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NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 

 Wild Cat. — Will any one of the contributors to ' The Zoologist ' refer 

 me to the best picture from life of the Wild Cat — say, in the next number 

 of 'The Zoologist'? — and I will be much obliged. — J. A. Harvie-Brown 

 (Dunipace, Larbert, Stirlingshire). 



Oared Shrew in Suffolk. — On Sept. 5th I met with a Water Shrew 

 (Sorexfodiens), of the variety formerly known as the Oared Shrew (S. remifer) 

 — cf. Bell — and considered specifically distinct from the ordinary white-bellied 

 form. It was a pregnant female, and so large that before picking it up I 

 took it for a half-grown Mole. It was found by a Dog among long grass in 

 a meadow in this parish, some five or six yards from the nearest ditch. 

 Hoping to have more time the following day to examine it thoroughly, I 

 placed it for the night in a closely-wired Mouse-cage, with some water, a 

 bed of dry grass, and some earth containing a plentiful supply of earthworms, 

 one of which it at once seized and devoured. Next morning, however, the 

 Shrew was nowhere to be found. It had managed in some unaccountable 

 manner to escape from its cage. It was certainly a good deal larger than 

 an average-sized House-Mouse (Mus musculus). The snout was rather broad 

 and flattened, and there were no white hairs on the ears. Its climbing 

 powers were considerable, for it not only ascended easily the upright wires 

 of its cage, but even made its way along the top, clinging back downwards 

 to the wires. The fact of its being with young at this season seems to 

 denote that more than one litter is produced during the year. Many years 

 ago, on the bank of a pond in this parish, I saw, but was unable to catch, 

 one of these animals, which I believe to have been still larger. — G. T. 

 Rope (Blaxhall, Suffolk). 



Hybrid Dog and Fox. — In the new Museum at Worcester, standing 

 upon a shelf in the recess set apart for local mammals, there is a stuffed 

 animal, labelled Wolf, which I suspect is a hybrid between a Dog and a 

 Fox. Pasted up alongside is an old and, I think, dateless newspaper cut- 

 ting, containing a sensational account of the behaviour of the " monster " 

 during the time just preceding its destruction. The paragraph was too long 

 to copy in full during the time at my disposal, but to the best of my recol- 

 lection the pith of it is as follows : The animal entered a cottage in a 

 village in Worcestershire, and quietly laid down under a table. Roused 



