CAKNIVOBA. 
347 
Polecat . — Professor Alison, in his article on 6 Instinct,* 
in Todd’s 4 Cyclopaedia of Anatomy,’ quotes the following ac- 
count from the 6 Magazine of Natural History ’ (vol. iv., p. 
206) touching a remarkable instinct manifested by polecats. 
6 1 dug out five young polecats, comfortably embedded in 
dry, withered grass ; and in a side hole, of proper dimen- 
sions for such a larder, I picked out forty large frogs and 
two toads, all alive, but merely capable of sprawling a little. 
On examination, I found that the whole number, toads and 
all, had been purposely and dexterously bitten through the 
brain.’ The analogy of this instinct to that which has 
already been mentioned as having been much more re- 
cently observed by M. Fabre in the sphex insect is 
noteworthy. 
Ferret— I once kept a ferret as a domestic pet. He 
was a very large specimen, and my sister taught him a 
number of tricks, such as begging for food (which he did 
quite as well and patiently as any terrier), leaping over 
sticks, &c. He became a very affectionate animal, delight- 
ing much in being petted, and • following like a dog when 
taken out for walk. He would, however, only follow those 
persons whom he well knew. That his memory was ex- 
ceedingly good was shown by the fact that after an ab- 
sence of many months, during which he was never required 
to beg, or to perform any of his tricks, he went through all 
his paces perfectly the first time that we again tried him. 
I strongly suspect that ferrets dream, as I have fre- 
quently seen them when fast asleep moving their noses and 
twitching their claws as if in pursuit of rabbits. Another 
fact I may mention as bearing on the intelligence of these 
animals. On one occasion, while ferreting rabbits, I lost 
the ferret about a mile away from home. Some days 
afterwards the animal returned to his home. Similar cases 
have been communicated to me by several sporting friends, 
but certainly the return of a ferret under such circum- 
stances is the exception, and not the rule. 
Wolverine . — Amazing tales are told concerning the 
intelligence of this animal, which for the most part are 
certainly exaggerations. Still there is no doubt that the 
creature does display a degree of sagacious cunning unsur- 
