48 
by it, at a constant temperature, &c, did indicate the amount of organic 
matter injurious to health, though not the total amount, while the con- 
fidence of other members in it seemed to have been shaken by some 
results recently published by Dr. Frankland, F.R.S., who had discontinued 
using the process. The existence of the old conduits in Bristol was also 
alluded to, as well as the apparently inexhaustible supply of very good 
water to be derived from the Mendips, and stored in the large new reser- 
voir at Barrow, now almost complete. 
ZOOLOGICAL SECTION. 
Thursday, April 11th, 1867.— Mr. Leipner in the Chair. 
The Secretary read some additional notes on the British Mammalia 
by Mr. C. O. Groome- Napier, F.G.S. 
The Wild Cat. — I remember seeing a specimen in the flesh, at Honiton, in 
1857. It was shot in a wood near that town. It was much larger than either of 
the Wild Cats in the Institution Museum. The body was of a light grey, and the 
fur on the tail very wiry. A friend of mine shot one at Dartmouth, in 1860. 
The Weasel. — I once noticed a pack of six of these animals in pursuit of a 
rabbit, near Buildwas Abbey, in Shropshire, which, however, eluded their grasp 
by springing over a ditch. The Times some years ago, chronicled a battle between 
seven weasels and a man, who was attacked by them. The Albino Weasel is very 
rare. I have only seen one of them, it had red eyes. The Weasel in the ermine 
or winter dress is oftener seen, but cannot be called common. The true ermine or 
stoat in its winter dress, is but seldom seen in the South of England. I observed 
one at Lewes, during the severe winter of 1854. 
The Badger. — I once observed this animal at large at Ladruna, in Devonshire, 
in 1851. The Times also once mentioned a combat between a coast-guardsman 
and four of these animals, at this very spot. The onslaught was unprovoked 
by the man, but he succeeded in killing the largest, and the rest decamped. I 
differ from Mr. Ponton in considering the badger more addicted to a carnivorous 
than to a vegetable diet. It is probably omnivorous, feeding on roots, vegetables, 
birds' eggs, game, and other animal substances, but being somewhat lazy, it takes 
what comes first. I have seen the contents of the stomachs of two badgers. One 
contained blackberries, a mole, a fieldmouse, and part of a hare's foot. The other 
contained some cabbage sprouts and moorhen's eggs, and some flesh which we 
