The Irish Naturalist. 



July. 



supply of salmon might well be attended by a commensurate abund- 

 ance of seals and otters, which even yet are humerous in Donegal : 

 but if there were no foundation for the tradition, the gratuitous introduc- 

 tion of cats in the story, to prey upon the remnants of the otter's feast, 

 would argue a fecundity of imagination in the old man of no mean 

 order. It reminds one of what Humboldt tells of the habits of the puma 

 on the banks of the upper reaches of the Orinoco. Is not the predilection 

 of the domestic cat for fish a survival of a time when that food was 

 abundant ? May I incidentally point out as suggestive that some topo- 

 graphical names in very uninhabited districts of Ireland refer to the cat ? 

 Coom-cat-quin is the designation of a wild tarn embosomed in the 

 mountains which border the Bay of Kenmare, near Sneem. A wilder 

 solitude more difficult of access does not exist I think in Ireland. 

 Carn-na-gat on Slieve Beagh, and another in Antrim, derive their 

 apellations, says Joyce, from having been the resorts of wild cats." 



The other portion of the old man's story is plainly reliable ; for remains 

 of deer trenches and palisades, such as he described, accompanied some- 

 times, to my own knowledge, by skulls and antlers, have been found in 

 Irish bogs. I note, indeed, that Mr. Warren apparently uses the present 

 instead of the past tense, but this must surely be a printer's error (" if 

 wild cats are ") ; otherwise if red deer and wild cats are'' very plentiful 

 in Donegal, specimens of the former may equally be expected to be met 

 with about Muckish mountain. But as they are not, are we to infer that 

 they also never existed, and the whole narrative is imaginary ? 



Wm. F. de ViSMES Kane. 



Drumreaske, Monaghan. 



When writing on the supposed Wild Cat in Ireland, I was under the 

 mistaken impression that only one set of bones had been found in the 

 Clare caves, and therefore could not accept tbis one instance as proof 

 that the animal had been a native. However, since then, my friend Mr. 

 Usslier informs me that the bones of cats were found in several cases, 

 which I readily acknowledge, proves that in ancient times some species 

 of Wild Cat did exist in Ireland as a living contemporary of Mammoth. 

 Cave Bear, and Arctic Lemming. 



But as no evidence has as yet been forthcoming to prove the existence 

 in a living state in Ireland of any species of wild cat, I still adhere to 

 the opinion that no specimen will e^ er be obtained. 



There have been many reports of wild cats and weasels being seen and 

 Hl/ed ; but why, I ask, do not the captors send forward specimens in the 

 flesh to be identified } 



I beg to correct a printer's error in my notes on the Supposed Wild 

 Cat in Ireland (p. supra) : instead of the supposed Irish Wild Cat being 

 "sent to me" by the English naturalist, it was direct to the Museum it 

 was sent, probably to the late A. G. More. 



Robert Warrkn. 



Moy View, Balliua. 



