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A HISTORY

OF

BRITISH QUADRUPEDS.

A HISTORY

OF

BRITISH QUADRUPEDS,

INCLUDING THE CETACEA.

BY

THOMAS BELL, F.R.S. F.L.S. F.Z.8. F.G.S8.

e6e

MEMBER OF THE
PHILOMATHIC AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES OF PARIS;
OF THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY C#SAR: LEOPOLD: NATURZ CURIOSORUM 5
OF THE HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 5
OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA 5
OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES OF NEW. YORK AND BOSTON 35
HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF IRELAND, ETC., ETC. }
LATE PRESIDENT OF THE LINNAN SOCIETY.

Second Edition,

REVISED AND PARTLY RE-WRITTEN BY

THE AUTHOR;

ASSISTED BY

ROBERT F. TOMES,

CORRESPONDING MEMBER ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

AND

EDWARD RICHARD ALSTON, F.Z.S.

Lilustrated by 160 Woodcuts,

LON DON:
JOHN VAN VOORST, 1, PATERNOSTER ROW.
M.DCCC.LXXIY.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER,
MILFORD LANE, STRAND, W.C,

— BAW.OFHA
‘led

Simmamuals

TO
GEORGE BENTHAM, Esq, F.B.S.,

THE PRESIDENT,
AND TO THE MEMBERS OF

THE LINNH AN SOCIETY

THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY AND GRATEFULLY DEDICATED

BY THEIR FORMER PRESIDENT
AS A HUMBLE RECORD OF HIS DEEP SENSE OF THE HONOUR
AND HAPPINESS WHICH HE HAS DERIVED
FROM HIS CONNECTION WITH THE SOCIETY

FOR NEARLY SIXTY YEARS.

PREFACE

Tue advantages of local Faunas are too generally under-
stood and acknowledged to require any lengthened proof
or illustration, It may indeed be doubted whether the
study of the animals of particular tracts of country has
not contributed more than any other means to the ad-
vancement of zoological knowledge, especially as regards
those important branches, the geographical distribution
of animals, the influence of climate, of soil, and of other
local circumstances, in determining the range of species,
the changes of varieties, and the extent and periods of
migration.

It is true that in few instances only will the animal
productions of a single country furnish such a multitude
of forms in any particular group as may afford a satis-
factory illustration of the whole plan of zoological
arrangement. But even under our own ungenial and
changeful skies, few persons are aware to what extent
such domestic means of study exist, or how little we
need be indebted to foreign aid in acquiring the first
principles at least of zoological science.

But allowing the necessity of foreign importations for
the acquisition of a knowledge even of certain principal
groups in each class of animals, there is another impor-

Viil PREFACE.

tant advantage in the cultivation of the Natural History
of our own country which requires no limitation—an
advantage which appeals with greater force in the present
era of the general diffusion of knowledge than at any
former period: and that is, the means which are thus
offered to multitudes of persons who are restricted by
circumstances from engaging in the study of the higher
departments of the science, of obtaining a rational and
never-ceasing enjoyment ; and, to the young especially, of
opening an exhaustless source of amusement, at once
healthful to the body and favourable to the development
of the best qualities of the heart and understanding.

It was with these views that the series of works on
British Zoology, of which this volume forms a part, was
first undertaken, and it was confidently hoped that the
united labours of several British Naturalists—each
illustrating the departments to which his attention had
been most particularly directed—would produce a
Fauna of this country far more complete than could
have emanated from the unaided talent and exertions of
an individual; and the reception which these works
have met with seems to show that these hopes were not
altogether groundless.

Since the year 1839, when the first edition of this
work was published, so much has been added to our
knowledge of our native animals, that it has been found
necessary to revise the entire volume, and completely to
re-write a considerable portion of it.

It has been thought best to omit entirely the chapters
on the domestic animals which were given in the first
edition ; first, because these species cannot be properly
regarded as members of our Fauna, and secondly because
it is impossible to give any satisfactory account of their
history and varieties within such narrow limits.

PREFACE. ix

Omitting these domestic animals, s7vty-seven species of
British Mammals were treated of in the first edition.
Of these seven have now been rejected: namely, Vesper-
tilio emarginatus and Phoca barbata as having been wrongly
identified, and Vesp. pygmeus, Plecotus brevimanus, Sorex
remifer, Lepus hibernicus, and Physeter tursio as not being
certainly distinct species.

On the other hand, thirteen species have been added to
the list, of which one only is a land animal (Sorex pyg-
meéus)*, two are Seals (Phoca hispida and Cystophora
cristata), and the remaining ten are all Cetaceans. These
last are:—Balena biscayensis, Megaptera longimana,
Balenoptera sibbaldi, B. laticeps, B. rostrata, Hyperoodon
latifrons, Ziphius cavirostris, Grampus griseus, Delphinus
acutus, and D, albirostris.

The whole catalogue of British Quadrupeds, as
accepted in the present edition, includes seventy-three
species, belonging to the following orders :—

* Cheiroptera ; ‘ 14 species
Insectivora ‘ , be
Carnivora . ‘ : 1S eee
Rodentia . . ; ‘2 eee
Ruminantia : : Bir ei
Cetacea : ; 22

The claims of three of these species to a place in our
Fauna must, however, be regarded as somewhat doubtful ;
these are Vespertilio murinus, Phoca grenlandica, and
Balena mysticetus. The reasons for and against their
admission are treated of under their separate heads.

* Sorex pygmcus was at first accidentally omitted, and the error was not
detected until the portion of the work treating of the Insectivora had been
printed off. A figure and description have been given on a single leaf, with
the pagination ‘‘ 148a,’’ so that it may be bound in at its proper place.

x PREFACE.

The publication of the present edition of this work
has been so long delayed, that the Author feels it to be
his duty to explain, as briefly as possible, the cause of
the non-fulfilment of its promised appearance, and to
remove the responsibility of the failure both from his
respected publisher and himself. His removal from his
residence in London— the centre of literary and scientific
society and information—together with other personal
circumstances over which he had no control, induced him
gladly to avail himself of the well-known extensive know-
ledge of Mr. Tomes as regards both the history and habits
of the animals to which his attention had been specially
directed, and his acquaintance with the foreign literature
of the subject; and much of the additional interest of
the earlier portion of the volume, including the orders
Cheiroptera and Insectivora, is due to him, and is grate-
fully felt and acknowledged. It is painful to be obliged
to add that the extremely dilatory manner in which this
advantage was bestowed, caused extreme uneasiness both
to Mr. Van Voorst and to the Author, and occasionéd the
lamented delay.

The postponement, however, vexatious as it was, had
the favourable result of enabling the Author to obtain
the co-operation of his friend, Mr. Alston, to whom he
is indebted for most of the improvements in the whole
of that part of the work which was left untouched by
Mr. Tomes. For the complete and effective manner in
which Mr. Alston has fulfilled his task, for the constant
courtesy and kindness which have characterized his
relations with the Author, he has his most sincere and
grateful thanks ;—and the scientific readers of the work
will be able to judge to what extent it is indebted for
its present improved state to Mr. Alston’s labours.

The Author has also the pleasant duty of offering his

PREFACE. Xi

own and Mr. Alston’s warm thanks to many gentlemen who
have contributed their aid to the present revision of the
work ; amongst whom they would particularize the follow-
ing :—Professor Flower, of the Royal College of Surgeons,
Prof, Turner, of Edinburgh, Prof. Rolleston, of Oxford,
Dr. J. E. Gray, of the British Museum, Dr. Murie,
late Prosector to the Zoological Society, Prof. Newton,
and Mr. J. W. Clark, of Cambridge, Mr. A. G. More,
Mr. H. Evans, Mr. Ogilby, and Mr. Southwell, of

Norwich.

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GHNERAL INDEX.

The systematic names are printed in italics.

A. Bats, 1.
Amphisorex linneanus, 149. Bat, Barbastelle, 81.
5 pennanti, 149, », Bechstein’s, 52.
Arvicola agrestis, 323. », Common, 35.
a amphibius, 316. 55 Mewasehis DEP
oF aquatica, 316. », Daubenton’s, 60,
9 ater, 317. », Hairy-armed, 26.
> bicolor, 327. 5, Horse-shoe, Greater, 89.
», britannicus, 326, ate DF Lesser, 96.
», glareolus, 327. ;» Leisler’s, 26.
»» monticola, 316. », Long-eared, 72.
», neglecta, 326. », Mouse-coloured, 48.
»» pratensis, 327. », Natterer’s, 54.
» riparia, 327. », Particoloured, 31,
» rufescens, 327. »> Serotine, 44.
», Reddish-grey, 54.
B, », Whiskered, 67.
Badger, 158. Bawsened-pate, 158.
Balena antiquorum, 397. Beaked-Whale, Common, 421.
», biscayensis, 387. es » Broad-fronted, 495,
», bodps, 392. Beluga, 440.
», borealis, 402. Benedenia knoxii, 401.
», longimana, 392. Bladder-nose, 257.
», ‘mysticetus, 381. Bodach, 247.
», musculus, 397. Bos taurus, var. scoticus, 368.
5, vostrata, 411. », scoticus, 368.
Balenoptera bodps, 407. Bottle-head, Bottle-nose, 453.
5 laticeps, 407. Brock, 158.
3 musculus, 397.
a rostrata, 411.
«3 sibbaldii, 402. Cc.
45 tenuirostris, 407. Cachelot, 415.
Barbastelle, 81. Calocephalus annellata, 247.
Barbastellus daubentonii, 81. Re grenlandica, 252.
oe vulgaris, 81. PP vitulinus, 240,

XiV

Canis melanogaster, 225.

», vulpes, 225.
Capreolus caprea, 362.
Carnivora Pinnipedia, 233.
Catadon macrocephalus, 415.

», australis, 415.
Cattle, Wild White, 368.
Cat, Wild, 220.

Cervus capreolus, 362.

», dama, 358.

», elaphus, 348.

», nobilis, 348.

», platyceros, 358.

» pygargus, 362.
Cetacea, 373.

Chetroptera, 1.
Crossopus fodiens, 149.
Cystophora cristata, 257.

D.

Dama vulgaris, 358.
Deer, Fallow, 358.
», Red, 348.
», Roe, 362.
Delphinapterus leucas, 440.
p beluga, 440.
Delphinorhynchus micropterus, 481.
Delphinus acutus, 470.
te albicans, 440.
a albirostris, 472.
56 bidens, 421.
ss deductor, 458.
as delphis, 462.
5 eschrichtit, 470.
. euphrosyne, 474.
ss gladiator, 445.
9 globiceps, 453.
3 griseus, 450.
"5 leucas, 440.
x leucopleurus, 470.
53 melas, 453.
an orca, 445.
s5 phocena, 458.
ae rissoanus, 450.
0 sowerbiensis, 431.

GENERAL INDEX.

Delphinus truncatus, 465.
5p tursio, 465.

5 vulgaris, 462.
Dolphin, Bottle-nosed, 465.
30 Common, 462.

», White-beaked, 472.
+,» White-sided, 470.
Dormouse, 231.

E.
Epiodon desmarestii, 428.
Evrinaceus ewropeus, 102.
Ermine, 191.

F.
Felis catus, 220.
», sylvatica, 220.
Field-Mouse, Long-tailed, 293.
Agno Short-tailed, 323.
Field-Vole, Common, 323.
mo. aeakh Suir
Fin-back, 397.
Finner, Little, 411.
Fitchet Weasel, 203.
Fitchew, 203.
Flittermouse, 34.
Floe-rat, 247.
Fetorius erminea, 191.
$5 putorius, 203.
> vulgaris, 182.
Foumart, 203.
Fox, Common, 225.
Fulimart, 203.

G.
Globicephalus incrassatus, 457.
Dp melas, 453.

Grampus, Common, 445,
as Risso’s, 450.
Grampus cuviert, 450.
96 griseus, 450.
Grey, 158.

ise
Haaf-fish, 262.
Halicherus griseus, 262.
dp gryphus, 262.

GENERAL INDEX. XV

Hare, Alpine, 338.

», Blue, 338.

,, Common, 3381,

»> Irish, 340.

;, Mountain, 338.
Hedgehog, 102.
Heteroidon hyperoidon, 421.
Hog, Herring-, 458.
Hog-fish, 458.
Hyperoidon butzkopf, 421.

9 gervaisti, 428.
fe latifrons, 425.
5 rostratus, 421.

Hypudeus nageri, 330.

K.
Killer, 445.
Kyphobalena boips, 392.

L.
Lagenocetus latifrons, 425.
Lagenorhynchus acutus, 470.
. albirostris, 472.

3 leucopleurus, 470.

Lemmus aquaticus, 316.
Lepus aquilonius, 333.

», borealis, 339.

5» canescens, 339.

5, caspicus, 333.

s, cuniculus, 343.

» ewropeus, 331.

» granatensis, 333.

», hibernicus, 339.

5, mediterranius, 333.

3, medius, 333.

», meridionalis, 333.

» timidus, 331.

5, variabilis, 338.
TIutra roensis, 167.

», vulgaris, 167.

M.
Macleayius britannicus, 387.
Manatus australis, 380.
Marten, Common, 208.
», Beech, 208.

Marten, Pine, 217.

3, Stone, 208.
Martes abietum, 217.

», fagorum, 208.

» soina, 208.

3, saxorum, 208.
Martern, Marteron, 208.
Martlett, 208.

Megaptera longimana, 392.
Meles taxus, 158.

5, vulgaris, 158.
Mesoplodon sowerbiensis, 431.
Mole, Common, 115.
Moldwarp, 115.

Monodon monoceros, 435.
Morse, 269.

Moudiewarp, 115.

Mouse, Common, 297.

», Harvest-, 286.

5, House, 297.

5, Long-tailed Field-, 293.

» Minute, 286.

5, Short-tailed Field-, 323.

3, Wood-, 293.

Mus agrestis, 323.

,, aexandrinus, 307.

», amphibius, 316.

5, aquaticus, 316.

», avellanarius, 382.

5, decumanus, 308,

5, glareolus, 327.

» «gregarius, 323.
hibernicus, 305.

55 messorius, 286.

5, minutus, 286.

5, musculus, 297.

5 norvegicus, 308.

5» parvulus, 286.

5, pendulinus, 286.

rattus, 302.

5» soricinus, 286.

sylvaticus, 293.

5, terrestris, 316.

Mustela erminea, 191. -
5» — eversmannii, 203.
» foina, 208.

XVI GENERAL INDEX.

Mustela furo, 207.

>, lutra, 167.

5, martes, 217.

» nivalis, 182.

3) putorius, 203.

3, vulgaris, 182.
Myodes bicolor, 330.
Myoxus avellanarius, 281.

>, muscardinus, 281,

N.
Narwhal, 435.

Narwhalus andersonianus, 435.
microcephalus, 435.

+?
a vulgaris, 435.

Nisack, 458.
Noctilio ferrum-equinum, 89.
Noctule, 17.

0.

Orca eschrichtit, 449.

», gladiator, 445.

», latirostris, 449.

», Sschlegellit, 449.

», stenorhyncha, 449.
Otter, Common, 167.

Te
Pagomys fetidus, 247.

Pagophilus grenlandicus, 252.

Pelloch, 458.
Phoca annellata, 247.
barbata, 239.
», cristata, 257.
», fatida, 247.
grendlandica, 252.
>» gryphus, 262.
», hispida, 247.
», leonina, 257.
»» mitrata, 257.
», variegata, 240.
», vitulina, 240.
Phocena communis, 458.

» tuberculifera, 458

Physalus antiquorum, 396.
- duguidit, 399.
», latirostris, 402.
», stbbaldit, 402.
Physeter bidens, 431.
»» macrocephalus, 415.
3 twrsio, 415.
Pike-whale, 411.
Pilot-whale, 453.
Pipistrelle, 34.
Plecotus auritus, 72.
56 brevimanus, 72.
christii, 72.
», homochrous, 72.
Polecat, 203.
Porpoise, 458.

R.

Rabbit, 348.
Razor-back, 397.
Rat, Black, 302.

», Brown, 308.
>> Norway, 308.
», Water-, 316.
Ratton, 302.

Rawn, 240.
Rhinolophus bihastatus, 96,
“s ferrum-equinum, 89.
as hippocrepis, 96.
as hipposideros, 96.
- unihastatus, 89.

Right-Whale, Atlantic, 385.
96 », Greenland, 381.

Roe, 362.
Rorqual, Common, 397,

a Lesser, 411.

5 Rudolphi’s, 407.

ae Sibbald’s, 402.
Rorqualus minor, 411.
Rosmarus arcticus, 269.

S.
Sciurus alpinus, 276.
», avellanarius, 281.
», talicus, 276.

Sciurus vulgaris, 276.
Scotophilus discolor, 31.

3 leislert, 26.

0 murinus, 34,
es noctula, 17.

,) pipistrellus, 34.
As serotinus, 44,

Sea-calf, -cat, -dog, 240.
Sea-horse, 269.
Seals, 233.
Seal, Common, 240.
»> Crested, 257.
;, Greenland, 252.
», Grey, 262.
», Harp, 252.
», Hooded, 257.
», Marbled, 247.
,, Ringed, 247,
Sealch, 240.
Selkie, 240.
Serotine, 44.
Shrew, Common, 141.
5, Lesser, 148a.
»» Oared, 149,
>> Water-, 149.
Sibbaldius borealis, 402.
Ps laticeps, 407.
Sleeper, 281.
Sniffer, 458.
Sorex arenarius, 141,
»» bicolor, 149.
», cileatus, 149.
», daubentonii, 149.
», fodiens, 149.
5 pygmeus, 1484.
» remifer, 149.
tetragonurus, 141,
vulgaris, 141,

”

Spherocephalus incrassatus, 457.

Sperm-whale, 415,
Squirrel, Common, 276.
Stag, 348.

Stemmatopus cristatus, 257.

Stoat, 191.
Stout, 191.
Synotus barbastellus, 81.

GENERAL INDEX.

™

Talpa europea, 115.

», vulgaris, 115.
Tang-fish, 240.
Tapvaist, 262.
Trichecus rosmarus, 269,
Tursiops tursio, 465.
Tursio truncatus, 465.

U.
Urchin, 102.
Ursus meles, 158.
», taxus, 158.
Urus scoticus, 368.

V.
Vespertilio edilis, 60.

+5 altivolans, 17.

> auritus, 72.

xr barbastellus, 81.
=) bechsteinii, 52.

5 dasycarpos, 26.
eS daubentonii, 60.
5 discolor, 31.

a emarginatus, 60.

XVil

3 Serrum-equinum, 89.

- hipposideros, 96.

3 leisleri, 26.

ne macrodactylus, 60.
53 major, 48,

55 macuanus, 17.

5 megalurus, 44.

ne minor, 72.

7 minutissimus, 34.
F minutus, 96.

re murinus, 48.

D6 myotis, 48,

ay mystactnus, 67,
5s nattereri, 54.

$5 noctula, 17.

a pipistrellus, 34,
a proterus, 17.

A pygmeus, 34.

Fe serotinus, 44,

55 turcomanus, 44,
. volgensis, 60.

XVili GENERAL INDEX.

Vesperugo discolor, 31. Weasel, Ermine, 191.
33 leisleri, 26. », Greater, 191.
FA noctula, 17. » Fitchet, 203.
5 pipistrellus, 34. Whales and Dolphins, 373.
an serotinus, 44. Whale, Atlantic Right-, 385.
Viverra erminea, 191. ;, Broad-fronted Beaked-, 425.
») © uta, GT. » Ca’ing, 453.
» putorius, 203. ,, Common Beaked-, 421.
» vulgaris, 182. 5, Cuvier’s, 428.
Vole, Common Field-, 323. », Greenland Right-, 381.
», Red Field-, 327. », Humpbacked, 392.
,, Bank, 327. » Pilot, 453.
», Water, 316. », Sowerby’s, 431.
Vulpes vulgaris, 225. » Sperm-, 415.
Ww. 5,5 White, 440.
Want, 115. Z.

Weasel, Common, 182. Ziphius cavirostris, 428.

Hs ~

BRITISH QUADRUPEDS.

CHEIROPTERA——BATS.
Family, VespertTiLionipz&.*—Genus, Vespertilio.

Generic Character.—Cutting teeth 4; grinders variable ;+ nostrils without
foliaceous appendages ; ears at most very little longer, sometimes shorter,
than the head, not united at the base.

Tue genus Vespertilio, restricted as it now is by the
necessary dismemberment of the large group which was
formerly comprehended under this term, still retains a
considerable number of species, of which no less than
ten are natives of this country, besides one species
of Plecotus, one of Barbastellus, and two of Rhinolophus,
making in all fourteen species of the order.

The investigations of Kuhl, a young and enterprising
German naturalist, whose premature death disappointed
the high expectations which his almost precocious
acquirements and his excellent general views in zoolo-
gical science had deservedly raised, had thrown much
light upon the Bats of his own country;{ and, as

* Tnsectivorous Bats, without nasal appendages.

+ It is the false grinders only that varyin their number in the different
species ; the true grinders being always 3:3.

+ ‘*Die Deutschen Fledermiuse, von Heinr. Kuhl.” Neue Wetter. An-
nal. I, Bd.

B

2 VESPERTILIONIDA.

may have been expected from the similarity of climate
and of temperature, as well as from the propinquity of
the two countries, several which he had first discovered
in Germany, as well as others previously described, have
since been found in different parts of Great Britain.

