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The Museum Gazette 



them and replace them by others in better condition. Other- 

 wise this long fast does not appear to incommode them. It is 

 possible that they do catch a fly now and then, but they 

 certainly never take the frogs or mice which are offered to 

 them. The keeper of the reptile house at the " Zoo " tells us 

 that he has a similar experience, and that only once has he 

 known a viper feed. On that occasion the animal took two 

 mice. 



Mr. Swanton was shown, on the morning of March 21, in a 

 clay pit near Haslemere, a remarkable nest which had just 

 been exposed by a workman who was removing clay. It was 

 in a spherical cavity, about one foot below the surface, and 

 composed almost exclusively of the fur of the short-tailed 

 field vole (Microtus agvestis). The man showed also a "mouse" 

 of this species which he had killed the previous day. The 

 nest was large, and it was computed that it contained the fur 

 of at least twenty-five of these voles, possibly a great many 

 more. Amongst the fur were two pairs of lower jaws of the 

 Microtus and many odd incisor teeth. The man who had 

 found it said that some little time afterwards he had seen a 

 weasel trot up the brickyard with a " mouse " in its mouth 

 and visit the spot where the nest had been found. 



KEY TO THE PLATE OF SKULLS OF MAMMALS. 



See Frontispiece for January. 



(a) The frontal bone ; (b) the nasal bone ; (c) the upper 

 jaw-bone ; (d) the malar bone ; (e) the temporal bone ; (/) the 

 parietal bone ; (g) the occipital bone ; (i) the intermaxillary 

 bone ; (k) the lower jaw. 



Fig. 1. Skull of the Lama (Lama glama, formerly Camelus 

 lama), one-third size. — The Lama is the Camel of America, 

 but has no hump. It belongs to the Ruminant ungulates. 

 There are no incisor teeth in the upper jaw. A large canine 

 tooth is seen in both jaws, and between it and the molars 

 there is a wide space (diastema). 



