402 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUERIES 



MAMMALIA. 



Large Stone in a Horse. — In the stomach of an old horse which I 

 recently had destroyed was found a large round stone, measuring 

 14f inches in diameter and weighing 3 lbs. The horse was about 24 

 years old, and had been in my possession nearly 16 years, during 

 which time he was never unfit for work till about six months since, 

 when he had an obstinate stoppage, probably caused by the displace- 

 ment of the stone. He completely recovered from it. I do not 

 recollect a case where so large a deposit has been carried so long with 

 impunity. — R. H. Ramsbotham (Beestram, Milnthorpe). 



[Is our correspondent quite sure that the stone was in the stomach, 

 and not in the bladder ; or, in other words, that it was originally 

 swallowed, and not formed by concretion or gradual urinary deposit ? 

 —Ed.] . 



Polecat in Worcestershire and Staffordshire. — On the 25th 

 October, 1891, a specimen of the Polecat (Mustela putorlus) was killed 

 on a farm at Smethwick, Staffordshire. As there is no record for this 

 county, or for Worcestershire, in the Editor's article on this animal 

 in ' The Zoologist ' for 1891 (pp. 281 — 294), it may be as well to state 

 that the Polecat is now very rare in the Midlands, and I have never 

 received specimens from any other locality than Smethwick. I have 

 four other specimens in my possession : an old male, a young male, a 

 female, and a young one a few months old. They were all killed 

 about ten years ago, in the district between California, Worcestershire, 

 and Handsworth, Staffordshire. The two counties adjoin here, and a 

 few miles covers both districts, and includes the farm at Smethwick 

 where the last specimen above referred to was killed. This is probably 

 the only stronghold of the Polecat in the district ; and I was much 

 surprised at receiving the animal in question so recently, as I con- 

 sidered it banished from our locality. About seven years back, a 

 gardener at Hazlewell Hall, King's Heath, Worcestershire, described 

 a creature to me, which he had seen some years previously, near to a 

 pool in the grounds attached to the Hall ; his description was so 

 accurate, that I have no doubt it was a Polecat. He had never seen 

 an animal like it before, and I have not heard of one since, although 

 I have been living near the spot for above eight years. This portion 

 of King's Heath is opposite to the California and Smethwick districts, 

 but with the wide valley of the Rea intervening. — F. Coburn (7, Hoi- 

 loway Head, Birmingham). 