So many good observers have of late years paid
attention to the more obscure species of European
mammalia without increasing the number of species,
that the opinion expressed in the first edition of this
work, that many other species of Bats would be found
indigenous to our islands, cannot now be entertained.
In the present edition, instead of adding to the British
list, we have to exclude three species, viz., the Vespertilio
pygmeus of Dr. Leach, the Vesp. emarginatus of Geoffroy,
and the Plecotus brevimanus of Jenyns. The former of
these is obviously the young of the Pipistrelle; the
second, although a well-marked species, and occurring in
France and Belgium, has never, so far as is at present
known, appeared in the British Islands; and the third is
now, by common consent, regarded as the young of
Plecotus auritus.

The species indigenous to this country, and indeed all
the European ones, belong to the true insectivorous
division of the order. The general habits of these are
therefore similar, and may with advantage be detailed
in this place.

The whole structure of these singular animals is evi-
dently and admirably calculated for the exercise of con-
siderable powers of flight. In this point of view, they
form not only a very distinct and circumscribed group
within themselves, but, in fact, there exists no other
type amongst the different classes of vertebrated animals,
excepting of course the whole class of birds, on which
any separate group is modelled, having similar powers,

BATS. 3

or offering any distinct analogical relation to them. The
expansion of skin extended between the anterior and
posterior extremities of the Colugo, Galeopithecus,a genus
formerly referred to the present order, but which properly
belongs to the Quadrumana,—of the Flying Squirrel,
Pteromys, amongst the Rodentia, and the Flying Opos-
sum, Petaurista, amongst the marsupial animals; the
increased development of the fins in the Flying Fish,
Ezocetus, and the cutaneous web supported by the elon-
gated ribs in the Flying Lizard, Draco,—are all of them
examples of an expansion of the integument upon cer-
tain bones, for the purpose of enabling these animals to
take long and somewhat sustained leaps; but to the
performance of this one action each of these structures
is strictly limited. There is no instance of a quadruped,
a fish, or a reptile, sustaining itself in the air by a succes-
sion of impulses given by any such organs as those now
alluded to. But in the Bats, the whole structure is
obviously modified to the fulfilment of this object. The
sternum, the ribs, and the bones composing the shoulder,
are all developed for the attachment of powerful muscles,
adapted to the rapid and continued movements of the
anterior extremity, which, although consisting essentially
of the same parts as that of man, has its different bones
so modified in form and extent, as to afford the most
admirable and complete support to an extensive expan-
sion of the skin, which thus forms a perfect and efficient
pair of wings. This modification principally consists in
the extraordinary development of the fingers, which are
greatly elongated for the purpose; and upon which
the skin is stretched like the silk on the rods of an
umbrella. The skin which forms the flying membrane is
exceedingly thin, generally devoid of hair on both sides,
and is furnished with very slender transverse bands in
B 2

4A VESPERTILIONIDZ.

every part; it extends not only between the elongated
fingers, but from the last finger to the posterior ex-
tremity, and in the greater number of the known .
species, from this to the tail. That portion which is
situated between the hinder legs, and in which the tail
is included, is termed the interfemoral membrane, and
is generally, but not always, present in the insectivorous
species, some of the Phyllostomide, or Leaf-nosed Bats
of the New World, forming an exception to this rule.

Of the fingers of the anterior extremity, the thumb is
the only one which is left free ; it is of moderate length,
and furnished with a hooked nail. The hinder toes are
short, of nearly equai length, and are chiefly used as
suspending organs, the Bats hanging by them, from the
trees or walls on which they rest, with the head down-
wards.*

The flying membrane is not the only part which indi-
cates a tendency to an extraordinary development of the
cutaneous system. The ears and the nose exhibit in
many cases a curious conformation, consisting of the
great expansion of the former, and some remarkable
appendages to the latter. The ears are, in all the British
Bats, of considerable extent; and the tragus is of large
size in those in which the nasal appendages just alluded
to do not exist: in the Long-eared Bat, the ear is nearly
as large as the body, and the tragus very long; but in
the Rhinolophus, or Horse-shoe Bat, though the ears are
large, the tragus is not perceptible ; and there are certain
very curious foliaceous appendages to the nose, which
will be described hereafter.

Admirably as this extension of the anterior extre-

* The figure at page 11 is arepresentation of the Long-eared Bat, Plecotus
auritus, in this position; the long ears being folded under the arms, and
almost wholly concealed by them, whilst the tragus is exposed and pendulous.

BATS. 5

mities and development of the cutaneous system is
adapted to the purposes of flight, we shall find that,
of the different parts of which it is composed, the
osseous basis for the support of the membrane, and the
membrane itself, are both applicable to other purposes
than those to which they may appear to be primarily
destined. The flying membrane is frequently used as a
cloak or mantle, in which not only these little creatures
enshroud themselves, but in which the females hold and
shelter their young; the posterior portion of it, or inter-
femoral membrane, is also stretched forwards and ex-
panded, by means of the tail and thighs, during parturi-
tion, forming a safe and easy cradle into which the young
ones are received at the moment of their birth.

But there is another, and still more important and in-
teresting office, which the membrane of the wings appears
to perform, and which deserves especial notice. Spallan-
zani had found that Bats, when deprived of sight, and,
as far as possible, of hearing and smelling also, still flew
about with equal certainty and safety, avoiding every ob-
stacle, passing through passages only just large enough
to admit them, and flying about places previously un-
known, with the most unerring accuracy, and without
ever coming into collision with the objects by which they
passed. He also stretched threads in various directions
across the apartment with the same result. So as-
tonished was he at these curious facts, that he was led
to attribute the phenomenon to the possession of a sixth
sense, unknown to us. Cuvier was the first to appreciate
the real value of these experiments, as affording a proof
of the existence of a vast expansion of the most exqui-
site sense of touch over the whole surface of the flying
membrane; the naked surface and delicate structure of
which appear well calculated to form the seat of so im-

6 VESPERTILIONIDA.

portant a function. From this view, therefore, it would
appear, that ‘it is by means of the pulsations of the
wings on the air that the propinquity of solid bodies is
perceived, by the manner in which the air reacts upon
their surface.” The transverse bands before mentioned as
traversing the whole of the flying membrane, are formed
of small thickened points, which have very much the
appearance of minute glands, particularly on the inter-
femoral portion. Have they any connection with the
extraordinary sensibility of the membrane just alluded
to?

Similar experiments to these of Spallanzani were
made by M. de Jurine, and the details given in the
“ Journal de Physique”’ for 1798. The results differed
somewhat from those arrived at by Spallanzani ; although,
when the eyes were destroyed, the Bats continued to
pass and repass through narrow openings with ease, yet
M. de Jurine invariably found that, when, in addition
to the destruction of the eyes, the auditory openings
were effectually closed, the creatures struck their wings
against any object which came in their way.

Although the extremities are adapted, in their most
extended action, only for the purposes of flight, yet they
are capable of affording the means of walking on the
ground, and still more, of climbing with great ease up
perpendicular places, if there be sufficient inequalities
on the surface to allow of a firm hold by the little
hooked nai] of the thumb. In walking

>>?
closed, the long fingers being folded against the arm, and

the wings are

the animal rests upon the wrist. The foot of one side is
then extended forward, and the thumb-nail is hooked
into the ground; the body is next raised by means of
the hinder foot, which has been placed partly under the
body, and thus thrown forward; the other side is next

BATS. 7

propelled in the same manner: it is therefore by a suc-
cession of these plunges that their progression on the
ground is effected, which is sometimes sufficiently rapid
to deserve the name of running. This action, it must be
acknowledged, is but a ludicrous attempt compared with
the progression of other quadrupeds; but it is sufficient
for their wants. Indeed, the habit of judging of the
comparative value and importance of a structure by
viewing it only in those forms in which it is most exten-
sively developed, is liable to give very erroneous notions
of the general adaptation of structure to its function, the
contemplation of which constitutes the great charm and
interest of all natural science; and it cannot be too
strongly urged, that the apparently imperfect and
abortive means of terrestrial progression given to
the Bat and the Sloth are as indicative of infinite
wisdom as the power of the Lion or the fleetness
of the Antelope, because it is equally fitted to their
requirements.

The Bats are all of them nocturnal or crepuscular in
their habits. Sleeping during the day in the most re-
tired places, some of them in the darkest retreats of
forests, in the hollows of trees, suspended from the
bark, or concealed amongst the leaves; others in the
most inaccessible parts of ruined edifices, in the roofs
of churches, or similar unfrequented places; they come
abroad as soon as the twilight begins to steal over
the face of nature, and to offer them the safeguard
of obscurity. Then in the pursuit of those insects
which, like themselves, avoid the glare of daylight,
they exhibit the most rapid and various movements,
sometimes flying with great swiftness over the surface
of the water, then rising to considerable height in
the air, and turning suddenly to one side or the other,

8 VESPERTILIONIDA.

as their prey performs its various gyrations to escape
from them. These easy and graceful evolutions present
an interesting scene, in perfect harmony with the quiet
of a calm summer evening, and possessed of sufficient
animation to relieve the sameness and gloom of the hour,
without interrupting its stillness and tranquillity.

Do our Bats ever migrate? or do Swallows ever hiber-
nate? To these questions, unhesitatingly answered in
the negative in the first edition of this work, we pro-
bably have still to make the same reply. But by
extending the inquiry to the European species, we shall
probably have to give a qualified affirmative to the first
of them. It has been ascertained by Professor Blasius
that these creatures not merely seek for a change of
locality, but that they do so with such regularity that
it becomes, in his opinion, a migration. His remarks
apply exclusively to a northern species, the Vespertalio
borealis of Nilsson, the most southern haunts of which
are the mountains of the upper Hartz, and, according
to Wagner, those in the vicinity of Regensburgh. It
passes, 1t would appear, northward in the month of
August. As it is one of those species, according to
Professor Blasius, which come abroad only in the ad-
vanced twilight, the most northern part of its range
would be unsuitable to its habits “during the hot
summer months, when, from the position of the sun,
there is no intense twilight, or the sun does not set at
all.” ‘It is only,” he further remarks, ‘‘ when, at the
advanced time of the year, the dark nights and intense
twilight appear, that they arrive with their young in
the northern latitudes. Since we know of no instance
of specimens in the northern countries having been
found in their winter sleep, and the rough weather
appearing in the beginning of October, we cannot

BATS. 9

suppose that they remain for more than six weeks until
they return to their southern winter quarters.”

Professor Blasius leaves us in doubt respecting the
hibernation of this species after it has returned to its
winter quarters, but the following remarks, in addition
to those we have already quoted, are too interesting to
be omitted : —

‘If we determine,” he continues, ‘‘ their usual habi-
tation, where they bring up their young, to be between
54° and 58° N. lat., and the supposed northern limit of
their distribution to be about 68° to 70° N. lat., the
result is a change of habitation of at least 10 degrees of
latitude.

“This change of locality is the only ascertained fact
in the mode of life of these Bats, and it may be com-
pared with the migration of birds. Although we may
be able to trace in the Hartz and other German mountains
a wandering of allied species from the plain to the
mountains, yet such a change extends only a few miles,
and is measured by days and not by months. <A striking
difference between the migration of Birds and Bats is,
that while the former move northward for the purpose
of breeding, the latter arrive there only after they have
grown-up young ones.”

In this country, where, so far as we know, no change
of habitat takes place, constant observation has shown
that some species come abroad early in the evening, and
others late, a given degree of light being necessary for
each. May we not suppose that the migration of Bats
observed by Professor Blasius was the mere unconscious
appearance, night after night, of these creatures at a
spot somewhat removed from that of the previous
night, thus following the twilight, rather than what
may be properly termed as migration? But the hiber-

G

10 VESPERTILIONIDA,

nation of these animals is one of the most interesting
points in their economy. At an earlier or later period
of autumn, according to the species, they retreat, gene-
rally in large congregations of various species together,
to the most retired places; as under the roofs of
houses and churches, in caverns, in the hollows of
trees, and similar situations, where they suspend them-
selves by their hinder claws, with the head downwards.
Here they crowd together, holding not only by the
surface of the walls of their retreat, but by each
other, one crowding over another so closely that it
appears scarcely possible for such numbers to occupy so
small a space. The retirement of the different species
takes place at very different periods of the year. The
Noctule is seldom seen abroad much later than July; and
the Pipistrelle, the most common of our indigenous Bats,
will sometimes make its appearance, in fine mild weather,
in almost every month in the year; it does not even
restrict itself to the obscurity of evening, but may
now and then be seen flitting about in the bright sun-
shine of a December day, in search of the few insects
which the unwonted influence of his rays has called into
a short-lived activity.

The female Bat brings forth one or two young ata
birth, which she nurses with great tenderness and care,
carrying it about with her, and holding it enshrouded in
her ample cloak, which preserves it from all intrusion.
During the period of breeding, some species are observed
to pair; and Geoffroy St. Hilaire states, that whilst the
female is suckling, the male places himself in front of the
mother, so that the young one may be equally protected
and warmed by both the parents at the same time.

It is perhaps difficult to account for the prejudices
which have always existed against these harmless and

BATS. ll

interesting little animals, which have not only furnished
objects of superstitious dread to the ignorant, but have
proved to the poet and the painter a fertile source of
images of gloom and terror. That the ancient Greek
and Roman poets, furnished with exaggerated accounts of
the animals infesting the remote regions with which their
commerce or their conquests had made them acquainted,
should have caught eagerly at those marvellous stories
and descriptions, and rendered them subservient to their
fabulous but highly imaginative mythology, is not won-
derful; and it is more than probable that some of the
Indian species of Bats, with their predatory habits, their
multitudinous numbers, their obscure and mysterious
retreats, and the strange combination of the character of
beast and bird which they were believed to possess, gave
to Virgil the idea, which he has so poetically worked out,
of the Harpies which fell upon the hastily-spread tables
of his hero and his companions, and polluted, whilst they
devoured, the feast from which they had driven the
affrighted guests. But that the little harmless Bats of
our own climate, whose habits are at once so innocent
and so amusing, and whose time of appearance and
activity is that when everything around would lead the
mind to tranquillity and peace, should be forced into
scenes of mystery and horror, as an almost essential
feature in the picture, is an anomaly which cannot be so
easily explained.

The views entertained, even by the most celebrated
naturalists of antiquity, respecting the nature of these
animals, were extremely vague. Aristotle himself, whose
genius seems to have discovered, by an almost intuitive
perception, the relations of natural objects, and the com-
parative value of external forms and structural charac-
ters, speaks of them as having feet as birds, but wanting

c 2

w

12 VESPERTILIONIDA,

them as quadrupeds; of their possessing neither the tail
of quadrupeds nor of birds;—of their being, in short,
birds with wings of skin. He is followed, but with in-
creasing error, by Atlian and by Pliny; the latter of
whom says, that the Bat is the only bird which brings
forth young ones and suckles them.* Even up to a late
period they were considered as forming a link between
quadrupeds and birds. It were a vain and useless task to
recount every slight modification of this pervading error.
The time has long gone by when Nature was accused of
the most extravagant vagaries by the professed investiga-
tors of her laws, and when the absurd expression of ‘ lusus
nature,” or other equivalent follies, was forced into their
service to account for all the wonders which their own
limited views and scanty information failed to explain.
The common language of our own ancestors, however,
indicates a much nearer approach to the truth in the no-
tions entertained by the people, than can be found in the
lucubrations of the learned. The words Reremouse and
Flittermouse, the old English names for the Bat, the for-
mer derived from the Anglo-Saxon ‘‘reran,” to raise or
rear up, and “ Mus,”’—the latter from the Belgic, signify-
ing ‘‘ flying or flittering Mouse,” or from the Anglo-Saxon
** flioht,’—show that in their minds these animals were
always associated with the idea of quadrupeds. The first
of these terms is still used in English heraldry ; though,
[ believe, it has ceased to belong to the language of the
country. The word Flittermouse, corrupted sometimes
into Flintymouse, is the common term for the Bat in
some parts of the country. This expressive example
of the correct observation of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors

* Volucrum animal parit vespertilio tantum: * * * * eadem sola, volucrum

lacte nutrit, ubera admovens ; geminos volitat amplexa infantes, secumque
deportat. Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. x. c. Ixi.

BATS. 13

is commonly used at Selborne, and other parts of Hamp-
shire, as well as in that part of the county of Kent, in
which the language, as well as the aspect and the names
of the inhabitants, retains more of the Saxon character
than will be found perhaps in almost any other part
of England.

In the first edition of this work, the characters afforded
by the shape of the ear and tragus, and the dentition, were
first made use of in the following manner to divide into
groups the simple-nosed species. We now reprint the
passage verbatim :—

“The characters which are most easily detected and
least variable, and which are therefore the most avail-
able in the discrimination of the species of this genus,
are the forms of the ear and tragus, and the relative pro-
portions of the ear to the tragus and to the head. In
reforming, in some measure, the specific characters, I
have endeavoured to define these proportions more dis-
tinctly than has hitherto been done. It is remarkable
that the formula of dentition and the form and structure
of the tragus combine to point out two distinct groups
of the genus. Im the one, the tragus is more or less
rounded at the tip, short, and a little thickened in its
substance: the dentition is as follows :—

*
La
|
Q
volta

ee: Me ge

In the other form, the tragus is relatively longer, thin,
narrow, and more or less pointed: the dentition—

Lee On 2 he Me ge Me

‘* To the first group belong V. noctula, Leisleri, discolor ?
pipistrellus, pygmeus ? To the second, murinus, Bechsteini,
Nattereri, emarginatus, Daubentonit, mystacinus.

* T. jncisives. C. canines. F. M. false molars. M. molars.

14 VESPERTILIONIDA.

‘* Serotinus, which has a short, semicordate tragus, has
the following dentition, which differs from both the other

groups:

Tt will be seen that it is only the false molars which
differ, the other teeth being similar in number in all the
species of this genus.”

Overlooking the sections above indicated, Count
Keyserling and Professor Blasius, in a paper on the
European Bats, published in ‘‘ Weigman’s Archives”
for 1839, divided the simple-nosed species into pre-
cisely the same groups, and gave the generic name
Vesperugo to the one having the rounded ears and broad
tragus, Vesperus being at the same time proposed as a
sub-generic appellation for the group represented by
the Serotine Bat. These names have been continued
by the above-mentioned authors in all their subsequent
writings on the Cheiroptera, and by Professor Blasius
in the first volume of his work on the vertebrate
animals of Germany, which appeared in 1857.

But it is now obvious that it was to one of these
groups that Dr. Leach long ago applied the name of
Scotophilus, the type specimen, still preserved in the
national collection, proving, on examination, to be a
young example of either the Serotine Bat or of some
allied form. The name of Scotophilus should therefore
be substituted for Vesperugo.

In addition to the characteristics of these groups of
simple-nosed Bats, as above defined, we now present
our readers with the following, attention to which will
materially assist in the discrimination of the more easily
confounded British species :—

Genus, Vespertilio. Top of the head somewhat elevated,

BATS. 15

muzzle rather pointed; ears more or less ovate, longer
than broad, tragus long, narrow, tapering, with the tip
bent a little outwards.

A. Wing membranes extending along the foot to
the base of the toes.

Ex. Vespertilio Nattereri and V. mystacinus. V. mu-
rinus also appertains to this group, but is a less typical
species.

B. Wing membranes extending only to the distal
extremity of the tibia, leaving the foot free.

Ex. Vespertilio Daubentonit.

We have been unable to examine as fully as we could
wish one of our British species, the Vespertilio Bechstein,
but are much disposed to suspect that it will be found to
be more closely related to a small group of ex-EKuropean
species than any of the above.

Genus, Scotophilus. Top of the head broad and flat,
muzzle broad; ears short and rather broad, rounded or
approaching to a triangularly ovate form, tragus broad,
rounded at the end, and curved inwards.

A. Ears roundish, tragus much broader at the
end than at the base; head very broad and flat;
wing membranes extending only to the distal ex-
tremity of the tibia.

Ex. Scotophilus noctula. 8S. Leisleri and 8. discoor are
less typical species of this circumscribed group than
S. noctula, but they nevertheless appertain to it.

B. Ears triangularly ovoid, tragus of nearly
uniform breadth, round at the end, and evenly
curved towards the head; wing membranes ex-
tending to the base of the toes.

Ex. Scotophilus pipistrellus. 'To this group belongs the
Vespertilio Kuhlii of Natterer, described in Kuhl’s
Memoir on the Bats of Germany, and the more

16 VESPERTILIONID A.

recently described Vesperugo Nattereri of Keyserling and
Blasius.

C. Top of the head flat, but less broad than that
of S. Noctula, muzzle a little more compressed ;
ears more distinctly ovate, tragus broadest at one-
third from its base, from which it curves to a
rounded point, having a strongly marked inward
direction; wing membranes extending to the root
of the toes; tip of the tail free from the membrane.

Ex. Scotophilus serotinus.

GREAT BAT. 17

CHEIROPTERA., VESPERTILIONIDA.

THE GREAT BAT.

NOCTULE.

Scotophilus noctula.

Specific Character.—EHars oyal-triangular, shorter than the head; tragus
not one-third the length of the ear, arcuate, terminating ina broad, rounded
head; muzzle short, broad, and blunt. Wing membranes extending only to
the distal extremity of the tibia.

Vespertilio noctula, Scores. Saiigth. p. 166, t. lii. Desmar. Mam-
mal. p. 156. Frem. Brit. An. p. 6. JEnyns,
Brit. Vert. p. 28.
or altivolans, Wurtr, Nat. Hist. Selb. XX XVII.
“FP proterus, Kuni, Deutsch. Flederm. p. 41.
Scotophilus noctula, Gray, Mag. Zool. & Bot., 1838, p. 497.
Vespertilio macuanus, Prters, Reise nach Mosambique, I. 61, xvi.
Vesperugo noetult, Buas. Faun. Wirb. Deutsch. p. 53, f. 33, 34.

