328 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



bacillus, that it might prove of great importance in counteracting 

 the damage, amounting to many millions, caused by voles in 

 several countries of Europe, have been fully and speedily con- 

 firmed. "We now possess, in the Bacillus typhi murwm, a micro- 

 organism which will infallibly kill these destructive rodents. 

 The bacillus can be used in practice with the greatest ease, as 

 it injures no other animal. It consequently fulfils the most com- 

 prehensive requirements necessary in a method for destroying 

 voles. For the first time an injurious animal in Thessaly has 

 been successfully and scientifically got rid of. Bacteriological 

 science has again proved its vast practical importance, and has 

 fully justified its claim to be studied and cultivated to the utmost 

 extent. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



The Polecat in Pembrokeshire. — With reference to the note which 

 appeared under this heading (p. 264), and to the replies thereto (p. 310), 

 Mr. E. Cambridge Phillips writes that it was the Marten, and not the 

 Polecat, which he intended to characterise as extinct in Pembrokeshire. 

 His letter dated "Brecon, July 25th" reached us too late for insertion in 

 the last number. — Ed. 



Young Squirrels. — I have just been reading Mr. Blagg's interesting 

 remarks about Squirrels in 'The Zoologist' for March, 1891 (p. 101), and 

 should like to mention that in 1887 I found young Squirrels in the woods 

 near Oxhey, not far from Harrow-on-the-Hill, on May 28th. One lot of 

 three, which were in a " drey," had their eyes open ; but I found a much 

 younger lot in a hole in a tree on the same day. In this county (Wexford), 

 in 1891, I was shown, on August 14th, two quite small Squirrels which 

 had recently fallen out of their " drey." They were still living when I saw 

 them, but were so young that their eyes were not yet opened. These 

 instances seem to support Bell's testimony as to the date of birth of young 

 Squirrels rather than that of Mr. Blagg. — G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton 

 (Kilmanock, New Ross, Co. Wexford). 



[In our editorial note, however, to Mr. Blagg's communication, the 

 reader will observe that we have given four dates in March and April, 

 which support his contention that the Squirrel has young long before June, 

 the date assigned by Bell.— Ed.] 



