Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/405

Rh was possible for the Hyaena to reach Britain?—in other words, that the last continental state of our country occurred during that interval? I confess that, in the present state of the evidence, I see no escape; and that the conclusion thus forced on me compels me to believe also that the earliest men of Kent's Hole were interglacial, if not preglacial.

 

—As no Irish-killed specimen of the true Weasel is to be seen in any of the pubHc Museums, nor any authentic record of its capture in Ireland, it is much to be regretted that Mr. Mahoney, who states in 'The Zoologist' for July (p. 290) that it occurs in Donegal, did not send you a skin, or better still a specimen in the flesh. It is also to be regretted that Mr. Borrer did not shoot the specimen he saw hunting about a stone wall near Currawn, in the Island of Achill, last November. However, it appears to me that both gentlemen may have been mistaken, and that what they took to be Weasels were either young or very small female Stoats, which had either moulted or in some other way lost the black tip of the tail, and thus bore some resemblance to Weasels. The late William Thompson, of Belfast, during the many years in which he was investigating the Natural History of Ireland, never met with the Weasel, nor did he ever receive a specimen from any of his numerous correspondents in nearly every county in Ireland. I well remember asking him if he thought it possible it might yet be discovered as a native, but his reply was that he was very doubtful on the subject. Dr. Carte, who has been for many years Director of the Royal Dublin Society's Museum, never met with a specimen, nor is there one in that Museum. Again, in the South, Dr. Harvey, of Cork, a naturalist of great practical experience, has never met with, nor been able to obtain for his fine collection of our native fauna, an Irish-killed specimen of the Weasel. In a letter which I received from him a few days ago he says:—"I never saw the Weasel in Ireland, and I don't believe we have it. I have had over and over again to prove to people that what they thought to be Weasels were in reality Stoats. So, like yourself, I have still to look for the pleasure of beholding an Irish Weasel." Such being the experience of Thompson in the North, Dr. Carte in the East, and Dr. Harvey in the South of Ireland, there seems very little chance of this animal being found to be a native of Ireland.— (Moyview, Ballina).

—In 'The Zoologist' for August (p. 339) my friend, the Rev. Murray A. Mathew renews his defence of 