La Noctule, Dauspenton, Mém. Acad. 1759, p. 380, t. ii. f. 1.
Burron, Hist. Nat. VIII. p. 128, t. xviii. f. 1.

La Serotine, Gerorr. Ann. Mus. VIII. p. 194, sp. 4.

Great Bat, Pennant, Brit. Zool. I. p. 146, t. xiii.

Ir is to Daubenton that we are indebted for the discri-
mination of this fine species of European Bat. He has
D

18 VESPERTILIONID”®.

described it and given a figure of the head, in the Me-
moirs of the French Academy for 1759; and Buffon
subsequently gave it a place in his great work. The
first notice of its occurrence as a British species is in
White’s “ Natural History of Selborne,” in which it is
repeatedly mentioned. This writer gave it the name of
altivolans, from a peculiarity which did not escape this
close observer of nature.

We have seen it at Selborne for several successive
years, and probably on the very spot where its venerable
discoverer first observed it. In one summer, a pair of
them came every evening out of a large beech in the
grounds of the residence of one of the authors of this
work, for their regular vespertinal flight. We have
often seen them flying over the whole length of the
beautiful ravine between the Lithe and Dorton wood, in
Selborne, at an altitude equal to the tops of the trees
on the hill on each side, and occasionally dipping down
towards the stream to seize their insect food.

In Warwickshire, as in Hampshire, the Noctule
appears to be a tree-loving species, not a single instance
having come to our knowledge of its retirement to
buildings during the day, although it has been frequently
seen in the holes of trees. A grove of old oaks near
Alcester, which was much frequented by the Vespertilio
Daubentonii, was a favourite haunt also of the present
species ; and at Ragley, a seat of the Marquis of Hert-
ford, in a similar grove, their excrement has sometimes
Jain so thick as to darken the ground under some of the
more ancient trees. In another locality, near to Strat-
ford-on-Avon, we have known a considerable number
dislodged from a hole made by the green woodpecker
in an elm, by the insertion of a flexible stick. Now,
within convenient distance of these several localities,

GREAT BAT, 19

ample accommodation in old buildings might have been
found, and indeed was made use of by other species,
but not a single Noctule took advantage of it, from which
we may reasonably suppose, that although buildings may
be occasionally made use of as a resting-place during
the day, that this is only the case in the absence of trees
which will afford sufficient accommodation.

The Noctule is gregarious in its habits, associating in
considerable numbers, and seeking its retreat sometimes
in the hollows of trees, at others under the roofs and
eaves of houses. Pennant states that he was informed
by the Rev. Dr. Buckhouse, that he saw taken from
under the eaves of Queen’s College, Cambridge, one
hundred and eighty-five in one night: but as there is
no reason to believe that these were all submitted to the
rigid examination necessary to detect the specific distinc-
tions of these animals, it is probable that other species
were mingled with them in this great congregation. It
is, however, particularly stated, that of all those which
were measured, the extent of the wings was fifteen
inches ; and repeated observation has led us to believe
that two gregarious species are rarely, if ever, found
together. In the second night, sixty-three were taken.
The flight of this Bat is remarkably high and rapid, and
its ery when on the wing is sharp and harsh. It was
observed by White to emit a very offensive odour. It
remains in activity for a shorter time than any other,
coming abroad later and retiring earlier: White says
that he never saw it till the end of April, nor later than
July, but its appearance in the spring and disappearance
in the autumn depend entirely on the mildness of the
season. The earliest note we have of its appearance is
the 12th of March, and the 18th of September is the
latest date we have on record of its appearance. In

D2

20 VESPERTILIONID.

both these instances solitary individuals were seen flying
over the Warwickshire Avon.

Some observations by Mr. George Daniell, recorded in
the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1834, on
the habits of this species, and particularly on its parturi-
tion and lactation, are too interesting not to demand
insertion here; and it would be doing injustice to the
very pleasing manner in which the facts are detailed,
were any part of them omitted. ‘‘On the 16th of May,
1834, Mr. Daniell procured from Hertfordshire five spe-
cimens of the Vespertilio noctula, four females and one
male. The latter was exceedingly restless and savage,
biting the females, and breaking his teeth against the
wires of the cage, in his attempts to escape from his place
of confinement. He rejected food and died on the 18th.
Up to this time the remaining four continued sulky; but
towards evening they ate a few small pieces of raw beef,
in preference to flies, beetles, or gentles, all of which
were offered to them; only one of them, however, fed
kindly. On the 20th one died, and on the 22nd two
others, each of which was found to be pregnant with a
single foetus. The survivor was tried with a variety of
food, and evincing a decided preference for the hearts,
livers, &c. of fowls, was fed constantly upon them for a
month. In the course of this time large flies were fre-
quently offered to her, but they were always rejected,
although one or two May-chafers, Melolontha vulgaris,
were partially eaten. In taking the food, the wings
were not thrown forward, as Mr. Daniell had observed
them to be in the Pipistrelle; and the food was seized
with an action similar to that of a dog. The water that
drained from the food was lapped; but the head was not
raised in drinking, as in the Pipistrelle. The animal took

considerable pains in cleaning herself, using the posterior

~~.

GREAT BAT. , on

extremities as a comb, parting the hair on either side
from head to tail, and forming a straight line along the
middle of the back. The membrane of the wings was
cleaned by forcing the nose through the folds, and there-
by expanding them. Up to the 20th of June the animal
fed freely, and at times voraciously ; remaining during
the day, suspended by the posterior extremities, at the
top of the cage, and coming down in the evening to its
food: the quantity eaten sometimes exceeded half an
ounce, although the weight of the animal itself was
no more than ten drachms. On the 23rd, Mr. Daniell,
observing her to be very restless, was induced to
watch her proceedings. The uneasiness was continued
for upwards of an hour; the animal remaining during
all this time in her usual attitude, suspended by the
posterior extremities. On a sudden she reversed her
position, and attached herself by her anterior limbs
to a cross wire of the cage, stretching her hind legs
to their utmost extent, curving the tail upwards, and
expanding the interfemoral membrane so as to form a
perfect nest-like cavity for the reception of the young.
In a few moments the snout of the young one made its
appearance, and in about five minutes the whole of its
head was protruded. The female then struggled consi-
derably until the extremities of the radii had passed ;
after which the young one, by means of a lateral motion
of its fore limbs, relieved itself. It was born on its
back, perfectly destitute of hair, and blind. The mother
then cleaned it, turning it over in its nest; and, after-
wards resuming her usual position, placed the young in
the membrane of her wing. She next cleaned herself,
and wrapped up the young one so closely as to prevent
any observation of the process of suckling. The time

22 VESPERTILIONIDA,

occupied in the birth was seventeen minutes. At the
time of its birth, the young was larger than a new-born
mouse; and its hind-legs and claws were remarkably
strong and serviceable, enabling it not only to cling to its
dam, but also to the deal sides of the cage. On the 24th,
the animal took her food in the morning, and appeared
very careful of her young, shifting it occasionally from
side to side to suckle it, and folding it in the membranes
of the tail and wings. On these occasions her usual
position was reversed. In the evening she was found
dead ; but the young was still alive, and attached to the
nipple, from which it was with some difficulty removed.
It took milk from a sponge, was kept carefully wrapped
up in flannel, and survived eight days; at the end of
which period its eyes were not opened, and it had
acquired very little hair. From these observations, it
is evident that the period of gestation in the Noctule
exceeds thirty-eight days.”

The Noctule, in general conformation, is essentially
adapted for the capture and mastication of coleopterous
insects. The broad muzzle and strong jaws are found
quite equal to the reduction of the stubborn elytra of
beetles as large as the cockchafer (of which, according to
Kuhl, he will consume as many as thirteen, one after the
other), and the wings are in no way deficient in power
when in pursuit of these insects. During the fine
midsummer evenings, when the cockchafers have become
abundant, and you hear them humming on every side,
the Noctule is in his glory. Then he flies high and
straight, and you hear his shrill but clear voice as he
passes overhead, interrupting himself only to dart at
some prey, and then passing on. But an observer will
not watch his movements long on such occasions with-

GREAT BAT. 23

out noticing a manoeuvre which at first looks like the
falling of a tumbler pigeon, but on closer observation
proves to be simply a closing of the wings, and a con-
sequent drop of about a foot. Sometimes this is re-
peated every few yards, as long as in sight. It is
occasioned by some large and intractable insect having
been captured, and the anterior joint of the wing, with
its well-armed thumb, is required to assist in retaining it
until masticated. Sometimes, however, food is not so
readily obtained. With a cold east wind, or indeed a
strong wind from any quarter, a change of hunting
ground is required, and the Noctule may often be seen
taking a humble and silent flight in some sheltered
corner, fluttering about with half-closed wings, and ap-
pearing to be very little at home, or, indeed, like himself,
for we can recall an instance when several were shot under
the belief that they were of some unknown species.

The geographical range of the Noctule is very con-
siderable. Asa British species it appears to be confined
to England, and the most northern locality from which
we have received specimens is Northallerton, in York-
shire. In Europe, it appears to be pretty generally
distributed; M. Temminck says, more abundantly in
the central than northern part. It is included by
Nilsson in his “ Skandinavisk Fauna,’’ by Brandt in his
**Saugethiere Russlands;” by Schinz in his ‘ Fauna
Helvetica,” and by Prince Lucien Bonaparte in his
“Fauna Italica.” But it occurs in Asia also, and in
Africa. Specimens have been sent to the Leyden
Museum from Japan; and from an examination of the
type of Mr. W. Hodgson’s Scotophilus labiatus, from
Nepaul, we are convinced that it is no other than the
present species. Many specimens have been sent with

24 VESPERTILIONIDE.

other European Bats from North Africa, and it has been
discovered on the Mozambique coast by Dr. Peters, and
described as Vesperugo macuanus.

This Bat is the largest of the British species, except-
ing V. murinus, which exceeds it in length by about half
an inch. The head is flat and broad; the muzzle broad,
obtuse, and nearly naked; the mouth wide; the nostrils
tumid at the upper and inner margin, and _ slightly
channelled on the outer side. The ears are wide apart,
shorter than the head, oval, the external margin with
arather deep fold near the base, from which it is pro-
duced downwards and forwards, below the corners of the
mouth. Tragus very short, narrow at its base, then
suddenly expanded into a broad, rounded, or reniform
head, which is rather thick, and covered with numerous
minute papillae. Fur soft, moderately long. The tail
longer than the fore-arm, its termination curved inwards,
and projecting rather more than a line beyond the inter-
femoral membrane, which is thicker and more opaque
than the other parts of the flying membrane, and is
furnished with about fourteen or sixteen transverse lines.
The colour of the fur isa reddish brown, scarcely darker
above than beneath; the ears, muzzle, and membrane,
dusky,—the latter darker and thinner towards its
margin.

It is remarkable that Geoffroy has described this Bat
under the name of Serotine, and the latter under that of
Noctule, in his paper on the genus Vespertilio, in the An-
nales du Muséum. His descriptions of the two species
are good, but misapplied; in proof of which I need only
quote the following observations which occur under the
head Serotine. Speaking of its distinctions from Noctule,
he says, “Il en différe par l’oreillon, qwil a plus court,

GREAT BAT, 25

arqueé, et terminé par une large téte, ou une espéce de
paume.” Nothing can be more correct than this discri-
mination, mutato nomine.

Dimensions :—

Inch. Lines.
Length of the head and body . : ; Seem eel

», of the head OF eo
», of the tail . 1 8
>, of the ears . 0 74
Breadth of the ears 0 6
Length of the tragus 0 2
», Of the fore-arm . : 2 0

Extent of the wings, 15 inches 8 lines to 14 inches and upwards.

Dentition :—
jae Reo

tolto
ue]

M.4: M. $= 4.

The genus Scotophilus was established by Dr. Leach,
in a paper in the Linnean Transactions, vol. xiil., and
adopted by Dr. Gray in the Magazine of Zoology and
Botany, vol. i1., 1838.

26 VESPERTILIONIDE.

CHEIROPTERA. VESPERTILIONID.

HAIRY-ARMED BAT.

Scotophilus Leisleri.

Kars oval-triangular, shorter than the head ; tragus barely one-third the
length of the auricle, terminating in a rounded head; fur long, bright chestnut
above, brownish grey beneath : under surface of the flying membrane with a
broad band of hair along the fore-arm.

Vespertilio dasycarpos, LeIsLER.

5 Leisleri, Kunt, Deut. Flederm. p. 46, sp. 6. Drsmar.
Mammal. p. 188. Jnnyns, Brit. Vert. p. 23.
Scotophilus ,, GRA. ic:
Vesperugo . Buas. l. c. p. 56, f. 35, 36.

ALTHOUGH the name retained for this species is not
the one which was originally applied to it by its dis-
coverer, Leisler, we have preferred continuing that by
which Kuhl conveyed a well-merited compliment to that
naturalist, who has contributed so much to our know-

HAIRY-ARMED BAT. Qe

ledge of European Bats. Were it not for this reason,
it would have been desirable to restore the former term,
which is founded upon a marked distinctive character,
and the meaning of which we have still endeavoured to
convey in the English name now chosen for it.

It was first discovered in Germany by Leisler, and is
described by Kuhl; but I am not aware that it has ever
before been figured. The present representation was
taken from a specimen in the British Museum, the only
one known to have been found in this country when the
former edition of this work was published. Since that
time it has been taken in Ireland, in a cave by the Black-
staff river, near Belfast. It was communicated to Dr.
Kinahan by Mr. Patterson, and we have received from
the former gentleman a full description, which leaves no
doubt of the identity of the species. The same accurate
observer has informed us of the capture of another
specimen at Belvoir Park, Co. Down, several years since,
and now in his possession. We have seen a British-
killed specimen in the collection of Mr. F. Bond, and have
good reason for supposing that it has been taken in the
neighbourhood of Cirencester. These instances, added
to its not unfrequent appearance at various localities in
the course of the river Avon, in the counties of Warwick,
Worcester, and Gloucester, render it probable that it is
less rare than has hitherto been supposed. The following
notes of its habits, as observed in Warwickshire, will
not perhaps be considered unacceptable by our readers,

Previously to 1849, a Bat had often been observed
which, from its smaller size and different mode of flight,
appeared to be quite distinct from the Noctule; but it
was not until June of that year that an opportunity
occurred of examining a specimen; the difficulty of
obtaining specimens arising not so much from its rarity

ip

28 VESPERTILIONIDA,

as from its general habit and style of flying. Whilst
the Noctule may throughout the whole of the summer
be seen taking its regular evening flight, night after
night, near the same spot, the Leisler’s Bat, on the
contrary, will be seen once, perhaps for a few minutes
only, and then lost sight of. It appears to affect no
particular altitude in its flight any more than it pre-
serves a regular or prescribed beat. When the weather
is fine, you may see this Bat passing on in a kind of zig-
zag manner, apparently uncertain where to go, generally,
though not always, at a considerable elevation, and in
a few minutes it is gone. Such was for several years
the only knowledge we had of this species, but several
examples were afterwards seen frequenting small wooded
enclosures near the village of Welford, situated on the
Avon a few miles west of Stratford. In these latter
instances their flight was more circumscribed; but even
then their desultory manners were quite remarkable, and
they always appeared shy of approach. In 18538 a pair
appeared in an enclosure at the village of Cleeve Prior,
near the Avon, between Stratford and Evesham. This
was about the middle of May. One of them, a male,
was shot, and the other immediately took its departure.
Since that time others have been shot near the village of
Welford. Of the hiding-place of the Leisler’s Bat we
know nothing from our own observation, but, from its
appearing more frequently near villages than elsewhere,
are led to suspect that it is not, like the Noctule, a tree-
loving species. Those observed at Cleeve Prior were
abroad early in the evening, first appearing scarcely a
hundred paces from the church tower, and a shorter
distance than that from an ancient stone house and
farmstead, built by the monks of Evesham Abbey,
and around which other Bats were seen in plenty.

HAIRY-ARMED BAT, 29

Temminck says that this Bat habitually retreats to the
holes of trees in the vicinity of stagnant water, a statement
the accuracy of which we are much disposed to question.
As it does not, according to him, occur in France or the
Low Countries, it is possible that he may not have himself
observed it ina state of nature. Two Swiss specimens
which we have examined are labelled thus: ‘ Trouvé
dans un vieux batiment dans le village Meyrengen au
printemps;” which statement probably conveys a pretty
accurate idea of the resting-place of this species.

The Hairy-armed Bat has been found in Germany and
in Switzerland, and we have seen specimens in the col-
lection of M. Verreaux of Paris, which had been re-
ceived by him from Sicily. Mversman includes it in
his list of species of the Ural Mountains, and Brandt, in
his work on Russian Mammals, mentions its occurrence
near the river Volga. We _ possess specimens from
Madeira, and have reason to suppose that it occurs also
with the Noctule in Algeria.

The head is short and flattened; the muzzle rather
elongated; the nose depressed and naked; the nostrils
crescent-shaped; a large sebaceous gland exists above
the commissure of the lips. Ears hairy on the inner
surface, oval-triangular, two-thirds the length of the
head, very broad; the outer margin not reaching to the
corners of the mouth; tragus half the length of the ear,
terminating in a rounded head, which is slightly curved
inwards, and produced on its outer margin. A band of
short hair, about four lines in breadth, extends along
the inferior surface of the fore-arm to the wrist, being
thickest and most extended about the latter part. Fur
long; above deep brown at the base, bright chestnut at
the surface; beneath dusky at the base, dark greyish
brown at the surface. The two Swiss specimens to

30 VESPERTILIONIDA.

which we have alluded approach in colour to a fuli-
ginous-brown on all parts, and tinged with ash-colour.
Flying membrane dusky; the part contiguous with the
body generally hairy both above and beneath; but in
some specimens this peculiarity is by no means con-
spicuous. ‘Thumb short and feeble.

The colour is said to be much darker in young than in
old specimens; a circumstance which is also observed in
some other species, as V. Daubentonii, the Pipistrelle, &c.

Dimensions :—

Inch. Lines.

Length of the head and body . : : =
», of the head ; : : <a CO hS9
», Of the tail . ; ; ; : ay veel eames
», of the ears . (8)
Breadth of the ears : : : : ES Opened:
Length of the tragus 3 c j ‘ a Oe
Extent of the wings : F : ; line 8s

Dentition :—
I.

:0.3:F. M4: M g§=48

5

PARTICOLOURED BAT. onl

CHEITROPTERA. VESPERTILIONID.

PARTICOLOURED BAT.

Scotophilus discolor.

Ears about two-thirds the length of the head, oval, with a projecting lobe
on the inner margin ; tragus of nearly equal breadth throughout, rather more
than one-third the length of the auricle ; fur above reddish brown, with the
tips of the hairs white ; beneath dirty white.

Vespertilio discolor, Narrerer. Kuvut, Deut. Flederm. sp. 8, t. xxv.
fig. 2. Desmar, Mammal. p. 139. JENyYNs,
Brit. Vert. p. 24.

Scotophilus 53 Gray, l. c.

Vesperugo ap Buas. |. c. p. 73, f. 49, 50,

Tus species, which belongs to the same genus as
the Noctule, agreeing with it in the formula of its
dentition, as well as in the short and obtuse character
of the tragus, was first discovered on the Continent
by Dr. Natterer, who found it in Germany. It is not,
however, common in that country, and has not been
observed in the central and northern parts, in Holland,
nor, I believe, in any other part of the Continent. A
single specimen, now in the British Museum, was taken
at Plymouth by Dr. Leach, which appears to be the
only one that has yet been noticed in this country. Its

appearance in this country being confined to that of a

oe VESPERTILIONIDA.

solitary example, together with its absence from the
nearest parts of the Continent of Europe, lead us to
suspect that the specimen obtained may have been con-
veyed to Plymouth in the rigging of a vessel. That
Bats are so transported is more than mere surmise, as we
can scarcely in any other way account for the appear-
ance, in a living state, of a North American species
(Lasiurus pruinosus) in the Orkney Islands, where it was
obtained by the late Mr. J. Wolley. It is said to
frequent towns, and indeed has not been seen in any
other situations ; and it comes abroad early in the even-
ing.

The north and north-eastern parts of Europe appear
to be its proper habitat, although we find no mention
made of it by Nilsson in his Scandinavian Fauna.
Eversman and Brandt severally include it in their works
on the Bats of the region of the Ural Mountains, and
on the Mammalia of Russia.

This is one of the most beautiful species of European
Bats, from the richness of the prevailing colour of the
fur, its marbled appearance arising from the lighter
colour of the tips of the hairs, and the striking contrast
between the upper and lower parts.

The forehead is broad and hairy; the muzzle broad,
tumid, and very long; the nose thick and broad, and the
lips tumid. The eyes are very small. The ears about
two-thirds the length of the head, rounded, oval, turned
outwards; the outer margin approaching the corners of
the mouth, the inner margin with a distinct lobe at the
base; the basal half of the ears hairy; tragus little more
than one-third the length of the auricle, of equal breadth
throughout, a little curved, opaque, and naked. Tail ex-
serted for about three lines; bands of the interfemoral

membrane, about nine or ten.

PARTICOLOURED BAT, 33

Fur of the upper part of a rich chestnut or very deep
brown, the extreme points of the hairs being pale, in
some specimens white, giving a variegated or marbled
appearance ; that of the under parts grey at the base,
white at the tips, excepting a large patch occupying
the middle of the chest and belly, of a reddish brown
colour mixed with white.

