Quadrupeds. 



7983 



Correction of an Error. — In the article on " Leporines " in last month's 1 Zoolo- 

 gist' there is a misprint of sufficient importance to require correction. At p. 7928, 

 line 10 from bottom, (engenerique) should be (engenenque), a word constructed by 

 M. Broca to express that class of hybrids in which the animals are perfectly fertile 

 inter se, as well as with either parent. — E. W. H. Holdsworth. 



The Hare catching Mice. — It is stated by Bishop Pontoppidan, in his 'Natural 

 History of Norway,' fol. 1755, p. 9, part 2, " that hares are frequent in Norway, and 

 are very cheap in winter. They are smaller than in Denmark, and change colour, in 

 the cold season, from brown or gray to snow-white. In the woods they catch mice 

 like cats, and pursue them under the snow ; they otherwise in necessity live upon birch 

 catkins." Did any of our Norwegian naturalists observe or confirm this singular and 

 abnormal habit of the hare mentioned by this old divine? Bell distinctly states " the 

 hare is as exclusively a vegetable feeder as perhaps any known mammiferous animal." 

 —Edward Parjitt. 



Notes on the Snake Rat (Mus Alexandrinus). — The Society will doubtless recol- 

 lect that last year I exhibited at one of our Meetings two living rats, one of which I 

 believed to be new to the British fauna, at least so far new as that, till then, it had 

 been unrecognized and undescribed as distinct. The other was a specimen of the old 

 English black rat (Mus rat(us) ; and this was shown, not on its own account, but for 

 contrast and comparison. And I selected the black rat for this comparison because it 

 so much more closely resembles the new one than does the brown rat (M. decumanus), 

 which is quite different. If therefore the new rat is a mere variety of either of the 

 two species which have been long known as members of the British mammalian fauna, 

 and which have always been specifically distinct, it must be deemed a variety of M. 

 rattus ; but I claim for it distinctive characters separating it from the rat, quite as 

 marked as those which distinguish the brown from the old English black rat. Indeed 

 M. decumanus more nearly resembles M. rattus than does the new rat. It was sug- 

 gested to me, at the time I exhibited living specimens, that an appeal must be made 

 to the cranial characters of each before the distinctness and the degree of distinctness 

 between the two could be established. The result of this investigation 1 now give to 

 the Society. [Mr. Salter here figures aud differentiates the skulls of the two species.] 



P.S.— Since the foregoing was written I have had reason to conclude that the 

 snake rat is certainly the same species, race, or variety, as was first described by 

 Geoffroy St. Hilaire under the name Mas Alexandrinus. But at the same time 

 my further investigations into the subject have convinced me that our knowledge of 

 the rats of Great Britain, or of rats in general, is not bo satisfactory or definite as 

 descriptions in works on Natural History would lead us to suppose. Undoubtedly, 

 characteristic specimens of M. rattus, M. -decumanus and M. Alexandrinus may be 

 obtained; but there are intermediate forms in endless variety, as one may satisfy 

 himself by an inspection of the cages of a ratcatcher after his visit to the rat-homes 

 about the docks of London. There can be no questiou that the typical forms 

 enumerated above as three species are constantly being merged and reduced under 

 favouring conditions by interbreeding. The most superficial examination of many 

 specimens will convince any one of this fact. This circumstance was demonstrated 

 some years since at the Zoological Gardeus, Regent's Park. Some individuals of 

 Mus Alexandrinus, which had been sent from Alexandria, got loose in the gardens ; 

 and for a long time afterwards the keepers frequently caught cross-bred rats, at first 



