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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 
My specimens have all been found on beech. Probably an earlier 
brood of this species (as is the case with allied species) occurs in 
August, the larvae of which may be found in June or July.— 
A. F. Griffith , Brighton. 
A White Stoat at Hoddesdon .—On the 2nd of February, 1890, 
the keeper of Highfields Wood, Hoddesdon, brought to me a female 
stoat, with the fur all white except the usual black at the extremity 
of the tail, and a few very slight streaks of brown about the nose. 
I have met with stoats before in this neighbourhood during January 
and February with their usual coat pied with white, or all white 
except the head, and I have looked forward to a severe winter 
to give me a specimen with its complete winter coat. The 
term “winter coat,” however, is not strictly correct, for the 
colour is not due to a change of fur but to a change of 
colour in the fur. White stoats are common in the north at 
this season, but I believe it is unusual to find one so far south 
during such a mild winter. Bell (‘British Quadrupeds,’ 2nd ed., 
p. 199) refers to an experiment made on a Hudson’s Bay lemming 
which had retained its summer far. The animal was exposed to a 
temperature of 30° below zero during one night, and the following 
morning “the fur on the cheeks, and a patch on each shoulder, 
had become perfectly white.” It has occurred to me that the 
colour of my specimen may have been caused by sudden and great 
changes of temperature such as we have had this winter, rather 
than by any extreme cold of long duration. 
It is scarcely necessary for me to add that the white stoat is the 
“ ermine ” of commerce.— F. H. Campbell, Hoddesdon. 
