

NOTES AND QUERIES. 143 



varieties with pink eyes. The breed of rabbits known absurdly as " Hima- 

 layas" have dark-coloured nose, ears, feet, and tail; yet the eye is pink. 

 The Cavy, which belongs to such a totally distinct family, marked in the 

 same manner (with the exception, of course, of the tail), has likewise pink 

 eyes. There are several of this variety at present in the Zoological Gardens. 

 Amongst the Mustelidce, Procyonidce, and Ursida, the pink eye is always, 

 so far as I know, correlated with albinism, There is at present in the 

 Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, a Raccoon purely white, with eyes as 

 pink as those of a white rabbit or mouse. I have never myself seen any of 

 the CanidcB or Felidce with pink eyes, though I have acted as a judge of 

 cats for twenty years. I must have seen many hundreds of albino cats. 

 These had either yellow eyes (and were perhaps only white cats) or pale 

 blue eyes, which I consider indicate, in cats, pure albinos. Albinism is no 

 doubt a defect, and white cats with blue eyes are very often perfectly deaf. 

 Occasionally one is exhibited with odd eyes — i. e. one blue and one yellow. 

 With the EquidcB it is, I believe, a fact that some of the Royal cream- 

 coloured horses, which are clearly not true albinos, have pink eyes, and my 

 brother, Harrison Weir, tells me that he has seen a white horse with pink 

 eyes. To conclude, I hold that albinism and pink eyes are not always 

 correlated; that pink eyes are found in other than albinos ; and that there 

 are pure albinos which have not pink eyes. — J. Jenner Weir (Beckenham, 

 Kent). 



MAMMALIA. 



The Gisburne Herd of Wild White Cattle. — The Wild White 

 Cattle formerly existing at Gisburne in Craven seem to have had the same 

 tendency to produce flecks of colour on the head and shoulders which is 

 observable in all the surviving herds. The stuffed cow in the Owens 

 College Museum at Manchester has several small roan-coloured spots on 

 the cheeks aud neck, and others on the flanks. This animal was described 

 by the late Mr. Storer as having the ears white inside and out. Time and 

 ungentle usage have left but little hair on the ears at all, but what remains 

 is distinctly red. When Mr. Storer saw this specimen it was probably in 

 one of the badly lighted rooms of the old Museum, and the coat had 

 become so dirty in the Manchester atmosphere that these details no doubt 

 escaped his attention. — Chas. Oldham (Ashton-on-Mersey). 



Earliest use of Foxhounds. — With reference to your remarks on the 

 earliest Foxhounds in the West of England (Zool. 1891, p. 325), I think 

 the following extracts may be of interest : — ' Historical MSS. Commission,' 

 Twelfth Report, Appendix ix. p. 67. The Marquis of Worcester to the 

 Marchioness, Nov. loth, 1677 : — " Wishes he had fox hounds to spare, as 

 the Prince of Orange is mighty desirous to get a good pack, and has asked 

 for some." P. 67, the same to the same, Jan. 24th, 1678: — "I do not 



