NOTES AND QUEEIES. 339 



AMPHIBIA. 



Toad attacked by a Weasel. -On May 20th last, while walking by 

 a pond not far from St. Andrews, I came suddenly upon a Weasel, which, 

 on being roused, immediately took refuge in a drain. On coming up to 

 the spot I discovered a Toad, evidently much exhausted, with its hind limbs 

 terribly lacerated. The Weasel had, in all probability, been trying to drag 

 the Toad towards the drain-mouth, as far as one could judge from the 

 marks on the soft ground. The Weasel, from its small size, was evidently 

 a female. Is it not unusual for a Weasel — or any carnivorous mammal — 

 to prey upon the Toad ? I can find no allusion to it in Mr. J. E. Harting's 

 article of two years ago. — A. H. Meiklejohn (St. Andrews, N.B.) 



[There is apparently little record of any carnivorous mammal attacking 

 the Toad, especially in Britain, though the American Skunk is reported ae 

 not only doing so, but eating that Amphibian as well. If we substitute 

 Frogs for Toads — and it is probable that both frequently come under the 

 same category — the information is not so scanty. In this country the Rat, 

 Weasel, Badger, and Polecat have all been reported to eat, or at least 

 attack, Frogs. Going further afield, we find similar habits ascribed to the 

 crab-eatiug Mungoose of the Indian subregion, Herpestes urva ; the common 

 Raccoon of North and Central America, Procyon lotor ; the Beech-Marten 

 of Europe, Mustela foina ; the American Mink, M. vison; and the Cape 

 Polecat, Ictonyx zorilla. It seems too much to affirm that where the Frog 

 is eaten the Toad is avoided, without very much further and stronger 

 evidence. — Ed.] 



PISCES. 



Notes from Great Yarmouth. — Strange Position oe a Lesser 

 Weaver. — A very unusual thing in connection with this fish occurred 

 on May 15th. I was asked to go to a cabstand and name a strange fish 

 which had come up out of the salt-water pipes, and which was then swim- 

 ming about in a basin of water. I found it was a full-grown Lesser Weaver, 

 Trachinus vipera. Our streets are watered with salt-water, sewers flushed 

 with the same, &c, so that many thousand gallons are pumped up weekly. 

 I have before seen Gobies' tails protruding from the pipe-holes at the back 

 of water-carts and pulled them out ; but a five-inch fish must have been 

 particularly unfortunate to have been sucked in with the indraught. 



An Albino Turbot. — A perfectly white specimen of this fish was 

 brought in on May 24th. Length 15 inches. I have seen albino Brill 

 previously. 



Bull-dog Variety of the Sapphirine Gurnard. — Another speci- 

 men of this variety, recorded and figured last month (pp. 275-6), and of 

 the same size, came in on May 28th. It is most remarkable that when a 

 rare or curious fish appears it is seldom a solitary specimen. This was most 



