178 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the name of La Mare aux Castors. Would it not be possible to induce 

 scientific men in France to influence their Government to take measures 

 for the preservation of these interesting animals? The French peasantry 

 are not so destructive as the English, and if these animals were put under 

 the protection of the Gardes Champetres, orders issued against their 

 destruction would be respected, and reserved places might be set apart on 

 the banks of the Khone where they could breed unmolested, and thus 

 prevent the extinction of a harmless and interesting family of animals in 

 Europe. The French naturalists show by their fine Museums and their 

 Jardins d'Acclimatation their zeal for Natural History, and I am sure would 

 take a national pride in saving this ornament of their country. I only 

 hope it may not be now too late. — E. L. Mitford (Venice, April 18). 



Musk-oxen on the East Coast of Greenland. — Mr. Southwell, in 

 his " Notes on the Seal and Whale Fishery of 1889 " (p. 83), mentions that 

 11 the Norwegian sealer ' Hecla' is said to have turned the south end of the 

 Greenland ice (which usually extends as far south as Cape Farewell), in 

 lat. 70°, and reaching the coast killed 300 Walruses and forty Musk-oxen." 

 I wrote to Prof. Robert Collett, of Christiania, for fuller details, and he very 

 kindly gave me the following information. Prof. Collett is acquainted 

 with Capt. Kniidsen, commander of the ' Hecla,' who related to him his 

 experiences of last year's voyage, and further has had access to Capt. 

 Kniidsen's journal. The 'Hecla' reached the East Greenland coast on 

 the 16th July, 1889, at or near Cape Braer Ruys, about lat. 73° 26' N., 

 which is apparently identical with Cape Hold-with-Hope, of the famous 

 navigator, Henry Hudson, which Cape (3000 ft. high) Hudson sighted on 

 the 21st of June, 1607, and fixed its latitude by an observation. At or 

 near this point Capt. Kniidsen met with Musk-oxen, but none appear to 

 have been killed there by the crew of the ' Hecla,' as they were intent on 

 capturing Walrus. On the 27th July, 1889, on Clavering Island, a little 

 south of Tyroler Fiord, approximately in 74° 20' N., Musk-oxen were met 

 with in considerable numbers, and twenty -four, not forty, were killed. 

 Capt. Kniidsen was not aware of the interest taken in the animal, and 

 therefore only four specimens were preserved; of these four the Museum 

 of Christiania obtained a cow and a calf, that of Bergen a cow, and that of 

 Tromso a cow. The other specimens were simply skinned, and the heads, 

 feet and carcases thrown into the sea. Prof. Collett adds, " I am very sorry 

 to say that not a single observation more is made. Capt. Kniidsen himself 

 can tell nothing about them, as he was on a tour further in the fiord when 

 his crew killed the Musk-oxen." — H. W. Feilden. 



Polecat in Buckinghamshire. — It may be of interest to some of the 

 readers of * The Zoologist ' to know that I have received three Polecats 

 caught in Bucks. The first, a female, caught near Bierton, in January, 



