102 tHK ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUERIES, 



MAMMALIA. 



Polecat near Aberystwith. — On the 4th January last I obtained 

 a Polecat, about six miles south of Aberystwith, and there is reason to 

 believe that this species is by no means extinct in this county. — J. W. 

 Salter (University College, Aberystwith). 



Polecat in Cheshire.— As the Polecat must be rare in these parts, 

 you may care to place on record the fact that a specimen was killed, fifteen 

 years ago, in Burley Hurst Wood, near Mobberley, in Cheshire. My 

 informant is Mr. Joshua Pearson, gamekeeper to Mr. Henry R. Greg, of 

 Lode Hill, near Handforth.— J. E. Kelsall (Wavertree, Liverpool). 



Otter in Sussex. — A male Otter was killed at Great Knolle, Beckley, 

 near Rye, Sussex, on the 12th of November last. — G. W. Bradshaw 

 (Hastings). 



Mortality amongst Rabbits in Tasmania.— Apropos of Mr. Miller 

 Christy's remarks (Zool. 1892, p. 378) on the mortality which occurs 

 periodically amongst the Rabbits in the Canadian North-West (Lepus 

 americanus), it may be observed that Tasmanian papers are just now 

 rejoicing over the appearance of a fatal disease which has attacked the 

 Rabbits in some parts of that colony, and which they hope will result in a 

 natural remedy against the ravages of the rabbit-pest. The Rabbits 

 affected die when about half-grown, and their dead bodies are to be found 

 in large numbers. The carcases have been examined by the Government 

 veterinary surgeons, whose opinion is that it is totally distinct from the 

 ordinary tuberculosis, although in some respects the symptoms are closely 

 allied or identical, there being the greatly enlarged abdomen and tuberculous 

 liver. In many localities it is said that the disease is so severe that not a 

 single healthy Rabbit can be found within them. The veterinary surgeon 

 identifies the symptoms as those caused by the Coccideum oviforme, and he 

 thinks it desirable that experiments should be tried in order to ascertain 

 whether the disease cannot be artificially spread amongst the Rabbits in 

 other localities. In this country we have no means of judging whether the 

 disease which has been discovered is merely an aggravated form of the 

 ordinary tuberculosis, which is so fatal in some of our own overcrowded 

 warrens, in which the Rabbits are closely interbred. Should this be the 

 case, beneficial results from it can hardly be expected, as the disease, so to 

 speak, cures itself by the destruction of the animals affected, and by the 

 lessening of their numbers to a healthy standard. See the statistics given 

 by Mr. Christy, I. c. 



