190 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



increasing their numbers. Great sums have been expended in exterminating 

 the Australian Dingo throughout the pastoral districts, and although it still 

 exists in mountainous forest districts, it seldom ventures outside of them. 

 From my own experience, in the early days of this colony, -I know that in 

 the Dingo we had a most destructive enemy to deal with prior to the 

 introduction of strychnine. By the reckless introduction of the Fox, 

 flock-owners and farmers have got a worse enemy than the Dingo to fight 

 against. It must be very disheartening to all who have stock of any kind 

 to lose to find themselves confronted by some new enemy introduced by 

 thoughtless or selfish persons. If some energetic steps are not soon taken, 

 nothing can prevent the spread of Foxes over the whole continent. Just 

 as if the Rabbit plague was not a sufficient scourge, we must introduce 

 Foxes ! It is very instructive to notice how mischief is worked by disturbing 

 natural laws. The Dingo was a useful animal before settlement. We 

 introduced sheep and cattle, and Dingoes were, thus multiplied because 

 they were well fed. We hunted and trapped them, and at last exterminated 

 them. In doing this we accidentally poisoned Crows and millions of Kites, 

 which latter used to come south from Queensland every summer, till they, 

 too, became exterminated, and with their extermination the chief destructive 

 enemy of grasshoppers perished, and thus the farmers' crops are destroyed 

 by the multiplication of insects." 



Wild Cat in the West of Scotland.— On the 18th February last, 

 I received from the Western Highlands a splendid example of the Wild 

 Cat Felis catus, which had been trapped in the mountains the day 

 previous. It is a full-grown female in excellent condition, the fur being 

 remarkably soft and long. It measured three feet in length from nose to 

 tip of tail. I may state that in dissecting two of these animals, I find they 

 have only eighteen caudal vertebras, while, I believe, there are twenty-two 

 or more in Felis domestica.—Wu. Yellowly (South Shields). 



The Marten in Surrey and Lincolnshire.— Seeing that you are 

 making a list of localities in which the Marten has been found, it may 

 interest you to know that I saw a Marten in a wild state in a big wood, 

 composed chiefly of fir trees, near Dorking, on the 12th May, 1879. The 

 beast was hunting down the hillside amongst the bracken and stumps. 

 I did not see the colour of its chest, as it had its head down, but I particularly 

 noticed its bushy tail. A rabbit bolted across the path a few yards below, 

 and I imagined at the time that the rabbit was being hunted by the Marten. 

 Mr. G. Adrian, a birdstuffer at Lincoln, told me that many years ago he 

 hunted one of these animals in a big wood not far from Lincoln, and 

 ultimately shot it out of a big oak tree. He had a dog with him, and had 

 a most exciting chase before he secured it. If I remember rightly, he had 

 several shots, knocking it down from trees, before he ultimately killed it. 



