£68 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



November of the following year Darwin's 'Origin of Species' 

 was published. The effect of the speculations and conclusions 

 of that great naturalist on Prof. Huxley was immediate and pro- 

 found, as may be seen from his appreciative remarks in the 

 'Westminster Review' for April, I860. At the present day 

 it is difficult to realise what a revolution in the world of 

 thought was caused by the new doctrine. To most theologians 

 it was irreligious. To many men of science it was a seductive 

 fallacy. Owen, the doyen of English anatomists, never adopted 

 it. The French naturalists would have none of it. Very few of 

 the most eminent British savants gave it a whole-hearted accept- 

 ance, but foremost amongst these was Huxley, who to the last 

 remained steadfastly the champion of " Darwinism." 



His wide reading, clear thinking, and vigorous writing made 

 him a formidable controversialist, and it has been well observed 

 of him by a recent writer that his success in life is striking proof 

 of the predominance of the literary faculty. It was his clear 

 philosophic reasoning and that literary gift which Darwin so 

 greatly envied that made him the potent personality he was to 

 his contemporaries, and will ever be to posterity. 



NOTES AND QUERIES 



MAMMALIA. 



The Marten and Polecat in Wales. — On Jan. 24th an adult Marten 

 was sent to Mr. Hutchings, of this town, for preservation. It was obtained 

 near Lknberis. and is now in the possession of Mr. J. W. Wyatt, of East 

 Court, Wells. A younger example, not full grown, was received from the 

 same locality twelve months previously, both being trapped upon the same 

 property. As confirming what I have already stated as to the abundance 

 of the Polecat in this district, I may mention that fifteen examples were 

 captured during the first three months of the present year. — J. H. Salter 

 (University College, Aberystwyth). 



Albino Shrew in Yorkshire. — On June 25th my friend Mrijor 

 Arundel, of Ackworth, in the West Riding, sent me a beautiful white 

 specimen of the Common Shrew, Sorex araneus, which on the previous 

 day he had picked up dead on the road between Ackworth and Pontefract. 

 It is perfectly white, without a dark hair anywhere, and the eyes were 

 devoid of pigmeut. I was very much afraid at first that I should be unable 



