand his objection, 

 as presumably he would sanction the transference of the Otter from the 

 genus Mustela, in which Linnaeus placed it, to the genus Lutra, and the 

 same with the Badger and the rest. — Oldfield Thomas. 



[If it be the fact, as stated, that the Weasel occasionally has a black tip 

 to the tail, or at least black hairs in the tip of the tail, and also habitually 

 turns white in whiter throughout the northern portion of its continental 

 range, it is, of course, possible that Liunaeus's description of Mustela 

 nivalis may apply to the Weasel, instead of to the Stoat as most people 

 would naturally infer on reading the diagnosis ; but the point being in 

 doubt, we should prefer to leave the specific name of the Weasel, vulgaris, 

 unchanged. In the course of thirty years' experience (1865 — 1895), after 

 shooting in almost every part of the British Islands, and examining 

 the vermin killed and hung up by gamekeepers, we have never recognized 

 a Weasel with any conspicuous black hairs in the tail ; and the very few 

 white ones we have seen were albinos, not necessarily killed in winter. As 

 to the removal of the Weasel from the genus Mustela, naturally, we nowa- 

 days regard the Martens as genericaliy distinct from the Weasels and Stoats ; 

 but as the late Mr. Alston, whom Mr. Thomas professes to follow (p. 177), 

 placed the Martens as Nilsson did, in the genus Martes, as other writers 

 have done before and since he wrote (P. Z. S., 1879, p. 468), we should 

 have been content to leave them there. — Ed.] 



The Irish Stoat in the Isle of Man.— It will interest all studeuts of 

 British Zoology to hear that a specimen corresponding in every respect 

 with typical examples of Putorius hibernicus has been presented to the 

 British Museum by Mr. P. M. C. Kermode, of Ramsey, who had received 

 it from Lewaigue, near that town. This fact confirms Mr. Kermode's 

 view (Zool. 1893, p. 61), that the Manx fauna is more nearly related to that 

 of Ireland than that of Britain, although it should be confessed that the 

 Hare found there (also sent by Mr. Kermode) is the Brown and not the 

 Alpine Hare. It now becomes more important than ever that Stoats from the 

 parts of Britain nearest to Ireland should be properly examined; and 



