268 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



to conceal, they turned back to continue their legitimate hunting. 

 Presently we espied what we thought was their quarry, a Eabbit, 

 sitting on a rock some half-dozen yards away from the hunters. 

 Much to our astonishment, the Weasels and Stoats took not the 

 slightest notice of this Eabbit, though coming in almost actual con- 

 tact with it, and extraordinary as it may seem, the Eabbit turned 

 on three of the Stoats, and drove them away. Twice or more this 

 was repeated. This behaviour on the part of the Eabbit could be 

 better understood had it been a mother defending her young, but the 

 size of the Eabbit, however, was strongly against this theory, as it 

 was not nearly full grown. The Eabbit, after it had driven its 

 enemies away, commenced to eat quite unconcerned, and the Stoats 

 and Weasels returned to their hunting. The piteous squeals of a 

 Eabbit presently told that some*of these bloodthirsty little animals 

 had been successful, and as we walked away we came upon a dying 

 Eabbit, about a quarter grown, breathing its last, with the usual tell- 

 tale bite behind the left ear. We did not catch a sight of the murderer, 

 our presence having no doubt caused it to retire pro tern. — Gordon 

 Dalgliesh (Lynton, North Devon). 



Common Seal on the Somerset Coast. — Whilst on a visit to 

 Weston-super-Mare, I saw in the shop of a local fishmonger (Coles 

 and Walter) a mounted specimen of the Common Seal (Phoca vitu- 

 lina), which, I was told, got stranded on the shore there, May 10th, 

 1906. It was killed with a knife. As this species rarely strays so 

 far south its occurrence is perhaps worth recording. — H. E. Forrest 

 (Shrewsbury). 



Six Fcstuses in a Whale (Balsenoptera musculus). — It has not 

 been considered necessary to adduce further evidence as regards this 

 extraordinary instance of abundant procreation in the pages of ' The 

 Annals,' where it has already been noticed by Mr. E. C. Haldane,* 

 who obtained his information from the Norwegian whaling crews 

 working at his own station in Shetland. It seems to me, however, de- 

 sirable further to authenticate the record from information received as 

 near to the source as possible, as such frequently saves future trouble 

 and confusion. As the subject may scarcely be considered directly 

 associated with the Natural History Annals of Scotland, though with 

 a fairly interesting side- bearing upon a previous record in the Ann. 

 Scott. Nat. Hist.,t which related to twin Whale foetuses — also con- 

 sidered by many whalers a rare occurrence — I believe the most 

 fitting place for such a record to be ' The Zoologist,' and with that 



;: Ann. Scott. Nat. Hist. April, 1910. f Ibid. 