Dimensions :—

Length of the head and body . : : 2 2 eS
», of the head 0 10
», Of the tail . : é ; > i 6
», of the ears . ; 5 : 5 Oe aos
», Of the tragus : ; > Ae

Extent of the wings : : : ; 7 10> 6

34 VESPERTILIONID&.

CHEIROPTERA. VESPERTILIONID A.

COMMON BAT, FLITTER-MOUSE.

PIPISTRELLE.
Scotophilus pipistrellus.

Ears two-thirds the length of the head, oval-triangular, notched on the
outer margin ; tragus nearly half as long as the auricle, almost straight,
thickened, obtuse, and rounded at the apex : fur reddish brown above, paler
beneath.

Vespertilio pipistrellus, Gnorrroy, Ann. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. VIII. p. 195
t. xlvii. xlviii. Kunt, Deutschl. Flederm. sp.
12. Drsmar. Mam. p. 139. Jmnyns, Linn.
Trans. XVI. p. 163. Id. Brit. Vert. p. 24.

Scotophilus murinus, Gray, l. ¢.

Vesperugo pipistrellus, Buas. 1. c. p. 61, f. 39, 40.

La Pipistrelle, Davsenton, Mém. de I’ Acad. des Se. 1759, p. 381,
t. i. £..3. Burron, Hist. Nat. VIII. p. 129,
t. xix.

Common Bat, Pennant, Brit. Zool. p. 184.

WE owe to the Rev. L. Jenyns the elucidation of the
synonymes of our Common Bat. In the 16th volume of
the Linnean Transactions, that gentleman has given an

PIPISTRELLE. oo

elaborate and satisfactory paper on this subject, in which
it is investigated with great acumen and judgment; and
the conclusion which he draws, and which appears to be
completely established, is, that the Common Bat of
Britain is the Pipistrelle of the Continental authors.

The careless and implicit manner in which authorities
are constantly followed without sufficient investigation,
and error thus propagated from error, is as conspicuous
in the present case as in most that could be adduced.
Because Vespertilio murinus was the Common Bat of the
Continental naturalists—their ‘‘ Chauve-souris ” par excel-
lence—it was presumed that ows Common Bat must be the
same species; and Pennant having once stated such to be
the case, every subsequent writer on our British Mammalia
has copied the mistake; and V. murinus, one of the rarest
of our indigenous species, was still to be the Common Bat
of Britain. It was left to Mr. Jenyns to correct this long-
established error; and it is sufficient to refer to his paper
every one who wishes to be satisfied on the matter. We
have carefully followed out the comparisons instituted by
Mr. Jenyns, and can come to no other conclusion than
that which he has established. The synonymes, there-
fore, of all our British Faunists, from Pennant down
to Fleming inclusive, are erroneous as regards the present
species.

From the commonness of this Bat, from the duration
of the period of its activity, appearing earlier and retir-
ing later than any other, and from its frequenting the
neighbourhood of our dwellings, we have become better
acquainted with its habits than with those of any other, if
we except perhaps the Long-eared Bat, Plecotus auritus,
which is indeed, in some places, as common as this. The
Pipistrelle makes its appearance, after its short period of
torpidity, as early as the middle of March, and does not

F 2

36 VESPERTILIONIDA.

wholly retire into a state of undisturbed hibernation
until the winter has decidedly set in: its torpidity, there-
fore, can hardly be said to continue more than from two
to three months. A specimen was shot by Mr. Gould,
in the middle of a bright, sunny, but frosty day, just
before Christmas. Their final retirement does not de-
pend exclusively upon temperature; for although before
the severe frosts set in they continue to fly even when
it is below the freezing point, they do not again appear
until the time above mentioned, notwithstanding the
thermometer, as Mr. Jenyns has observed, may have
often risen considerably above 50° of Fahrenheit. This
peculiarity is of easy solution. The fondness of the
animal for different species of gnats has been observed
even from the earliest period;* and from the diminu-
tive size of the Pipistrelle, it is probable that these
little insects constitute its principal food. These and
many other dipterous insects, after having disappeared
during the ungenial fogs and rains of the close of au-
tumn, often make their appearance again in smaller num-
bers, on every fine warm day, until the severe cold of the
depth of winter finally destroys the greater part of them.
The same impulse of hunger equally accounts for the
appearance of the Pipistrelle in the daytime at this
period of the year; and it is only at that time that the
temperature is sufficiently elevated to summon into
temporary activity its insect food.

Mr. Jenyns remarks, that each species of Bat ap-
pears to have its own peculiar place of concealment ;
and that while the Noctule resorts to hollow trees, and
the Long-eared Bat to roofs of houses, the present
species is found in “crevices of decayed brick walls,
in the cracks of old door-frames, or behind the leaden

* “Ht in cibatu culices gratissimi.”—Plin.

PIPISTRELLA. o7

pipes frequently attached to buildings for carrying off
the rain.” That such are the usual situations for these
respective species, Mr. Jenyns’ statement would be a
sufficient authority, even were it not amply confirmed
by other observations: but that Bats are not so exclu-
sive in their places of hibernation as may seem to be
implied by the previous observation, has appeared to us
equally true, since we have received from one chalk
cavern at Chiselhurst, Vespertilio Nattereri, V. mystacinus,
Plecotus auritus, and Barbastellus, all taken at one time:
and it is clear that such retreats as are formed by art
cannot be considered in the light of original and natural
situations of retirement.

More extended observations have, however, led us to
the belief that certain species do affect peculiar situa-
tions in which to rest during the day, and that others
are altogether indifferent so long as they meet with the
necessary shelter. These latter in all probability are
mostly solitary species, the gregarious ones appearing
to be much more particular in their choice of resting-
places.

The Pipistrelle is by no means fastidious in this re-
spect. As mentioned in the first edition of this work, it
is sometimes found “ under the roofs of houses, and in
crevices of buildings of every description,” and it might
have been added, ‘‘ either inside or out.” An example
has been taken from a hole in the thatch of a low shed
in a brickyard, in which men were constantly at work, and
we have seen one taken from a pile of hurdles in a stack-
yard, which was being removed, but we cannot call to
mind an instance in which corn stacks were made use of
asaretreat. The inside of an old and disused wooden
pump has on another occasion been found a suitable
resting-place, the Bat having been seen to emerge from

38 VESPERTILIONID.

the spout. It is probable that trees are much less
frequented by this species than by some others, though
one instance has come to our knowledge of its capture
from behind a piece of loose bark on a decaying pollard
willow by the side of the Avon, near Stratford.

In its choice of nocturnal haunts, the Pipistrelle is
not less varied than in its selection of a resting-place.
Wherever the Whiskered Bat is seen, this species may
be seen also, that is, in all sorts of sheltered corners, and
occasionally we have shot it while flying over the surface
of the Avon in company with Vespertilio Daubentoni.
But by far the most commonplace resort is the sheltered
corner of an orchard, stackyard, farmyard, lane, or indeed
any other quiet spot near a homestead, and we have
sometimes been led to suppose that the abundance of
flies which generally accompany cattle may account for
the preference which it gives to the vicinity of farm-
buildings. In mode of flight, the present species more
nearly resembles the Whiskered Bat than any other,
and when flitting—or rather vibrating—together in the
‘leafy month of June,” it is no easy matter to distin-
guish them. However, it may be said that, generally,
while the Whiskered Bat often feeds in the trees, the
Pipistrelle feeds near them, and takes its food wholly on
the wing. ‘The former of these, we have good reason
to believe, often takes insects which are resting on the
leaves of trees and hedges.

It is remarked by Geoffroy, that the Pipistrelle is not
unfrequently found on the ground, worn out with ineffec-
tual efforts to regain its flight, from its not finding an
elevated spot from which to fall. This observation is
totally incorrect as to the present, and probably every
other species. We have often seen the Pipistrelle rise
from a plane surface with a sort of spring, instantly

PIPISTRELLE. 39

expand its wings and take flight. This was repeated by
a single individual, in the library of the author of the
first edition of this work, several times in the course
of an hour, and without the slightest appearance of
difficulty or effort: it was, on the contrary, evidently
a natural and usual action. The same habit was ob-
served in V. Natterert and Plecotus auritus. In its pro-
gression on the ground, however, it differs considerably
from some others, and particularly from the last-men-
tioned species. The Plecotus, in crawling or walking
along a horizontal surface, has the anterior part of the
body considerably elevated above the ground, and its
progression is effected by a succession of abrupt im-
pulses or leaps of one side after the other; whilst the
Pipistrelle, which never raises the head from near the
ground, runs along in an almost prostrate position, but at
the same time with more celerity and freedom than any
other that we have had an opportunity of observing. In
climbing it evinces a corresponding degree of agility.
But there is one circumstance of considerable interest
which we have observed in this species, which does not
appear to have been before noticed, and which, it is
probable, appertains in a more striking manner to
others. It is the prehensile character of the ex-
tremity of the tail. A small portion of the tail in
this and in most other species of this family is ex-
serted beyond the margin of the interfemoral mem-
brane. Not only does the animal employ the tail in
horizontal progression—in which case it assists in throw-
ing forward the body, by being brought into contact with
the ground on either side alternately, corresponding with
the action of the hinder foot on the same~side,—but in
ascending and descending a rough perpendicular surface,
this little caudal finger holds by any projecting point,

40 VESPERTILIONIDE.

and affords an evident support. This is particularly con-
spicuous when the Bat is traversing the wires of a cage,
in which situation the fact was first observed.

It has been generally said that Bats bring forth two
young ones at a time. Pliny says, ‘‘ geminos infantes
secum deportat.” The observations of Mr. Daniell and
others, however, both on the Noctule and the Pipistrelle,
would show that this is not a general rule. Four females
of the former received in May 1834, and five of the latter
in July 1853,—the only specimens sent to him, excepting
one male Noctule,—had each of them a single fetus,
and the examination not merely of British species, but
of a great number of foreign ones, has convinced us that
when more than one young one is produced, it must be
regarded as an exception to the general rule.

The gentleman just mentioned kept the Pipistrelles
for some time, feeding them principally on flies, though
they will also readily take small pieces of raw beef. “ On
the approach of a fly within the range of the Bat’s
wings, it was struck down by their action, the animal
itself falling at the same moment with all its membranes
expanded, and cowering over the prostrate fly, with its
head thrust under to secure its prey. When the head was
again drawn forth, the membrane was closed, and the fly
was observed to be almost invariably taken by the head.”

The fondness of the Common Bat for flesh, to which
allusion has just been made, leads it not unfrequently to
find its way into our larders, where it has been found
clinging to a joint of meat, in the act of making a hearty
meal from it. It is probable that other species commit
similar depredations, as it is not difficult to keep most of
them in confinement by feeding them exclusively on raw
meat.

The Pipistrelle is the least of the British species, and,

PIPISTRELLE. 4

excepting in the very great difference of size, bears
considerable general resemblance to the Noctule. The
following description is so accurate and complete, that
I have adopted it verbatim from Mr. Jenyns’ paper ;
and I have preferred it to a less extended one, as the
identification of this species is, as has been stated, a
matter of no small interest :—

** Head much depressed in front, convex behind, with
the upper part of the occiput remarkably protuberant ;
no occipital crest. Muzzle extending three lines beyond
the ears; in young specimens rather elongated—which
appearance wears off afterwards, from the enlargement
of the head and the filling up of the sides of the face,
when the profile is somewhat altered. Nose obtuse at
the extremity, and slightly emarginate between the
nostrils ; these last reniform, with tumid edges: on each
side of the nose, immediately above the upper lip, is a
protuberant swelling, formed by a congeries of sebaceous
glands, which when cut through are of a yellowish white
colour. Eyes round and very small, situate half way
between the above glands and the ears, and sunk deep in
the head; over each, immediately above the anterior
angle, is a small elevated wart furnished with a few black
hairs; a transverse tuft of rather long upright hair on
the forehead, which has the effect of making the head
appear more elevated than it really is: rest of the face,
including the cheeks, contour of the eyes, and space
above the nose, almost naked, particularly in young speci-
mens. Auricle broad, rather more than half [about two-
thirds] as long as the head, oval approaching to triangu-
lar, deeply notched on its external margin about midway
down: tragus [nearly] half the length of the auricle,
oblong, and terminating ina rounded head, nearly straight,
or slightly bending inwards. In the upper jaw four

G

42 VESPERTILIONIDE.

incisors—on each side two, of which the first is longest ;
in the lower jaw six, each of which has three lobes:
grinders five on either side, above and below; the first in
the upper, and the two first in the lower jaw, with only
one point: of these last-mentioned teeth, the second is
longer than the first; the other grinders in the lower jaw
have each five points, three on the inner and two on the
outer margin, which last are alternately long and short.
Fur rather long and silky, yellowish red on the forehead
and at the base of the ears; on the rest of the upper
parts reddish brown, with the lower half of each hair
dusky: on the under parts the hair is wholly dusky,
except at the extreme tips, which are of the same colour
as above, but paler. In young specimens the fur is
entirely of a dusky brown or brownish grey, in some
instances almost black, without any tinge of red, which
appears to come afterwards, and to increase in intensity
with the age and size of the individual. Nose, lips, ears,

flying and interfemoral membranes, dusky.”

Dimensions :—
Inch. Lines.

Length of the head and body. ‘ : a gay

* of the head , : : ; : By ie {a3

= of the tail . : ; : s sesh 2

mol aune Kean mear ; : : : a) ee ek

», of the tragus. : : 3 : . 0 2 nearly.
Breadth of the ear ; 0; as
Length of the fore-arm . : ; 3 = gl! Samed
Extent of the wings . So

Dentition :—
4: -C. 3 28. M. 2: Mga.

We insert here the figure of Vespertilio pygmaeus, which
was given in the first edition of this work, but we do
not deem it necessary to add a description, as there is
now no longer any doubt that it is a young Pipistrelle ;

PIPISTRELLE. 43

the bones of the wings and cranium indicating extreme
youth. We have compared young individuals of the
Pipistrelle with lLeach’s original specimen in_ the
British Museum, and find them identical.

Dr. Schinz, in the first volume of his work on the
European Fauna, has described a small Bat under the
name of Vespertilio minutissimus, of which we have seen a
specimen. It is obviously the young of the Pipistrelle,
at a somewhat more advanced age than the one of which
the above figure is an illustration.

©

G

Ai ts VESPERTILIONIDA.

CHETROPTERA. VESPERTILIONID.

ii
DD ATTN

cr

= 15)

THE SEROTINE.
Scotophilus serotinus.

Kars oval-triangular, shorter than the head; tragus semicordate, curved
towards the head, little more than one-third the length of the auricle; fur
chestnut brown above, yellowish grey beneath.

Vespertilio serotinus, GM«eL. Dresmar. Mammal. p. 137. Kunt, Deutsch.
Flederm. sp. 9. Gray, Zool. Journ. II. p. 109.
Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 22.
a noctula, Grorr. Ann. Mus. VIII. p. 198, t. xlvii. xlviii.
Scotophilus serotinus, Gray, 1. e.
Vespertilio turcomanus, Eversm. Bull. de Mose. 1840, i. p. 21.

g megalurus, Temm. Mon. de Mam. t. ii, p. 206.

Vesperugo serotinus, Buas. lc. p: 76, £. 5, 52:

La Serotine, Davpent. Mém. Acad. 1759, p. 380, t. ii. f. 1.
Burron, Hist. Nat. VIII. pp. 119, 129, t. xviii.
£, 2:

Tue SEROTINE, notwithstanding the clear and intel-
ligible description of Daubenton, was mistaken for the
Noctule by Geoffroy, who described the one for the
other. It was discovered by Daubenton, and forms one
of the subjects of his excellent paper on the Bats in the
Memoirs of the French Academy for 1759. It was also

SEROTINE. 45

described and well figured in the eighth volume of
Buffon’s great work.

It appears to have very much the habit of the Noctule,
at least as far as regards its late appearance in the spring,
its sound and long-continued slumber. It flies from
evening till morning, when the state of the atmosphere
is favourable. In France, where it is far from being rare,
it frequents forests, where it flies amongst lofty trees; it is
also commonly found amongst the huge piles of wood in
the timber-yards of Paris, seeking its place of repose on
the tops of the highest piles. With us it appears to be
a local species, appearing only in the south-eastern parts
of our island. It is said to occur in the neighbourhood
of London, and we have examined a considerable number
of specimens from Folkestone, and the Isle of Wight.
We think it highly probable that it may be more
common in the southern counties than is generally sup-
posed, as from its size it would be readily confounded
with the Noctule. All our endeavours to meet with
this fine species in the midland counties have proved
unavailing, nor can we learn that it has ever been met
with in the West of England. Its flight is slow. It
shuns society more than most other Bats, being generally
found either solitary or in pairs. It has only one
young one at a birth, about the end of May in France,
probably somewhat later in this country. It is found
in Germany, Holland, France, Switzerland, and the
Pyrenees, and is included by Dr. Eversman in his de-
scriptive catalogue of the Bats of the Ural Mountains.
Prof. Brandt also mentions the Serotine in his work on
the Mammals of European and Asiatic Russia. We find
it given by M. Nordman in his Natural History notes
appended to the travels of M. Demidoff, in Southern
Russia and the Crimea. He says it was found in ‘ Bess-

arabie, et dans le gouvernement d’Ekaterinoslaw.” It

4.6 VESPERTILIONID®.

is probable, however, that in its geographical range
this species is not confined to Europe, nor even to the
adjacent parts of Asia, but that it is rather widely
distributed in the latter quarter of the globe, since we
have great reason for supposing that it occurs in India
and in China. Hitherto we have not seen specimens
from Japan, although other European species have been
received from there ; and neither does it appear to have
been received, with the Noctule and Vespertilio murinus,
from North Africa; but we are persuaded that the Vesper-
tilio megalurus of M. 'Temminck, from Southern Africa,
specimens of which have recently been examined in the
Leyden Museum, is no other than the young of the
Serotine.

The face is almost naked; the muzzle short, broad,
and tumid; the nose is about a line and a half across;
the nostrils rounded; the upper lip is furnished with se-
baceous glands, from which spring a few hairs; the fore-.
head is very hairy ; the ears are oval, somewhat triangular,
shorter than the head, the inner margin much arched ;
the apex obtuse, rounded, and bending outwards; the
basal half hairy on the outer surface, the rest naked ;
the tragus elongate, semicordate, pointed at the extre-
mity. The teeth are fewer in number than in any other
British species of this family, there being only thirty-two,
as in Rhinolophus. The tail is exserted to the extent of
three lines.

The general colour of the fur in the male is a deep
rich chestnut brown on the upper parts, passing into
yellowish grey beneath ; that of the female much brighter.
The hair is long, glossy, soft, and silky. The membranes
are dark brown, approaching to black.

The Serotine appears liable to greater variation in
colour than any other European Bat. From the Isle of
Wight, and from Folkestone, we have seen specimens

SEROTINE. 47

having a decided greyish tinge, and of somewhat greater
size than usual. Specimens, on the contrary, from the
Asiatic foot of the Ural Mountains, are without the least
appearance of grey or brown, all the upper parts being
of a uniform yellowish cream colour, the fur very long
and silky. The under parts of this beautiful variety are
of a tarnished yellowish white colour. From India, and
from the Island of Amoy, specimens of a Bat have been
received which differs only from the Serotine, in all
external characters, in having the fur of a dark brown,
tipped on the upper parts with whitish brown, and
giving the animal somewhat the appearance of the Scoto-
philus discolor. M.'Temminck’s examples of Vespertilio
megalurus differ only from ordinary young individuals
of the Serotine in having all the fur paler, that which is
on the membranes being cream-coloured.

In young individuals the head is more round and
thick in proportion, the muzzle shorter and more
obtuse, the lip very tumid, and the colours more obscure,
than in the adult.

Dimensions :—
Inch. Lines.

Length of the head and body . . : Se nS
,, of the head . : : : : 5 0) ala
», of thetail . ‘ : . j el ao
xa of the ears . ; : ‘ , ~ 10s 8
», of the tragus F ‘ ; j Sec Onten 3
Extent of the wings . F ; j : eliza

Dentition :—
if

ol

48 VESPERTILIONIDA.

CHEIROPTERA. VESPERTILIONID.

MOUSE-COLOURED BAT.

Vespertilio murinus.

Kars oval, broad at the base, becoming narrower towards the apex, as long
as the head; tragus falciform, the inner margin straight, not quite half the
length of the auricle: fur varying from greyish brown to pale reddish brown
above, dirty white beneath.

Vespertilio major, Brisson, p. 214, No. 5.- Livy. Syst. Nat.
ap murinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. Grorr. Ann. Mus. VIII. p. 191,
t. xlvii. xlviii. Drsmar. Mammal. p. 134. JEnyns,
Brit. Vert. p. 20. Buas. Faun. Wirb. Deutsch.
18h Sey ty Moh llc

55 myotis, Kuut, Deut. Flederm. p. 36, sp. 4.
La Chauve-souris, Davupent. Mém. de l’Acad. des Se. 1759, p. 378,

t. i. Burron, Hist. Nat. VIII. p. 113, t. xx.

In the account of the Pipistrelle, the reasons have been
detailed for abolishing the name of Vespertilio murinus as
that of the Common Bat of Great Britain. On the
Continent, indeed, this species is very generally met with.

MOUSE-COLOURED BAT, 49

It was probably the species known to the Greeks by the
name of Nuxrepis, and may be considered as one of the
most frequent in Germany, as well as in France and in
many other parts of Europe; but in England it is one of
the rarest species yet discovered to be indigenous to the
country, and has hitherto only been taken in the gardens
of the British Museum. From the large size of this
species, and consequently the comparative ease with which
specimens could be obtained, we cannot help thinking
that were it, properly speaking, an inhabitant of our
islands, other examples would by this time have been
captured. Yet we have failed in meeting with any
other record of its appearance than that above given,
which is not altogether satisfactory. When we recollect
that previously to the labours of the Rev. L. Jenyns, the
Pipistrelle was confounded with the Vespertilio murinus
by English naturalists, it will at once appear as by no
means improbable, that the confusion of the two may
have led to the record of the present one as a British
species. It is one of the largest of the European
Bats, exceeding even the Noctule in the length of the
body by about half an inch, and in the extent of the
wings by full an inch. In those countries where it
exists in the greatest profusion, it is found by hundreds
together, in ancient buildings, in the towers of churches,
and other similar retreats; but it does not resort to
forests or woods, as many other species do. It is not
found associated with others; and even amongst them-
selves, they frequently have violent and bloody quarrels,
fighting with their sharp teeth, and holding on to each
other by their hooked thumbs, sometimes tearing each
other, and even breaking the slender wing-bones of their
antagonists.

They feed on various kinds of nocturnal and crepus-

H

50 VESPERTILIONIDA.

cular insects, particularly the nocturnal Lepidoptera ; the
harder parts of which, with portions of the wings, are
found unchanged in their excrements. Buffon relates,
probably of this species, that having descended into the
grottoes at Arcy for the purpose of examining the stalac-
tites, he was astonished to perceive the ground covered,
to an extent of many feet in breadth, with a thick layer
of soil, formed principally of the remains of the wings,
and hard parts of various insects, as if they had congre-
gated there in countless multitudes to perish and rot
together. It proved, however, to consist of the excrement
of Bats which had suspended themselves from the roof
of the grotto: the mass had probably been accumulating
for very many years.

The head of this Bat is long; the face sparsedly covered
only with scattered, stiffish, long hairs; the forehead very
hairy ; the nose naked and smooth, prominent, extending
beyond the lower lip; the gape wide; the nostrils open-
ing laterally, the margins tumid. Eyes rather large,
with a few long black hairs immediately above them.
Ears inclining backwards, standing strongly out from the
head, oval, broad at the base, becoming narrower and
even a little pointed at the apex, as long as the head,
with a few scattered hairs near the base on the inner
margin; tragus falciform, the tip sub-acute, and the
inher margin quite straight.

Colour of the fur, above, pale reddish brown, beneath,
greyish white, the hairs being all blackish at the base.
Ears grey without, tending to yellowish within. Mem-
branes yellowish brown, paler than in most other species.
Specimens from North Africa are usually somewhat paler
than European ones. Immature examples have the upper
parts of a brownish grey colour, without any of the
reddish brown colour of the elder ones.

MOUSH-COLOURED BAT.

Dimensions :—
Inch. Lines.

Length of the head and body. ; : 5 Binh 7
», of the head . : ; : ‘ Prong
», Of thetail . 5 : ‘ : 3 “ll 4
», of theears . : : 3 : . O 114
Breadth of the ears . : : : : 5. Mh
Length of the tragus : ; ° Ses Oe OS
Extent of the wings . ; : : 3 7 lo

Dentition :—

C.3:F.M.§ : M. §=18

H 2

52 VESPERTILIONIDA.

CHEIROPTERA. VESPERTILIONID.

BECHSTEIN’S BAT.

Vespertilio Bechsteinu.

Kars oval, rather longer than the head ; tragus narrow, falciform, not half
the length of the auricle: fur reddish grey above, greyish white beneath.

Vespertilio Bechsteinii, Lxtstur. Kuuu, Duet. Flederm. p. 30, sp. 2,
t. xxii. Drsmar. Mammal. p. 135. Junyns,
Brit. Vert. p. 21.

Tis handsome and striking species is rare in this
country, being only known as British from the occur-
rence of specimens taken by Mr. Millard in the New
Forest, and now in the British Museum. This locality
corresponds with its habits as detailed by the Continental
naturalists, who state that it resorts exclusively to the
hollow trees in the midst of forests, never approaching
towns or retiring to buildings. It shuns even all associa-
tion with other species of Bats, congregating in small
groups of about a dozen, the largest number observed
together being thirteen, all of which were females.

The general resemblance of this species to V. murinus
and to V. Nattererit, with both of which it agrees in the

BECHSTEIN’S BAT. 53

essential points of the form of the tragus and the for-
mula of the dentition, is very obvious on the most super-
ficial observation. It is, however, readily distinguished
from the former species by the larger size of the ears,
the different proportions of the wings,—which, although
equally broad, have not nearly the same relative length,
—by the darker colour of the membrane, and the lighter
colour of the belly. From V. Nattereri it differs in the
entire and simple margin of the interfemoral membrane,
in its larger size, and the greater length of its ears.

The face is rather hairy, with a few stiffer hairs inter-
mixed; the muzzle long and conical; the gape wide, ex-
tending to the base of the ears; the nose rather narrow,
and slightly depressed in the middle. Ears obviously
longer than the head, rounded, and bending outwards at
the apex, oval, thin, and transparent; tragus somewhat
falciform, bending a little outwards towards the extre-
mity. Fur reddish grey above, brown at the base, light
grey beneath, blackish at the base. Dimensions :—

Inch. Lines.
Length of the head and body . ; : so22 2
5, of the head . ; ; : : ae Oy
sy) Of theta: 2 : : : ry ih Lae
ee Olethecarsi ss : : ‘ ; 5 6)
Breadth of the ears . ; ‘ : ‘ Se O mae
Length of the tragus : : ; : - 0 4
Extent of the wings . : : : ; 5 ii

Dentition :—

54 VESPERTILIONIDA.

CHEIROPTERA. VESPERTILIONID A,

THE REDDISH-GREY BAT.

Vespertilio Natierert.

Specific Character.—Ears oblong-oval, about as long as the head ; tragus
narrow-lanceolate, nearly two-thirds the length of the ear: interfemoral mem-
brane with the margin crenate and stiffly ciliated, from the end of the spur
to the tail: fur rufous grey above, whitish beneath.

Vespertilio Nattereri, Kuuu, Deutschl. Flederm. p. 33, sp. 3, t. xxiii. Dzs-
MAR. Mam. p. 138. Jxnyns, Brit. Vert. p. 23.

Tuls species, to which the English name of Reddish- .
grey Bat has been applied, from its prevailing colour,
was first described by Kuhl, and named by him after
our friend Dr. Natterer, the celebrated Austrian Natu-
ralist. In this country it appears to be of not unfre-
quent occurrence, though certainly local in its distri-
bution. Those in the British Museum were taken near
London; Mr. Jenyns gives Swaffham in Cambridgeshire
as a habitat; we have seen specimens belonging to Mr.

REDDISH-GREY BAT. 5b

Yarrell from Colchester and from Norwich; we have
taken them at Selborne; and received three living ones,
by the kindness of Dr. Waring, from Chiselhurst in Kent,
where they were taken during their hibernation, in com-
pany with Barbastellus, Vespertilio mystacinus, and Plecotus
auritus. ‘They were found ina large chalk cavern, at the
bottom of a shaft seventy feet in depth. ‘These speci-
mens continued alive for a short time, feeding on bits of
raw meat, and exhibiting great familiarity of disposition,
not only by their friendliness towards their companions,
but by their readiness in taking food from the hand, and
in allowing themselves to be interfered with without
evincing fear or anger. One of them was one morning
found dead, and partially eaten by his companions ; and
the remaining two died shortly afterwards. They were
active in their habits, running about the cage and climb-
ing with great agility; their attitude when running on
a plane surface was more horizontal than that of the
Long-eared Bat, though perhaps less so than the Pipis-
trelle, which runs along almost on its belly.

The discovery, in 1848, of a colony of these Bats in
the church of the village of Arrow, situated on a small
stream of that name near to Alcester, confirms in a very
interesting manner the familiar and social habits of the
species. Between the ceiling of the church and the
tiled roof was a dark retreat, accessible by a low arch
from a floor in the tower. Here the Bats were seen
adhering, by all their extremities, to the under surface of
the row of tiles which forms the crest or ridge of the
roof (partly supported, however, by the upper tier of
roof-tiles on which the ridge-tiles rested), and others
clinging to them, until a mass was made up three or four
inches thick, six or seven wide, and about four feet in
length. It would be wrong to call this their place of

56 VESPERTILIONIDA.

repose, as they presented a most singular scene of ac-
tivity, the constant endeavour of those outside being to
penetrate the mass, probably for warmth, and to do this
they were continually poking their noses between those
nearest to them, and then forcing in their bodies, to be
in their turn again pushed to the outside. In this
manner a regular bickering was kept up in the whole
mass. However, they seemed to be very gentle, and to
have no idea of biting or otherwise annoying each other.

On the boarded floor in the tower adjoining this retreat
many dead ones were lying about, in a dried condition,
all of them very small and hairless. These probably
had fallen from their mothers when on the wing, as they
were themselves too young to have flown there, and the
parents could not have rested in this chamber, and at
that time let fall their young.

After watching this remarkable assemblage for some
time, about sixty were secured in a bag (only a very
small proportion of the number there), and the bag was
opened in a lighted room in the evening. They were
soon flying about in all directions. On the window
being thrown open, those nearest to it at once flew out;
but so completely gregarious are these Bats, that after
taking a turn or two outside they re-entered the room,
and being joined by others, again went forth, and again
returned, until all had become aware of the means of
escape, when the whole company left the room in a
cloud. We may add, as further showing the gregarious
nature of the species, that a few which were retained,
exhibited great uneasiness when separated from each
other, which disappeared when permitted to be together.

The Natterer’s Bat appears to be distributed over a
considerable part of Europe. In England it is by no
means rare, as the foregoing observations sufficiently

REDDISH-GREY BAT. 57

show. Hitherto we have met with no record of its
occurrence in Scotland, but in Ireland, according to Dr.
Kinahan and Prof. M‘Coy, it has been taken in a rugged
mountain pass between the counties of Dublin and
Wicklow. It appears in Germany, but is probably not
very common, since it is not included in a list kindly
made out by our friend Dr. Albert Giinther, the well-
known ichthyologist. In Belgium, according to Baron
De Selys Longchamps, it is less abundant than its con-
geners, but has been taken in the vicinity of Brussels,
and at Maestricht. It is stated also to be arare species by
M. Hollandre, who met with it in the holes of trees in
the neighbourhood of Metz. Prof. Brandt includes it
in his work on the Mammalia of Russia, and it is also
mentioned by Dr. Eversman as an inhabitant of the
region of the Ural Mountains. We have received
specimens from Warsaw, and find it given as a Scandi-
navian species by M. Nilsson. In the more southern
parts of Europe, it is said to appear on the Adriatic and
Mediterranean shores. The Vespertilio emarginatus of
Prince Lucien Bonaparte, figured in his fine work on
the Fauna of Italy, has been supposed by Prof. Blasius
to be identical with the Vespertilio Nattereri ; as, how-
ever, we have been able to makea direct comparison
of the original specimen with those described by M.
Geoffroy St. Hilaire, we are justified in stating that this
is an error.

The head of this Bat is smaller in proportion than
that of most others; the muzzle narrowed, projecting
beyond the lower jaw, and naked at the extremity; the
face is hairy, some of the hairs very long, scattered,
and projecting in a sort of thin moustache over the lip ;
there is a prominent sebaceous gland on each side of the
face above the lip. Nostrils oval, with tumid margins,

I

58 VESPERTILIONIDA.

placed immediately above the margin of the lip. ars
oblong-oval, as long as the head, rather more than half
as broad as they are long; the extreme inner margin
reflexed; the outer margin scarcely notched, extending
downwards and forwards to meet the inner margin at
the base; tragus two-thirds as long as the auricle, very
narrow, lanceolate, thin, and naked. Eyes very small.
Flying membrane semi-transparent, naked ; interfemoral
portion with only eight transverse lines; the spur very
long, and the margin of the membrane from the spur to
the tip of the tail crenate, and furnished with a lash of
stiff short hairs. Exserted portion of the tail very short.

The colour of this Bat is lighter than that of the
other British species, with the exception of the Vesper-
tilio murinus. The fur above, which is long and soft, is
light reddish brown, with a grey glance, from the tips
of the hairs being greyish, and the roots of the former
colour. Beneath it is light silvery grey, the tips of the
hair being white, and the roots nearly black. The ears
and muzzle pale. The membrane smoky grey with a
slight rufous tinge.

Dimensions :—

Inch. Lines.

Length of the head and body . j : = ATED
», Of the head . ; ‘ ‘ : > WL eas
», Of thetail . ; : : : , aloes
Se mOLibhercarsane : ; . : ; 10238
Breadth of the ears . : : : : . JO p32
Length of the tragus : : ; : 5, & &
Extent of the wings . : : : : | Le eeO

Dentition :—

Desmarest has given an erroneous statement of the
number of teeth in this Bat: he says there are but five

REDDISH-GREY BAT. 59

molares on each side above. This mistake arose from the
extreme minuteness of the two smaller false molares,
which were doubtless taken for a single one; the denti-
tion, in fact, corresponds exactly with that of V. murinus
and Bechsteinii.

12

aw

60 VESPERTILIONIDA.

CHEITROPTERA. VESPERTILIONID&A.

DAUBENTON’S BAT.

Vespertilio Daubentoni.

Kars oval, three-fourths the length of the head, very slightly notched on
the outer margin, with a fold on the inner margin at the base; tragus narrow-
lanceolate, rather obtuse, bending a little inwards, half the length of the
auricle: tail longer than the body.

Vespertilio Daubentonii, Luister. Kuvutn, Deut. Flederm. sp. 11, t. xxv.
f. 2. Desmar. Mammal. p. 141. Buastus, Faun.
Deutsch. p. 98, f. 66, 67.
55 emarginatus, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 26.
y cedilis, Jenyns, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1839, p. 73.
53 macrodactylus TeEmM. Mon. Mam. II. p. 231, pl. 58, fig. 3, 4, 5.
96 Volgensis, Evers. Bull. de Moscou, 1840, I. p. 24.

A CAREFUL examination of several specimens of the
species described by Mr. Jenyns, in his most useful
Manual, under the name of Vespertilio emarginatus, has
led to the conviction that the Bat so designated by him
is the true V. Daubentonii of Kuhl and Desmarest, and
not the V. emarginatus of Geoffroy. Mr. Jenyns most

DAUBENTON’S BAT. 61

obligingly permitted the use of his specimen, which
is an adult male, and was taken at Milton Park in
Northamptonshire: our late revered friend Mr. Yarrell
also kindly allowed the use of his specimens, consist-
ing of an adult female, a half-grown male, and an
extremely young one, all of which were taken at
Islington. It was upon an examination of these that
the statement respecting their identity with Vesper-
tilio Daubentonii was made in the first edition of this
work, a decision which has met with universal assent.
The expression “ oreilles petites,” in Desmarest’s essen-
tial character of V. Daubentonii, is so vague as to be
useless, and at the same time conveys an idea which is
absolutely erroneous; and were it not corrected by the
statement of the actual length of the ears,—namely,
half an inch,—it would greatly mislead any one who
depended upon it. Such uncertain and arbitrary ex-
pressions in essential specific characters cannot be too
strongly deprecated. In any group of animals in which
the distinctive characters are not very obvious, and are
frequently dependent upon the comparative dimensions
of small or inconspicuous parts, it is of the greatest
consequence that the relative proportions be accurately
stated ; and if this be done, they form the most certain
and valuable marks of distinction.

So peculiar are the vespertinal habits of this species,
that, while very abundant, an ordinary observer might be
quite unconscious of its existence. It is essentially an
aquatic species, if such an expression be admissible,
applied to an animal which never enters the water. It
haunts that element continually, flying so near its surface
as to render it difficult to distinguish between the creature
itself and its reflection. ‘The flight, quivering and slow,
is performed by very slight but rapid strokes of the

62 VESPERTILIONIDA.

wings ; it may, indeed, be said to vibrate, rather than fly,
over the surface of the water. It could not well fly in
any other manner so near the surface without often
striking it, and this it seldom, or perhaps never, does,
although it often pauses to dip its nose into the water,
whether to drink or pick up some floating food, we have
been unable to ascertain. The Daubenton’s Bat is, we
suspect, rather an abundant species in the middle parts
of England, at least it is plentiful in some parts of
Warwickshire. We have sometimes seen these Bats so
thick on the Avon, near to Stratford, that at certain
spots there could not have been fewer than one to every
square yard, and this abundance has extended over a
very considerable space. It resorts indiscriminately to
buildings or trees during the day, though we think the
preference is given to the former. On one occasion we
received a great number, which had been taken by some
workmen from a grove of old oaks near to Alcester.
Some of the trees were literally filled with these Bats
exclusively, while in other trees in the same grove, but
in a different part of it, the Noctule was equally abun-
dant. <A few miles from Alcester is Coughton Court,
an ancient seat of the Throckmorton family, near to
which passes a small stream called the Arrow, and in the
grounds around the mansion is a chain of deep and
dismal-looking ponds, overhung by alder and other
moisture-loving trees. This is just the kind of haunt
for the present species, and here it abounds. In the roof
over a room in one of the outbuildings, their excrement
has been seen lying on the ceiling an inch or two in thick-
ness, every crevice overhead being crammed with Bats.
The following notes of a Bat-hunting expedition to
the church of Stratford-on-Avon, will be interesting as
further illustrating the habits of this species :—

DAUBENTON’S BAT. 63

On a fine September evening in 1849, a party of
three ascended to the belfry for the purpose of collecting
specimens, having been assured by the sexton that Bats
abounded there. On the first appearance of one of
these animals, some candles were lighted, and each one,
according to instructions, taking hold of a bell-rope,
swung it round as rapidly as possible, and the Bat,
unable to avoid the rotating ropes, was soon struck by
one of them and came to the floor, Others soon made
their appearance, and were as speedily taken; and in this
manner more than twenty were in a short time secured,
all of which were of the present species. The least
touch of the rope was suflicient to bring the Bat down,
if it were merely on the tip of the wing, and the creature,
with expanded and motionless wings, came to the floor,
and if uninjured, as was usually the case, at once
commenced running about on the boarded floor of the
belfry. Having taken some of these specimens away,
they were let loose in a well-lighted room, and the same
peculiar kind of flight was observed as in the dusky
belfry, and a similar predilection shown for ceiling, wall,
and floor, keeping so close to these in their flight as
sometimes to touch them with their wings.

Rarely did one in either place venture across the open
part; and as rarely have we shot one of this species in
an open place away from the surface of the water. Some
of the specimens from Stratford Church, although shy
at first, soon became assured, and were kept alive for
some time. They were very quiet and gentle in their
manners, and after a short time took milk from the palm
of the hand quite freely. Very small pieces of meat,
although at first refused, were afterwards eaten. But
the common house-fly was the favourite morsel, and it
was curious to see them poke their little noses between

64 VESPERTILIONIDE.

the fingers for flies which were concealed there. A fly
put on a smooth table was always a tempting but tanta-
lizing bait for them, for the Bats, in attempting to take
hold of it, almost invariably pushed it to the outside
of the table, from which it fell and was lost. Whena
fly or other food was taken which was rather large, the
carpus was always brought into use to do the office of
a hand, and the food was pushed into the mouth with it,
but it did not appear that the claw on the thumb was
made use of; however, as at these times the nose was
always thrust more or less downwards under the breast,
it was not easy to make an accurate observation, from the
operation being so much concealed by the body of the
animal. Their constitution appeared delicate, and it was
difficult to keep them alive for any long period ; a good
flight round the room in the evening appeared necessary
to their existence, whilst the hardy little Pipistrelle and
the Noctule will live in a box without exercise for a
long time, if well supplied with food.

The most northern English locality for this species
which has come to our knowledge is Durham, from which
place the Vespertilio edilis of the Rev. L. Jenyns, was
obtained, which is now referred to Vespertilio Dauben-
toni; but in Scotland it has been met with as far north
as Aberdeen, specimens having been deposited in the
British Museum by Mr. John Macgillivray which had
been collected near that place. So recently as the
autumn of 1861 we received, through the kindness of
the Rev. G. Gordon, a specimen which had been taken
in the church of Peterculter, also in Aberdeenshire.
Its occurrence in Ireland in two localities has been es-
tablished; viz., in Donegal, by the late Wm. Thomson,
and in Kildare by Dr. Kinahan.* It is found in various

* See Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. Dublin, vol]. ii. p. 154, et seq.

DAUBENTON’S BAT. 65

parts of Germany, is common at Hanau, in Wetteravia,
and was taken by Dr. Natterer in Vienna. According
to M. Temminck, it occurs in Sardinia, but not in the
north of Europe, a statement which is certainly incor-
rect, as in the first edition of this work it was shown, on
the authority of Dr. Beck, to be a Danish species, and
we find it included by M. Nilsson in his Scandinavian
Fauna, as well as by Prof. Brandt in his work on the
Russian Mammals. Dr. Eversman has described a
variety of this Bat under the name of Vespertilio Volgensis,
which he met with on the slopes of the Ural Mountains,
and near the river Volga. Finally, we add Japan to the
enumeration of localities from which examples of Vesper-
tilio Daubentonii have been received, as an examination
of Japanese specimens in the Leyden Museum has satis-
fied us not merely that the Noctule occurs there, as stated
by M. Temminck, but that the Vespertilio macrodactylus
of that distinguished zoologist is referable to the species
we have now under review.

The head is rather small; the forehead somewhat ele-
vated, and the top of the head a little flattened; the
muzzle obtuse, with numerous long and stiffish hairs, and
a moustache of soft long hair on each side of the upper
lip, which is also tumid from a congeries of sebaceous
glands on each side. Ears of moderate size, about three-
fourths the length of the head, oval, bending a little
outwards; the external margin very slightly notched, the
inner margin with a fold near the base. Tragus some-
what lanceolate, narrow, sub-acute at the apex, turned
a little inwards, half as long as the ear. ‘Tail a little
longer than the fore-arm, exserted at the extremity for
about a line. Hinder extremities robust; the feet strong,
and the outer toe very distinct from the rest. Wing
membranes extending only to the distal extremity of

K

66 VESPERTILIONIDA,

the tibia, leaving the foot free, a character which at once
distinguishes it from all other British species of the
genus Vespertilio as restricted in this work. Interfemoral
membrane ample; the transverse lines, as in V. mysta-
cinus, very numerous. Fur soft, plentiful, brownish
black at the base; the surface reddish brown above,
sometimes dark brown and occasionally dark greyish
brown, ash-grey beneath: younger individuals are usually
darker, sometimes almost black. Membranes dusky,
with a reddish tinge ; the interfemoral whitish beneath.
Dimensions :—

Inch. Lines.

Length of the head and body. =, wi nO
5 of the head . : ; ‘ : 3 20 7
>, of the tail’ . ; : : : a el ao
ays of theear . 3 ; , ; 2 @ Oe s6:

Breadth of the ear . : ; : » Oo s3s

Length of the tragus ; , ; ; 5 (OR ees
_ of the fore-arm ; ; j : All 4

Extent of the wings . ; ; ‘ : ce)

Dentition :—

14:0.3:F.M.$:M. S=38

WHISKERED BAT, 67

CHEIROPTERA, VESPERTILIONIDGE.

WHISKERED BAT.

Vespertilio mystacinus.

Ears oblong, bending outwards, shorter than the head, notched on the
outer margin; tragus half the length of the auricle, lanceolate, a little ex-
panded at the outer margin near the base ; upper lip furnished with a
moustache of long fine hair: fur blackish chestnut above, dusky beneath.

Vespertilio mystacinus, Letstrr. Kuni, Deutsch. Flederm. sp. 14. Dus-
MAR. Mammal. p. 140. Gray, Zool. Journ. II.
p- 109. Jznyns, Brit. Vert. p. 26.

Tuis species was discovered by Leisler in Germany,
where it is said to be rare. The first notice of its being
an inhabitant of this country appears in Dr. Gray’s
enumeration of British Vespertilonide in the Zoological
Journal. This gentleman supposes that Montagu mistook
it for Barbastellus, and states that the specimen marked
Barbastellus in the British Museum, which belonged to
Montagu, is of this species. Mr. Jenyns has obtained it
in Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire; Mr. Yarrell,
from the caverns at Colchester; and one we had living

K 2

68 VESPERTILIONIDA.

was sent from the chalk cavern at Chiselhurst in Kent,
and the illustrations which accompanied the description
in the first edition, taken from this specimen, were, we
believe, the first which appeared of this species. It has,
however, since that time been figured both by M. Tem-
minck and by Prof. Blasius.

The Whiskered Bat, although not rare in this country,
is seldom seen in any numbers, which is due in great
measure to its solitary habits. It may, indeed, be some-
times seen in sufficient abundance to lead to the belief
that it is somewhat gregarious, but it will be found, on
further examination, that it is supply of food, or shelter,
which brings them together, rather than desire for each
other’s company. Its flight resembles pretty closely
that of the Pipistrelle, and it frequents nearly the same
situations, but we have often noticed a slight difference,
viz., that while the present species prefers the sheltered
side of a high hedge to any other place, the Pipistrelle
will rather choose as its hunting-ground a quiet corner
between trees or buildings. However, it would be dif-
ficult to distinguish the two species by their choice of
nocturnal haunts; and their places of repose are even
more alike. In all sorts of hiding-places the Whiskered
Bat may be found during the day, and generally singly.
Holes in walls, roofs of houses and other buildings, or
the spaces behind shutters or sign-boards, will serve very
well for a resting-place during its hours of repose, and it
does not refuse a convenient hole or crevice in a tree,
nor even an auger-hole in an old unused gate-post,
which situation we have known one occupy for some
time. It is also a frequenter of caverns, as already
mentioned, at Colchester and Chiselhurst ; and we have
known it taken from others excavated for the purpose of
obtaining gypsum, on the estate of Sir R. Throckmorton,

WHISKERED BAT. 69

at Spornal Park, in Warwickshire. It is not very un-
usual to see this Bat abroad during the day, even in
bright sunlight. One observed about noon on the 16th
of April, 1852, ‘at the village of Welford, about a mile
from the abode of one of the authors of the present
work, when captured, was found to answer admirably to
the description of the Vespertilio humeralis of M. Baillon.
As in that so-called species, there was a well-defined pure
black spot at the insertion of the humerus.

The Whiskered Bat brings forth one young one at
a birth, about the end of June or in July; the exact
time depending, in this species as in others, upon the
forwardness of the spring, or, in other words, upon the
period when they emerge from their winter’s repose.

Hitherto we have not heard of the occurrence of the
species in Scotland, and in Ireland it appears to have
been observed but once. Its occurrence at Feakle, in
the county of Clare, is recorded by Dr. Kinahan in
the Proceedings of the Natural History Society of
Dublin.*

To the country in which it ‘was first discovered by
Leisler, we may add, on the collective testimony of M.
Hollandre, Baron De Selys Longchamps, Prof. Blasius,
M. Nilsson, and Prof. Brandt, the following countries,
viz.: France, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, and Russia ;
and we find it included in the recent work on the
Mammals of the Amoor by Dr. Leopold von Schrenck.+
Finally, we think that the Himalaya Mountains will
have to be given as a habitat, as the Vespertilio sih-
gorensis of Mr. Hodgson { appears to differ in no

eavole ail,

-+ Reisen u. Forschungen im Amur-Lande in den Jahren, 1854-56. Bd.
I, Saiugethiere, 1858.

+ Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., August, 1855,

70 VESPERTILIONIDA.

important respect, externally, from the Vespertilio mysta-
cinus.

The head is of medium length, the forehead somewhat
elevated, the occiput prominent; the muzzle is rather
pointed, slightly emarginate between the nostrils, which
are tumid, particularly at the upper and inner angle.
Face very hairy, so much so as to give the short and
thick appearance ; the hairs on the lip longer than the
others, forming a moustache; and there is a similar row
across the forehead: the chin has also a few long and
stiffish hairs. Ears shorter than the head, oblong,
rounded at the upper part, bending outwards, broad
at the base, rather deeply excavated at the outer
margin; tragus rather more than half the length
of the ears, lanceolate, strait, a little expanded on the
outer margin near the base. Eyes small, and much con-
cealed by the hairs. ‘Tail longer than the fore-arm, the
exserted portion about a line in length, curved. Fur
long and thick; the hairs of the upper part of a dusky
black colour, excepting at the extreme tips, which are
shining rufous; beneath ash-grey at the tips, blackish
near the roots. ars and flying membrane dusky, very
dark; the transverse lines of the wings very numerous,
those of the interfemoral membrane being no fewer
than eighteen. Old and pregnant females, or those
having young ones, are often of a faded brown or rusty
colour on the upper parts, the lower parts being dirty
brownish white. This is the Vesp. emarginatus of
Macgillivray, described in his work on British Quad-
rupeds. Young individuals are sometimes almost black.

Dimensions :—

Inch. Lines.
Length of the head and body. 5 Soe 8

by

;, of the head. : : : 4 hid ie 27)

WHISKERED

Length of the tail . : 3
», of theears . : 5
Breadth of the ears . ‘ :
Length.of the tragus : ;
,, of the fore-arm . :
Extent of the wings . : :

Dentition :—
14:0.2:F.M.

ao

BAT,

8, AE

Co or Or

Nie ie

oo co

(=)

nearly

72 VESPERTILIONIDA.

CHEIROPTERA. VESPERTILIONIDA.

Genus, Plecotus. (Geoff.)

Generic character.— Ears very large, much longer than the head, united at
the base. Cutting teeth 3, grinders §:3.

LONG-EARED BAT.
Plecotus auritus.

Ears more than twice the length of the head ; tail longer than the fore-
arm, rather obtuse at the apex: fur brownish grey above, paler beneath.

Vespertilio minor, Brisson, Quad. 226.
i auritus, Lrny. Syst. Nat. 47, sp. 5. Grorr. Ann. Mus. VIII.
p. 197. Kuut, Deutsch. Flederm. sp. 1. Dusmar.
Mammal. p. 114. Jenvyns, Brit. Vert. p. 27, sp. 36.
Plecotus auritus, Grorr. Gray, Zool. Journ. II. p. 109. Frem. Brit.
An. p. 7. Bonap. Faun. Ital. p. 108.
», Christi, Gray, Mag. Zool. Bot. II. 13.
5, homochrous, Hopes. Journ. As. Soc. XVI. 894.
DL Oreillard, Daupent. Mém. Acad. 1759, p. 376, t. i. f. 2. Burron,
Hist. Nat. VIII. p. 118, t. xvi. f. 1.
Long-eared Bat, Penn. Brit. Quad. I. p. 147, t. xiii.

Tie comparative ignorance of the characters of the
Chewroptera which prevailed until Daubenton set the

LONG-EARED BAT. 73

example of a more attentive observation of them, can
scarcely have a more striking illustration than the fact
that the present species, although larger than many other
European species, now well known and sufficiently dis-
tinguished, received from Brisson, who first characterized
it, the name of Vespertilio minor, the comparative term
major having been at first applied to V. murinus; and
Linnzus, who altered the above specific names in the
twelfth edition of his Systema Nature, has the following
remarkable observation appended to the present species,
V. murinus being the one following it. ‘* Distincta
species auriculis, nisi solo sexu cum _ sequenti con-
veniat.””

It is a common though not very abundant British
Bat, is more readily tamed than most others, and
may soon be brought to exhibit a considerable degree
of familiarity with those who feed and caress it.
We have frequently watched them when in confine-
ment, and have observed them to be bold and familiar
even from the first. They are very cleanly; not only
cleaning themselves after feeding, and at other times,
with great assiduity, but occasionally assisting each other
in this office. They are very playful too, and their
gambols are not the less amusing from their awkward-
ness. They run over and against each other, pretending
to bite, but never harming their companions of the same
species; though we have seen them exhibit a sad spirit
of persecution to an unfortunate Barbastelle which was
placed in the same cage with them. They may be readily
brought to eat from the hand; and one kept by Mr.
James Sowerby, when at liberty in the parlour, would
fly to the hand of any of the young people who held
up a fly towards it, and, pitching on the hand, take
the fly without hesitation. If the insect were held

L

74: VESPERTILIONIDA.

between the lips, the Bat would then settle on its
young’ patron’s cheek, and take the fly with great gentle-
ness from the mouth: and so far was this familiarity
carried, that when either of the young people made a
humming noise with the mouth, in imitation of an insect,
the Bat would search about the lips for the promised
dainty.

The ears are developed to such an extraordinary degree
as at once to strike the most incurious observer, and yet
probably their actual comparative magnitude is not fully
recognized. Let us imagine a horse or a dog having ears
as large as its own body, and grotesque and whimsical as
the idea may seem, it is completely realized by the sin-
gular little animal of which we are now speaking. Yet
we are not impressed with the least idea of awkwardness
when inspecting it: on the contrary, its ears appear to be
so completely under management, and are thrown, at the
will of the animal, into such elegant curves and folds,
and are themselves so exquisitely silky and transparent,
as to render the species one of the most interesting of
our native Bats. The use of these extraordinary and
highly developed organs has not hitherto, we believe,
been fairly recognized, but we may rest assured that
Nature, ever prodigal in means, but not wasteful, has
ordained them for the performance of some important
office in the economy of the species. As we have in a
former part of this work mentioned, M. de Jurine
made some interesting but cruel experiments on the
flight of Bats when deprived of sight; and we may now
mention that the present species was one of those which
supplied the materials for these experiments. When
deprived of its eyes, this Bat continued to pass through
narrow openings with great ease and address, but when
the organs of hearing were also completely closed, the

a

LONG-EARED BAT. 75

animal struck itself against whatever came in its way.
Our own observations have led us to believe that the
Long-eared Bat, although often to be seen hawking in
the evening with the Pipistrelle and other Bats, is never-
theless essentially a nocturnal species, coming abroad
late in the evening, and continuing its flight through
the whole of the night. Until accident had made us
acquainted with its voice, when on the wing, we were
unaware how often we had been unconsciously in its
company. At all hours, through the dead of the night,
and in the darkest nights, in the open fields, or elsewhere,
we have heard the shrill chatter of the Long-eared Bat
over our heads, its voice, once known, being easily recog-
nized from that of any other species. May we not
reasonably suppose, that the great development of the
outer ear, with the corresponding development of its
inner structure, may be the means whereby the creature
is enabled to thread its way through intricate passages,
when deprived of its eyes, and by which it is fitted to
pursue its flight in the darkest nights, when we have
failed to detect the presence of other species? The
large and prominent eyes, however, doubtless assist it
materially in its nocturnal wanderings.

The progression of this species on the ground differs
considerably from that of all the species of true Vesper-
tilio. Instead of running quickly along the ground in
a horizontal posture with the head low, the fore parts
are somewhat raised, and the body thrown forward by
successive jerkings, given alternately on one side and
the other. We have been led to suppose, from continued
observation, that this posture of the body is more or
less maintained during flight.

The large and beautiful ears are usually folded under
the arm during sleep, especially if the sleep be profound:

L 2

76 VESPERTILIONIDA.

and this is also the case during hibernation ; the long
tragus then hangs down, and gives the animal the appear-
ance of having short and slender ears.* Indeed, a person
who had not seen it in the act of folding its ears, could
never imagine it to be the same species when they are
fully expanded. This circumstance refutes the notion
suggested by Edwards and adopted by Pennant, that the
‘lesser ear may possibly serve as a valve to close the
larger in the sleeping state of this animal.”

The cry of this species 1s acute and shrill, but not loud.
It affords a rather remarkable illustration of the well-
known fact, that some persons are incapable of detecting
certain sounds; as during the time that several of them
were kept living, by the author of the former edition of
this work, although their small sharp cry was distinctly
audible to persons sitting much farther from them than
himself, and though he bent his attention closely to them,
listening with the greatest intentness, he could not detect
the sound unless the ear was placed close to their cage,
though it was uttered frequently. On being disturbed,
the sound becomes more clear and piercing.

The Long-eared Bat appears to frequent open country
more than many other species, but that it also frequents
the same situations as the Pipistrelle and Whiskered
Bat we have the testimony of many observers to show.
The following observations, made at Welford Hill by one
of the authors, seem to throw some additional light on
its habits and manners. Having occasion to rise early—
about three in the morning—on opening the window of
his bedroom, a Bat of this species was seen actively
engaged around the sprigs of a spindle tree which ex-
tended across the window. It was in bloom at the time,
and was surrounded by a cloud of micro-lepidoptera, on

* See the figure at page 16.

LONG-EARED BAT. Ch

which the Bat was feeding. As this took place scarcely
four feet from the open window, it was easy to see the
whole proceeding, and to determine with certainty the
manner in which the food was taken. With scarcely
an exception, the moths were picked from the leaves while
resting there, only one or two being taken on the wing.
While thus occupied, the Bat hovered much after the
manner of the Kistrel, and the ears were bent outwards
so much as to curl down the sides of the face, appearing
more like two large cheek-pouches than ears, no part of
these appearing of greater elevation than the crown of
the head. This could be noted very accurately, as the
creature several times hovered scarcely a yard from the
face of the observer, at the open window, as if desirous
of entering. This it afterwards did, and flying round
the room a few times, again went to its feeding.

The retreat of the Long-eared Bat is more frequently
the roofs of tiled houses in villages or towns, in which
places they may be found in summer suspended in
clusters from the timbers, and during the winter closely
packed between the tiles or in holes of the timbers. The
towers of churches also are a favourite resort, and we
have taken occasional specimens in the belfry of Strat-
ford Church, when in pursuit of the Vespertilio Dauben
tonite

The geographical range of this species appears to be
considerable. In Europe it is pretty generally known,
and specimens of a species of Plecotus from the Hima-
laya Mountains differs in no external respects from
the European one. An examination of the Plecotus
Christit of Dr. Gray has satisfied us that it also is refer-
able to the British species; this specimen from North
Africa, and one we possess which came from the fifth
cataract of the Nile, have the fur paler and more ashy in

73 VESPERTILIONID®,

colour, and the membranes lighter, than the European
ones, which they otherwise resemble.

The head is flattened; the muzzle rather long and
projecting, horizontal, and slightly emarginate ; nostrils
with prominent edges, the openings lateral, passing back-
wards and outwards into a small fossa. The ears are
enormously large, oval-oblong, semi-transparent, and
transversely plicated; the outer margin commences
immediately behind the angle of the mouth, and the
inner third of its breadth is supported by three extremely
thin slender cartilages, the elasticity of which must tend
to restore the ear to its erect position after being turned
under the arm during sleep: these cartilages extend
nearly the whole length of the ear, and the inner margin
is bent back from the middle cartilage, forming a broad
longitudinal fold, which is ciliated at its edge, as well as
along the carina formed by its duplicature. About a line
from its base is a small lobe projecting laterally, so that
when the ears are erect the two lobes touch each other:
this lobe is hairy, thicker and more opaque than the rest
of the ear. Immediately beneath it the ears are united
over the forehead, forming an angular notch at the point
of their junction. Tragus elongate, lanceolate, rather
obtuse, bending very slightly outwards, about two-fifths
the length of the ear. Eyes lateral, conspicuous, placed
about a line anterior to the inner angle of the base of
the tragus. The body appears rather broad, from the
fur extending much over the shoulders. Tail nearly as
long as the head and body, and longer than the fore-arm ;
projecting about a line beyond the margin of the in-
terfemoral membrane. Spur extending fully half way
from the tarsus to the tail. Fur rather long, thick, soft,
and silky; above, lightish brown with a reddish tinge,
which is more conspicuous in young specimens, the

LONG-EARED BAT. 79

older ones being more grey; beneath, pale brownish
grey ; the hairs are all blackish at the base. Membranes
dusky, with a rufous tinge. Transverse lines on the
interfemoral about twelve.

Dimensions :—

Inch. Lines.
Length of the head and body . : : ee LO

5, of the head . 0 8
» Of the tail . Les
», of the ear Ho
Breadth of the ear . M ©
Length of the tragus Oy
», of the fore-arm : : ; 5 i
Extent of the wings : : ; ; , J)

Dentition :—

The Plecotus brevimanus of Jenyns, of which a figure was
given in the first edition of this work, is now universally
admitted to be the young of the present species. We have
now before us a specimen which was taken at Malvern,
which in all respects answers to the description and figure
of Plecotus brevimanus, and the shortness of the fingers,
with the partially ossified state of their joints, suffi-

80 VESPERTILIONIDA.

ciently attest its immaturity. This condition of the joints
of the fingers is so well shown in the accompanying wood-
cut—the one formerly inserted as Plecotus brevimanus—

that we feel no hesitation in introducing it as the young
of the Long-eared Bat.

THE BARBASTELLE. 8]

CHEIROPTERA. VESPERTILIONID2.

Genus, Barbastellus.

Generic Characters. —Kars moderate, united at the base; a hollowed
naked space on the upper surface of the muzzle, in which the nostrils are
placed ; grinders four above and four below on each side.

THE BARBASTELLE.

Barbastellus Daubentonit.

Vespertilio barbastellus, Gm. Sowxrsy, Brit. Miscell. t. v. Mowragu in
Linn. Trans. ix. p. 171. Kuunt, Deutsch. Fle-
derm. sp. 10. Dresmar. Mammal. p. 145.
Prwn. Brit. Zool. i. p. 183. Jenyns, Brit. Vert.
sp. 38.

La Barbastelle, DavuBent. Mém. de l’Acad. 1759, p. 381, t. ii. f. 3.
Burron, Hist. Nat. viii. p. 119, t. xix. f. 2.
Georrroy, Ann. Des. Se. vii. p. 196, sp. 6,
t. xlvi. xlviil.

Genus Barbastellus, Gray, Zool. Journ. vol. ii.

Plecotus barbastellus, | Lusson, Mam. Fuem. Brit. An. p. 7.

Barbastellus vulgaris, Bonar., Faun. Ital.

Synotus Barbastellus, Bras. l. c. p. 48, f. 33, 34.

AuruouGuH long known as a native of France and of
some other parts of the Continent, it is only of later
years that the Barbastelle has been discovered to inhabit

M

82 VESPERTILIONID A.

this country. It was first described by Daubenton in
1759, in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, and
subsequently by Buffon in his great work. Kuhl, not-
withstanding the extent of his researches on the Bats of
Germany, and his exertions to procure all that exist in
that country, failed to obtain one of this species; but
Desmarest states that it is found there, though very
rarely. Its first detection as a native of Great Britain
is due to Mr. Sowerby, who published an account of it

> His specimen

with a figure in the *f British Miscellany.’
was found in the powder-mills at Dartford in Kent. In
the ninth volume of the Linnean Transactions, Colonel
Montagu mentions two places in Devonshire, Milton and
Kingsbridge, in each of which a specimen was taken.
Mr. Gray, indeed, in his enumeration of the Bats of
Great Britain in the second volume of the ‘* Zoological
Journal,” doubts the identity of Colonel Montagu’s speci-
mens with the Barbastelle, because the individual marked
by Montagu Barbastellus, in the British Museum, is un-
doubtedly Vespertilio mystacinus. Montagu’s description,
however, is so full and so correct, that it appears impos-
sible for him to have been mistaken in the specimens
from which he drewit up. Having received, as recorded
in the former edition of this work, by the kindness of
Dr. Waring, a very healthy individual which remained
alive for several weeks, the opportunity was afforded
of giving a few slight notices of its habits, though,
of course, only as modified by being in a state of
confinement.

It was taken during a very hard frost, in the latter end
of December, in a large chalk cavern at Chiselhurst in
Kent, which is excavated at the bottom of a shaft seventy
feet deep. In this cavern, during very severe frosts,
several species of Bats are found to retreat ; and on this

THE BARBASTELLE. 83

occasion, with the Barbastelle was received a specimen of
V. mystacinus, three of V. Nattereri, and several of Ple-
cotus auritus. These little prisoners, when brought into a
warm room, soon began to exhibit signs of vivacity ; and
the Barbastelle, with the others, fed readily on small bits
of meat, and drank water. He was a timid animal,
and did not evince the slightest disposition to become
familiar; he would take his food, however, with his
companions, and was accustomed to rest with them in
a cluster, at the top of the box in which they were
placed. The Barbastelle certainly became torpid more
readily than any of the others, and more completely
so; but when awake, evinced extreme restlessness, and
was incessantly biting with great violence at the wires of
his box. When suffered to fly about the room, he flew
very low, and less actively than any other under similar
circumstances ; and he was fond of lying before the fire
on the hearth rug, where he appeared quite to luxuriate
in the warmth. Whilst the Long eared Bats evinced
much attachment to each other, and became very familiar
with me, the Barbastelle remained sullen and apart;
until at length I found that he was an object of persecu-
tion on the part of his more active companions, one of
whom I detected in the act of giving him a severe bite
on the back of the neck. This occasioned his immediate
removal to another box; but this sharp discipline pro-
bably hastened his death, which took place about a
week afterwards, though he continued to eat till the
day before he died. The specimen was a male, and
apparently adult.

The situation in which this specimen was found per-
fectly agrees with the observation of M. Geoffroy, who
says, “Je l’ai trouvé a de grandes profondeurs dans les

souterrains de Charlemont.”

SA. VESPERTILIONID®.

Daubenton’s figure of the head of the Barbastelle is
very correct; that of Geoffroy in the ‘* Annales du
Museum,” is excessively bad.

Very little information was afforded by any author as
to the animal’s habits, until a comparatively recent period,
with the exception of M. F. Cuvier, who related the
history of one he had in confinement for a few days.
It was retained as a species of Vespertilio, until M.
Lesson placed it with the Long-eared Bat in the genus
Plecotus. Dy. Gray constituted it a distinct genus under
the name of Barbastellus, which was certainly objection-
able, as removing from it the specific one which had been
bestowed upon it by its first discoverer. As no specific
name was given by Dr. Gray, the deficiency was supplied
in the former edition of this work by adding to it the
name of the distinguished naturalist by whose labours
it was first made known. In Weigmar’s “ Archives” for
1839, Count Keyserling and Prof. Blasius, objecting to
the name of Barbastellus, substituted for it that of
Synotus, and the latter is in general use amongst
German and Russian naturalists, while most English
and French zoologists employ the former.

In Warwickshire the Barbastelle is not very rare,
although by no means abundant. Whether observed in
its place of repose during the day, or when taking its
evening flight, it is of equally solitary habits.

If in a twilight stroll about midsummer a person finds
himself in a close proximity with a Bat of somewhat
thick and clumsy form, but of rather small size, whose
flight is so desultory that it appears to be flapping lazily
about, hither and thither, seemingly without purpose,
and intruding so closely that the flutter of its wings
may be heard, and even the cool air thrown by their
movement felt upon the cheek, it may with almost cer-

THE BARBASTELLE. 85

tainty be recognized as the Barbastelle. Although there
is no English Bat which resembles the Barbastelle in
its mode of flight, yet in choice of situation there are
several. Where the Whiskered Bat and Pipistrelle are
seen, the Barbastelle may be seen also, but having been
once observed, it will, probably, be useless to make
search again at the same place. Equally uncertain is
its diurnal retreat; most likely not the same place for
long together, as we have found it in places where it
could not have rested the day previously. <A crevice in
a wall or tree, the spaces between the rafters and tiles of
a cowshed, the timber over a sawpit, the thatch of a
shed in a brickyard, or behind a cottage window-shutter,
are suitable places of repose for the Barbastelle, in all
which situations we have met with it, and always alone.

Mr. Jenyns states that the Barbastelle has been ob-
tained in Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire, and its
occurrence in Suffolk has been recorded in the ‘‘Zoologist”’
by our friend Professor Newton, and at Kaston in Nor-
folk by J. H. Gurney, Esq., M.P. This individual was
taken from behind the bark of a pollard willow, a notice
of which appears in the fifth volume of the ‘* Zoologist.”
In the first volume of the same useful periodical is a
notice of its occurrence at Epping, by Mr. Doubleday.
It appears, so far as we can ascertain, never to have been
met with in the Northern parts of England or Scotland,
and Dr. Kinahan does not record it in his account of the
Bats of Ireland.

As already stated, it inhabits Germany ; it is found
also in France and Italy, and, according to Baron de
Selys Longchamps, in Belgium, where, however, it 1s
stated to be very rare. We find it included by M.
Nilsson in his Scandinavian Fauna, by Prof. Brandt, in
his work on the Mammals of Russia, and by M. Nord-

86 VESPERTILIONID AE.

man in the Natural History of M. Demidoft’s ‘Travels in
Southern Russia and the Crimea. In the latter work it
is thus noticed: “ Tres commun sur toute la cote méri-
dionale de la Crimée.”

We have examined specimens from Nepaul, which had
all the characters of European ones, and we are much
inclined to suspect that the Vespertilio leucomelas of Dr.
Ruppell is no other than the Barbastelle.

In its affinities the Barbastelle appears to be more
intimately allied to Plecotus and the Australian genus
Nyctophilus than to any others; but even from these it
is very distinct, constituting in fact a well-defined genus
of itsown. We have not had the opportunity of mak-
ing a comparative examination of the American Long-
eared Bats, which have been placed by some writers in
the genus Plecotus, but may remark that in all the speci-
mens we have seen, the face bears as much resemblance
to that of Barbastellus as to Plecotus.

The aspect of this Bat is more remarkable than that
of any other of our native species, with the exception of
the two species of Rhinolophus. ‘The muzzle is trun-
cated, and a groove leads on each side upwards to the
nostrils: these are placed in a hollow on the upper sur-
face of the muzzle, which is naked, and extends back to
the union of the ears. ‘The cheeks are rather tumid, and
covered with black hair, which forms a sort of moustache.
The ears are about the length of the head, nearly as
broad as they are long, and irregularly four-sided ; the
inner edges are turned back, forming a longitudinal
eroove just within the margin; the outer and superior
angle prominent, rounded, and turned back ; immediately
beneath this, on the external margin, is a rather deep
notch, from which five or six slight transverse folds ex-

tend about half way across the ear; the anterior and

THE. BARBASTELLE. ° 87

inner anlges unite immediately behind the muzzle. The
tragus is more than half the length of the ear, of an
irregular lanceolate or semicordate form, with a_pro-
tuberance near the outer angle of its base; the terminal
third is linear, and the apex rounded. The eyes are
very small, placed close to the base of the auricle (not
within it, as generally described), and almost concealed
by the hair on the cheek. The wings are rather broad,
the interfemoral membrane full, and furnished with
about twelve transverse lines. The end of the tail is
free from the membrane for the length of nearly one
line.

The fur is long, soft and bicoloured. In general
colour it is darker than that of any other British species,
or indeed than that of any other uropean species. All
the upper parts are brownish black, the points of the
hairs being brownish white; towards and on the hinder
parts of the back the hairs are tinged with brown. ‘The
under parts are similar in colour to the back, but the
pale tips of the hairs are longer, and less distinct; on
the pubal region the hairs are shorter, and wholly of a
whitish-brown colour, as are also the fine hairs which
grow on the membranes on each side of the body. The
face and all of the cutaneous system dusky black.

The young, when nearly full grown, differ only in
colour from the adult in having less of the whitish
colour on the under parts.

We possess a remarkable and beautiful variety, taken
at Alcester in Warwickshire, which has the fur of the
under parts, from root to tip, strongly tinged with pur-
plish red, or rose colour, which was very conspicuous
when the animal was fresh, but faded considerably after
it was preserved. We have seen a perfectly white speci-
men of this species, and another in which the head and

88 - VESPERTILIONIDA.

neck were of the ordinary dark colour, the remaining
part of the body being pure white. In both these speci-
mens the membranes were nearly white, and the imper-
fectly ossified condition of the joints of the fingers showed
that they were young.

Dimensions :—
Inch. Lines.

Length of the head and body . : : - en
Sy OL the tail 1 9%
», Of the head . 0). of
5, of the ears (Gs:
», of the tragus 0 32
,, of the fore-arm We is
,, of the longest finger 2 aed
,, of the fourth , ; SUG
5, Of the tibia : : ; : - 0* 28
5, of the foot and claws . ; j Pee 5 tay

Expanse of wings . F : : 3 + OE ees

Dentition :—

1.4: 0.2:F.M.4: M§=28

GREATER HORSE-SHOE BAT. 89

CHEIROPTERA, RHINOLOPHIDA&.

Genus, Rhinolophus (Geoff.)

Generic Character.—Incisors 3 ; molars 2-2. Nostrils with two foliaceous
appendages ; the posterior one erect and pointed posteriorly, the anterior one
horse-shoe shaped, and expanded over the top of the nose. Ears lateral, free ;
tragus wanting. Wing membranes extending only to the distal extremity of
the tibia ; tail short, enclosed in the membrane.

GREATER HORSE-SHOE BAT.

Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum.

Specific Character.—Posterior nasal appendage lanceolate ; the central or
prominent parts of the facial crest with two anterior pits, divided verti-
cally, behind which it is contracted laterally, from which it again expands,
forming an ovoid space, which terminates posteriorly in a point. Anterior
margin of the Horse-shoe smooth, and rather deeply cleft in its centre.

Tespertilio ferrum-equinum, Linn. Guru. Monr. Linn. Trans. ix. p. 122.

Rhinolophus unihastatus, Georr. Ann. Mus. xx. p. 257. Drs.
Mamm. p. 125. Gray, Zool. Journ. ii.
109. Tem. Mon. ii. 28.

Noctilio ferrum-equinum, Kuni, Deutsch. Flederm. p. 15.

Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum, Leacu, Zool. Miscell. iii. 2. Fuiem. Brit.
Anim, p. 5. Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 19.
Krys. et Bias. Die Wirtel. Europ. p. xvi.
et 56. Dx Snuuys Lonacu. Faun. Belge,
p. 19. Scuinz, Faun. Helvetica, i. 12.
Bonar. Faun. Ital. Tomoi. Branpr,
Sang. Russl. p. 40.

90 RHINOLOPHIDA.

Tue whole of the singular family to which the present
genus belongs, are distinguished by the existence of a
cutaneous development upon the nose, which in some is
simple, in others more or less complicated. In the genus
Rhinolophus these nasal appendages are complicated, con-
sisting of a posterior and anterior portion, the former
of which is erect, hastate, or lanceolate, and placed at the
base of the forehead ; the latter shaped somewhat like a
horse-shoe (from whence the various names which have
been given to these Bats have been derived), bordering
the upper lip, extending backwards to the posterior leaf,
and enclosing the nostrils within its arch.

The use of this very remarkable structure it is per-
haps difficult to explain. Geoffroy has suggested that it
may be intended to close the nostrils when they are not
required to be brought into use; and he instances some
analogous modes of closing the orifices of other organs
of sense. But when the extent and complication of
these foliaceous structures are considered, and compared
with the small simple orifice of the nostril, which could
be more readily and effectually shut by a simple valvular
thickening of one of its margins, there is so obvious a
want of relation between the object and the means of
effecting it, as to render such a supposition wholly un-
tenable. It is more consistent with probability, however,
when we consider that the Leaf-nosed or Large-eared
Bats possess the singular power, to which we have be-
fore adverted, of threading their way through intricate
places, without the assistance of eyes, to suppose that
these singular membranous expansions may be in some
way instrumental in the performance of these hitherto
explained movements. ‘That the simple-nosed species,
having at the same time comparatively thick and leathery
membranes, do not possess the power alluded to, we

GREATER HORSE-SHOE BAT. 91

fully believe. Mr. Blyth has remarked of -Vespertiho
Nattereri, that when flying round a room it struck a
glass case with its wings ; and we have seen the Noctule
and Pipistrelle, when liberated from a box in a room,
fly repeatedly against the glass of the window in their
attempt to escape. A Horse-shoe Bat, on the contrary,
when turned loose in the same room, and a Pipistrelle
with it, avoided with perfect ease all sorts of objects,
and the most careful examination we could make of its
movements failed to detect so much as a touch of the
wing, even when flying close to the glass of the window,
which it appeared to be carefully examining, as if with
the Pipistrelle it expected a means of escape which it
failed to discover. When we consider that the glass
would be equally visible or invisible to the one Bat as
to the other, the experiment becomes interesting, as it
tends to confirm those made by Spallanzani and M. de
Jurine, with perhaps the difference that the faculty which
they have ascribed to Bats generally, may be confined
to such only as are possessed of a high degree of deve-
lopment of the cutaneous system.

A very remarkable peculiarity is said to appertain to
the Bats of the family, which is the existence of a pair
of supposed inguinal teats, in addition to the pectoral
pair which belong to the whole order. They have been
observed by numerous continental authors, and were also
discovered by Montagu, when searching for certain para-
sites which infest these animals. Geoflroy is so certain
of their being true mammary teats, that he at once goes
into his favourite theory of analogies to account for and
support this opinion; and certainly, if his statement be
correct, this is not the most remarkable instance of a
deviation from a similar rule, for, says he, ‘‘ étant en
1827 & Marseilles, ot m’y a fait connaitre une femme qui

N 2

92 RHINOLOPHIDA.

avoit également nourrit ses enfans par une mammelle
supernuméraire inguinale!” Kuhl, however, who paid
particular attention to the subject, declared that these
supposed inguinal nipples in Rhinolophus were nothing
more than cutaneous warts, without the slightest appear-
auce of mammary glands beneath them.

The Great Horse-shoe Bat was added to the list of
European Cheiroptera by Daubenton, and was first dis-
covered as a British species by the venerable Dr. Latham,
by whom it was communicated to Pennant, who pub-
lished it in the fourth edition of his “ British Zoology.”
Dr. Latham’s specimen was taken in the saltpetre
houses belonging to the Dartmouth powder-mills. It
has since been found in many localities: in Bristol and
Rochester Cathedrals, in caverns at Clifton, at Col-
chester, and we have seen examples from the Undercliff,
Isle of Wight, and from Margate. It appears, however,-
never to have been observed in any of the Northern or
even Midland counties, and is probably confined in its
range to the Southern or Western parts of our island.
Montagu found it in considerable numbers, in company
with the Smaller Horse-shoe Bat, in the well-known
cavern near Torquay, called Kent’s Hole, a retreat so
dark and gloomy, that no other species, even of this
lucifugal family, were found to frequent it. The French
naturalists equally record the retreat of this species to
be chosen in the darkest and least accessible caverns, in
abandoned quarries, and other subterraneous excavations.

Mr. James Salter has communicated to usin the follow-
ing note another locality in which this species has been
found :—

“T caught one of these Bats (Rhinolophus ferrum-
equinum) in the ‘haunted room’ at Tomson Manor
House, Dorset, Sep. 29, 1865. It was flitting about the

GREATER HORSE-SHOE BAT. 93

room when I went to bed; the window had been left
open. It measured the very large size of 14} inches in
expanse of wing. On the next three nights, which were
still and calm, I saw numbers of (apparently) the same
Bats flying around the house among a grove of syca-
mores. The flight was low, short, and sluggish, both in
the room and out of doors. I had no opportunity of
securing a specimen from those outside the house, but I
am quite satisfied they were the same. Vespertilio Noc-
tu/a is the only other large Bat I have seen on Tomson
Manor. I have often shot this species there in August,
when they fly high with a bold extended range, quite
different from the R. Fr.”

It is said to feed much upon chafers, of which it eats
only the body.

It is probable that this species has a very considerable
geographical range. In Europe it would appear to be
pretty generally distributed, though we find that it is not
included by M. Nilsson in his Scandinavian Fauna; by
Prof. Brandt, however, it is mentioned as a Russian
species. From Algeria we have seen a few specimens,
which were received with numerous examples of R.
Euryale, to which species the one under notice has
probably, in respect of numbers, to give way. But it
is more than probable that the Great Horse-shoe Bat
occurs in many other localities in Africa, since we have
examined and.identified specimens from the Cape of
Good Hope, which had been collected and transmitted
to the Zoological Society by Sir Andrew Smith, and
were included by Mr. Waterhouse in his Catalogue of
the mammalia contained in the Museum under the name
of Rh. Capensis.

The distinctions between this species and the follow-
ing will be detailed in the account of the latter. They

94 RHINOLOPHIDA.

are not very considerable, although very constant, nor,
excepting in that of size, very obvious on a casual ex-
amination.

The head is long, the occiput large and rounded, the
muzzle very tumid, and furnished with long stiff hairs.
The mouth opens straight and wide; the upper incisors
are extremely small, distant, and early deciduous; the
inferior ones are broad at the crown and three-lobed.
The anterior nasal leaf is horizontal, shaped like a horse-
shoe, anteriorly emarginate, formed of three concentric
elevations, the inner one thickened and forming the walls
of the depression in which the nostrils are situated.
Between the latter rises a prominent cup-like process,
somewhat elongated posteriorly, its exposed surface
being broadest anteriorly, and presenting a deep cup,
which is divided equally by a vertical septum; about the
middle this process is somewhat contracted laterally,
but it again expands to nearly its former breadth, and
terminates posteriorly in a short but rather acute point.
The posterior or frontal leaf is as broad anteriorly as the
Horse-shoe, but tapers up the forehead to a point, from
which descends a mesial ridge, which divides before it
reaches the cup-like process, each fork extending to the
posterior end of the horse-shoe ; from this ridge spring
on either side two horizontal septa, thus dividing the
leaf into six irregularly formed cells. The whole of
this part of the facial crest is ciliated with stiff hairs.
The ears are rather large, broad at their base, with the
apices somewhat pointed, and turned a little outward ;
the outer margins produced along the sides of the face
towards the corners of the mouth, and forming in the
front of each auditory opening a kind of rounded lobe,
which appears capable of closing the ear; from their

outer margin extend about ten or twelve transverse

GREATER HORSE-SHOE BAT. 95

sulci, which reach to the middle of the ear, On their
hinder surface is a little fine fur, mostly near to the inner
margin; the cheeks and forehead are well clothed with
soft fur ; all the membranes are nearly free from hair.

Colour above, reddish grey ; the fur paler at the root
than at the tip; beneath, very pale grey, scarcely paler
at the root than at the tip; membranes dusky brown,
ears and facial crests pale brown.

Dimensions :—

Inch. Lines.

Length of the head and body . : : a in Disaeed:
,, of thetail . : : : ; le 4
», of the head . : : : : oe Omemalel
», of theears . : ; : ; OR ae9
Breadth of the ears : j : : 5 OO. 6
Length of the fore-arm . : : ; 5 eX)
,, of the longest finger : : 5, fore td
», Of the tibia . F : ‘ : Or el0z
», of the foot andclaws . 3 : 5 ae
Expanse of wings . : : : : 5 Bs

Dentition :—
Tea: C.2: F.M.2: M.& =f.

96

CHEIROPTERA.

RHINOLOPHID®.

RHINOLOPHIDE.

LESSER HORSE-SHOE BAT.

Rhinolophus hipposideros.

Specific character.—Posterior nasal appendage lanceolate, without lateral
expansions at the base: ears deeply sinuous at the outer margins ; the trans-

verse sulci obsolete.

Vespertilio ferrum-equinum, B, Guet. Linn. 50.

minutus,
hipposideros,

99

”
Noctilio,
Rhinolophus bihastatus,

os hipposideros,

5 hippocrepis,
Petit Fer-a-Cheval,

Montagu, Linn. Trans. ix. p. 163.

’ BEcHSTEIN.

Nature. Deutsch. p. 1194.

Georr, Ann. Mus. xx. p. 259, t. v. DzEsMAR.
Mamm. p. 125, sp. 185. Gray, Zool. Journ.
ii. p. 109.

Leacu, Zool. Mise. iii. p. 2, t. exxi. FLEM.
Brit. An. p. 5. Junyns, Brit. Vert. p. 20.
Buastus, Faun. Deutsch. i. p. 29.

Herm. Obsery. Zool. js alts

Davusent. Burron, Hist. Nat. viii. p. 131,
iy Soya, 1, 2h,

Tus species was long considered as merely a variety
of the Greater Horse-shoe Bat. Gmelin gives it as

LESSER HORSE-SHOE BAT. 97

such, quoting the two as the V. Ferrum-equinum major
and minor of Schreiber; and although Daubenton was
well aware of the distinctions between them, there is
nothing in his descriptions which can lead us to suppose
that he had formed any more distinct opinion. Montagu
appears not only to have been the first who discovered
the Smaller Horse-shoe Bat to be an inhabitant of this
country, but to have first ascertained that the characters
in which they differ from each other are not those of
mere varieties, but essentially specific; and he named
the smaller one Vespertilio minutus—a name, however,
which, for obvious reasons, could not be retained. Bech-
stein assigned to it a specific appellation, which, though
not the best that might have been chosen, as being the
mere translation into Greek of that of the former spe-
cies, is now established, and has received the sanction of
Leach and of all subsequent writers. Geoffroy’s names
of unihastatus and bihastatus are founded upon error, and,
as well as that of hippocrepis, given to it by Herman,
were also applied later than those which are here
employed.

This species is found with the former, being similarly
fond of the darkest and most concealed places of retire-
ment. It was first taken by Montagu in Wiltshire, in
a hollow over a baker’s oven, having entered the place
through a small fissure; and afterwards in a dark old
shed surrounded by high trees, at Lackham, in the same
county. He also obtained it with the former species in
Kent’s Hole, an extensive limestone cavern near Tor-
quay in Devonshire, where it was observed in considera-
ble numbers clinging to the vaulted roof of the interior
apartments. Dr. Leach states that “it is a very cautious
animal; very easily tamed, but fond of concealing it-
self. It frequents the higher parts of the caverns in

)

98 RHINOLOPHID®.

which it occurs, and probably flies higher than the pre-
ceding species.”

It is not rare at Cirencester ; and in Warwickshire it
has been observed in at least two localities. A single
example was taken by us in a loft over a smith’s forge,
in the village of Welford; and we found it on another
occasion in considerable numbers in the roof of the
mansion of the Marquis of Hertford, at Ragley, near
Alcester. Amongst the massive timbers supporting the
roof of this noble but now neglected residence, once the
resort of royalty, are many pieces bearing evidences of
former fittings by the augur and chisel, and in these
holes a considerable number of the Long-eared Bat were
found, chiefly in pairs, but although several of the
Horse-shoe Bats were seen flitting in the deep gloom,
broken only by an occasional gleam of light through
some small crevice, and by our lighted candle, yet a
careful search was for some time unrewarded by the
discovery of a single individual in its resting-place. A
great accumulation of excrement around a huge central
stack of chimneys at length attracted attention, and a
long stick, thrust upwards in a narrow opening between
the chimneys, soon dislodged several of these Bats, which
were caught as they descended, and before they were
well on the wing, after which pursuit proved useless.
Some of these examples being at various times liberated
in a room, exhibited extraordinary powers of flight.
One of them, turned loose with a Pipistrelle, as noticed
in our history of the Greater Horse-shoe Bat, displayed
in its search for a means of exit an ability which was
quite extraordinary. It literally flew into every part of
the room, and behind and under everything, even under
a bookcase standing against a wall, although there was
scarcely a space of three inches between it and the floor.

LESSER HORSE-SHOE BAT. 99

Some bookshelves in a recess especially attracted its
attention, and after examining them diligently, it flew
into a vacancy occasioned by the removal of a moderate
octavo volume, and again into the open room, without
having so much as touched anything with the tips of its
wings. But it was most interesting to observe it when
making an examination of the window, searching every
pane over and over, inch by inch, until it might properly
be said that no portion of the glass remained unexamined.
While doing this, the wings were kept in a vibratory
state, the face of the animal being directly in front of
the glass, and very near to it, as if looking out of win-
dow. The general manners of the creature when thus
engaged, conveyed in a slight degree the idea of a Hawk-
moth, when hovering in front of a flower. From the be-
haviour of the individual, and its peculiar mode of flight,
it was difficult to repress the idea that it was either
feeling its way about, like a blind person, or feeling for an
opening by which to escape ; but, at the same time, its
shyness when approached sufficiently testified that its
organs of sight were by no means inactive. <A consider-
able difference was observable in its manner of alighting
from that of other Bats. Instead of adhering by means
of its claws against an object, it invariably sought for
something from which it could hang freely suspended.
The leaf of a table which was let down was often tried,
but its polished surface not furnishing a suitable hold
for the claws, was as often relinquished for some fringe
over a window, from which it would hang suspended by
one foot for some time, swinging about, and twisting
itself round, to watch those who were observing it.

The existence of this species in Ireland is now proved
beyond a doubt, by the observations of several Natural-
ists in that part of the kingdom. It has been found in

o 2

100 RHINOLOPHID®.

Galway, by Professor King, and in considerable numbers
in different parts of county Clare by Mr. Foot; and Prof.
Kinahan has communicated an interesting account of this
amongst other species now ascertained to be indigenous
to Ireland, in the first part of his Mammalogia Hiber-
nica.* He says that it appears to be the common Bat of
that part of Clare in which it occurs.

Specimens which we have examined from various parts
of Europe have presented no considerable degree of
variation from British examples, but those from North
Africa are usually somewhat paler in colour. A single
specimen in the Paris Museum, which was collected at
the Cape of Good Hope by M. Jules Verreaux, is, how-
ever, somewhat larger than any we have seen from this
country, or indeed from any part of Europe.

Its great resemblance to the former species renders it
unnecessary to give a lengthened description of it. ‘The
nasal appendage is very similar in most of its parts; the
erect process between the nostrils is much less cupped at
the base, and the hood at the top is less prominent; the
frontal leaf itself is lanceolate, and of greater relative
size than in the Ferrum-equinum ; and what may be called
the outer margin of the horse-shoe, z.e. that part which
les upon the upper lip, is less closely applied, and has
its extreme edge somewhat crenulated. The ears are
rather more deeply sinuate on the outer margin, and the
transverse sulci scarcely apparent—a peculiarity which is
well preserved in Buffon’s figure—and the lobe is larger
in proportion. The muzzle is less tumid. The fur is
equally soft and full; and the colours are very similar,
the upper part being a little browner, and the under part
rather more yellow.

* Taken from the Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Dublin,
vol. ii.

LESSER HORSE-SHOE BAT.

Dimensions :—

Length of the head and body
a sy, ead’.
tail .
5 sy ear.
Breadth of the ears
Length of the fore-arm

29 Ee)

an », longest finger
Pe », thumb

os », fourth finger
3 Fr) Ae Ul oW Ye

As », foot and claws

Extent of the wings

101

Inch. Lines.

2
0

<=)

© OOF OC pp Ft

if

jt
10/2)

“Te 0 bp or Ot &

a)

oe

i

of

The formula of the teeth is the same as in Rhinolophus

Ferrum-equinum.

102 ERINACEAD 2.

INSECTIVORA. ERINACEA Di.

Genus, Erinaceus. (Linn.)

Generic character.—Middle incisive teeth very long, standing forward; the
upper ones cylindrical, apart ; grinders 7:7; anterior upper foremolars conical,
the posterior one and true molars provided with angular cusps ; posterior
molar with only one cusp ; molars of the lower jaw with angular cusps ; body
covered with spines ; tail very short.

HEDGEHOG. “OR CHIN:

Erinaceus Europeus.

Specific character.—Ears less than half the length of the head ; spines not
longer than the head.

Echinus sive erinaceus terrestris, Ray, Syn. Anim. Quad. p. 231.

Erinaceus Europeus, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 75. Desmar. Mammal.
p. 147. sp. 229. Fuem. Brit. An. p. 7.
JEnyns, Brit. Vert. p. 19. Nunss. Skand.
Faun. p. 92,1847. Buas. Saugt. Deutsch.

p. 1538.
x var. Amurensis, Scnrenck, Reise. Amur—Lande, p. 100.
t. iv. 1858.
Le Hérisson, Burron, Hist. Nat. VIII. p. 28, t. vi.
Common Urchin, Penn. Brit. Quad. I. p. 133.

Hedgehog, SHaw, Gen. Zool. I. p. 542, t. exxi.

HEDGEHOG. 103

Deprivep by its structure of all means of attacking
its enemies, of defending itself by force, or of seeking
safety in flight, this harmless animal is yet endowed with
a safeguard more secure and effectual than the teeth and
claws of the Wild Cat, or the fleetness of the Hare.
Its close covering of sharp spines,—which are hard with-
out brittleness, sufficiently elastic to bear great violence
without breaking, and fixed with astonishing firmness in
the tough leathery skin,—forms not only a solid shield
to protect it from the effect of blows or falls, but a
shirt of prickly mail sufficiently sharp and annoying to
deter all but a few thoroughbred Dogs from venturing
to attack it. Immediately that it is touched, or that it
sees danger approaching, it rolls itself up into a compact
round ball, by the contraction of the powerful muscles
which cover the body immediately under the skin, and
presents this impenetrable panoply, beset by innumerable
spines standing out in every direction; the more it is
irritated or alarmed, the more firmly it contracts, and
the more strongly and stiffly the spines are set; and its
appearance at such times did not escape the eye of
Shakspéare, and was not forgotten when he put the
following into the mouth of Caliban :—

‘‘Then like hedgehogs which
Lie tumbling in my barefoot way, and mount
Their pricks at my foot-fall.”

The strength and elasticity of this covering is such,
that we have repeatedly seen a domesticated Hedgehog
run towards the precipitous wall of an area, and, without
hesitation, without a moment’s pause of preparation,
throw itself off, and contracting at the same instant into
a ball, in which condition it reached the ground from a
height of twelve or fourteen feet : after a few moments it
would unfold itself and run off unhurt.

104 ERINACEADA.

The assertion of Pliny, followed by his numerous pla-
giarists, and amongst them by the greatest of all, Buffon,
that the means of defence just described are aided by
another of a very different character—the expulsion of
its urine, namely, in such a manner that it spreads itself
over the whole surface of the skin, and by its odour dis-
eusts and repulses its assailants,—is wholly unsupported
by later observation, and is doubtless a mere invention.
AXlian, indeed, mentions the same fact, but with refe-
rence to a different object: ‘As soon as a Hedgehog is
captured,” says he, ‘he sprinkles his body with urine,
and renders useless a part which is in itself so useful ; ”
alluding to the use made by the Romans of the prickly
skin of the Hedgehog in hackling hemp for the weaving
of cloth.

However effectual this defensive armour may be in
most cases, it now and then happens that a well-trained
and thoroughbred wire-haired Terrier is found hardy
and bold and active enough to “open” a Hedgehog, at
the expense of a bloody nose and sorely pricked paws.
This, however, is rare; and it may be safely asserted
that scarcely any animal is so admirably provided with
means of self-preservation, which the absence of the
usual methods of escape or of resistance render so
necessary.*

The food of the Hedgehog is very various: it is, how-
ever, certain that it lives by preference upon animal food,
though it will readily eat many vegetable substances.
Its usual aliment is insects, particularly beetles, worms,

* T beg to refer the reader to Alian, lib. vi. cap. lxiv. for a curious story
of the method which the Fox is said to employ to force the Hedgehog to open.
Our English Foxes appear, as far as we can ascertain, to have no particular
liking for the Hedgehog while alive, but there is good reason for believing

that they will feed readily upon these animals when dead, and even when
quite putrid.

HEDGEHOG. 105

slugs, and snails ; but it goes higher in the scale of gastro-
nomic enjoyment, devouring frogs, toads, mice, and even
snakes. The mode in which it attacks the latter animals
is given in a manner worthy of the good old historian of
Selborne himself, in a communication by Mr. Broderip,
in the first volume of the Zoological Journal. The experi-
ment was made by Professor Buckland, and is thus de-
tailed :—‘‘ Having occasion to suspect that Hedgehogs,
occasionally at least, preyed on snakes, the professor pro-
cured a common snake, and also a Hedgehog, and put
them into a box together. Whether or not the former
recognized its enemy was not apparent; it did not dart
from the Hedgehog, but kept creeping gently round the
box ; the Hedgehog was rolled up, and did not appear to
see the snake. The professor then laid the Hedgehog on
the snake, with that part of the ball where the head and
tail meet downwards, and touching it. The snake pro-
ceeded to crawl; the Hedgehog started, opened slightly,
and seeing what was under it, gave the snake a hard bite,
and instantly rolled itself up again. It soon opened a
second, and again a third time, repeating the bite; and
by the third bite the back of the snake was broken.
This done, the Hedgehog stood by the snake’s side, and
passed the whole body of the snake successively through
its jaws, cracking it, and breaking the bones at intervals
of half an inch or more; by which operation the snake
was rendered motionless. The Hedgehog then placed
itself at the tip of the snake’s tail, and began to eat up-
wards, as one would eat a radish, without intermission,
but slowly, till half the snake was devoured. The fol-
lowing morning the remaining half was also completely
eaten up.”

The fondness of the Hedgehog for insects occasions it
to be kept in many houses in London for the purpose of

Me

106 ERINACEADA.

ridding the kitchens of the innumerable hosts of cock-
roaches by which they are infested,* and also renders it
useful rather than noxious to the gardener and the
farmer. Sir William Jardine, however, mentions their
fondness for eggs, and states that they do considerable
mischief by destroying game in the breeding season, and
that they will even enter a hen-house, and turning the
hen off her nest, proceed to devour the eggs.

This statement of their partiality for eggs is fully borne
out by gamekeepers, who catch many Hedgehogs in
steel traps baited with hens’ eggs. We can from actual
experience affirm this to be correct, and moreover, that
traps baited with the entrails of rabbits, or indeed with
any other animal matter, will take many Hedgehogs, as
well as other vermin, for as vermin these creatures are
generally regarded. But the Hedgehog is not wholly
undeserving of the charge of attacking young game, as
the following statement, for the accuracy of which we
are ourselves responsible, will sufficiently illustrate.
Hearing the cries of a young hare in a field of wheat
near Welford-on-Avon, we hastened, gun in hand, to the
spot. ‘The wheat was about the height of the knee, and
too thick to allow of a sight of what was going on
without a very near approach, and as the presence of a
Stoat or Weasel was suspected, a shot was directed to
where the wheat was seen moving. Rushing to the spot,
we found, instead of Stoat or Weasel, a Hedgehog and a
Hare about the size of a Rat. As due allowance had
not been made for the height of the wheat, it was found
on examination that the whole of the charge had passed
over both the creatures, and they were unhurt, excepting

* We have seen a Hedgehog in a London kitchen push its way beneath a piece
of carpet in all directions, and heard it at intervals crushing up the cock-
roaches which it met with. Ina short time it freed the place of these pests.

HEDGEHOG, 107

that the hinder extremities of the Hare were paralyzed,
which more careful observation proved to have resulted
from a bite across the loins, where the fur was wet with
saliva. The Hedgehog had rolled itself up at the report
of. the gun, and was found lying a few inches only from
its victim, which would doubtless have been speedily
killed and devoured, This carnivorous propensity of
the Hedgehog is strikingly shown by the following
passage in a communication by Major Spicer to the
Zoologist (vol. xvi.):—‘‘ A friend of mine was one
day passing under a rookery, and was attracted by a
young rook on the ground, having fallen from its nest
before it could fly, which was making a great noise,
squalling most lustily, and on reaching the spot he found
that a Hedgehog had got hold of him, having seized him
by the back, and was mouthing and worrying him, and
would no doubt soon have finished him had not my friend
rescued him and destroyed the Hedgehog.”

We have also had frequent opportunities of confirming
what we have already advanced respecting the habit of
the Hedgehog of feeding upon worms and mollusca.
Large earthworms are taken and eaten in the dewy
summer evenings when out of their holes, the animal
commencing at one end and turning the worm from side
to side of the mouth. The operation is a slow one, and
appears to be performed wholly by the molar teeth, AI-
though snails would seem to be a very probable food,
and have been already mentioned as such, it may not be
uninteresting to state, that in examining the contents of
the stomach, we have never detected evidences of the
shells of the larger species, although numerous fragments
of the minute and thin-shelled Helices, such as Zonites
and Vitrina, have been present. ‘The small slug, Limar
agrestis, is a favourite morsel with the Hedgehog, and is

Pee

108 ERINACEAD A.

often scratched out and eaten in the summer months
when concealed in the day in crevices, or amongst the
roots of grass or other close herbage.

That the Hedgehog, therefore, is no less an animal-
feeder in fact, than related to the insectivorous group by
its zoological characters, is thus sufficiently proved; but,
as in many other cases, it is not so exclusively restricted
to one description of food, as to be at all inconvenienced
when obliged by circumstances to resort to a different
one. Thus it will not only feed readily on soaked bread
or dressed vegetables when in a state of confinement, but
in a more natural and free condition, it is said, when
turning up the ground, probably in search of worms, to
eat the roots of grass or other plants; and in a garden
to eat the ripe fruit which falls from the trees. “ The
manner in which they eat the roots of the plantain in my
garden,” says White, ‘‘is very curious: with their upper
mandible, which is much longer than their lower, they
bore under the plant, and so eat the root off upwards,
leaving the tuft of leaves untouched.” ©

There is an ancient prejudice still prevailing amongst
the common people throughout this country, that it
sucks the cows during the night, thus disappointing the
milkmaid of the expected repletion of her morning pail.
This, however, is about as well-founded an accusation as
that of Pliny, exaggerated as it is by Sperling, who as-
sures us that it ascends trees, knocks off the apples and
pears, and throwing itself down upon them that they
may stick to its spines, trots off with the prize! Aulian
gives us the same story, substituting figs for apples, and
omitting the climbing power of the animal.*

* Tt is fair to state, that there occurs in the Zoologist for 1858, p. 4151, a

circumstantial account of two Hedgehogs having been detected sucking a
Cow, and retaining their hold with such tenacity, that they remained sus-

HEDGEHOG. 109

It is easily rendered familiar, and will soon partake,
without fear, of the food of the other domestic pets, the
Dog or Cat, eating at the same time with them, and from
the same dish. A friend of ours has one which will un-
fold and lie on his knees before the fire, suffering him to
rub the naked parts of the face, from which it appears to
derive great pleasure.

In its natural state it is, properly speaking, nocturnal,
remaining coiled up in its retreat during the day, and
running about all the night in search of food; but it
may be occasionally seen during the day searching for
food, perhaps driven by the demands of its young to be
abroad at an unusual hour. Its run is quick and shuf-
fling, and, as it were, by starts, but is not continued to
any considerable distance at once.

The hibernation of the Hedgehog is, perhaps, as com-
plete as that of any animal inhabiting this country ; and
much more so than that of many of the Rodentia, which
retire, indeed, to winter retreats, but awaken at intervals,
to eat of their treasured hoard of nuts or grain, when
called into temporary life by a day of unwonted mild-
ness. The Hedgehog, on the contrary, lays up no store
for the winter, but retires to its warm, soft nest of moss
and leaves, and, rolling itself up into a compact ball,
passes the dreary season in a state of dreamless slumber,
undisturbed by the violence of the tempest, and only
rendered still more profoundly torpid by the bitterest
frost. Its usual retreats are in the hollows of trees
which are decayed at the bottom of the trunk; under-
neath its base, where the earth has been washed away

pended to the udder when she rose, until knocked off with a stick. The
fact rests upon the evidence of an intelligent boy of 16, a servant of T. F.
Buxton, Esq., of Leyton, in Essex. We confess, however, that we feel a little
sceptical respecting the accuracy of this statement.

110 ERINACEADA.

from under the huge naked roots; in holes of rocks; on
a dry bank in the bottom of a hedge-row ; or under the
brushwood in a coppice or wood. We have seen their
nests often in the latter situation, and composed entirely
of withered leaves, the inner ones being perforated by
the creature’s spines, so that when removed from the nest
it was yet enveloped by leaves. Withered leaves appear
to be the best material for the nest, and are generally
chosen as they are singularly effective in keeping out the
wet. We have always failed to discover the place at
which the animal has entered this retreat, the entrance
being most carefuily closed behind it.

The female produces from two to four young ones
early in the summer, though the difference in their size
in the autumn, when they are often found by sporting
dogs, would seem to point out a somewhat variable period
of birth. At birth they are blind, and covered with
nascent spines, which are white, soft, and flexible at first,
but become hard in the course of a day or two. ‘At
this age,” says Gilbert White, “‘ they have little hanging
ears. . . ~. They can in part draw their skin down
over their faces, but are not able to contract themselves
into a ball.” A fact observed also by Mr. Bennett, and
recorded in his valuable edition of the History of Sel-
borne. The nest is formed with considerable art ; and the
roof, even where there is no other covering, is capable of
throwing off the rain, and preserving the interior entirely
dry. Buffon relates that he has repeatedly placed the
mother with the young ina place of confinement; but that,
instead of suckling them, she invariably killed and de-
voured them, notwithstanding she was provided with
plenty of food. The same naturalist has a sufficiently
absurd story respecting the breeding of these animals,
which, as well as many other fables, he has copied impli-

HEDGEHOG. Pt

citly from the credulous Pliny, who, however, received it
from no less an authority than Aristotle himself. By
the eloquence of his diction, and his great popularity,
Buffon has been the means of perpetuating this, with
innumerable other errors. We refer the reader to
Pliny’s account,* and leave the matter with this simple
caution, that the notion is as unfounded as it is ridicu-
lous. The whole account of the Hedgehog, as given by
the celebrated French naturalist above named, with the
exception of a few facts which occurred within his own
observation,—and they are very few,—is, in truth, little
more than a mere translation of the statements of Atvlian
and Pliny, polished and ornamented indeed in style,
but very little improved in correctness or extent of
information.

The flesh of this animal is eaten in some parts of the
Continent, and occasionally by the rustics in the middle
parts of England, and there are very contradictory ac-
counts of its degree of excellence ; some considering it
excellent food, and others, on the contrary, declaring it
to be ill-flavoured and rank. We have seen a roasted
Hedgehog, and observed that the fat retained the consis-
tency of oil, even when cold.

The voice of the Hedgehog is not often heard, but it
is an odd sort of sound between a grunt and a low piping
squeak; and Shakspeare, who has shown us by more
than one allusion how much he knew of the habits of so
obscure a creature as the Mole, has given us proof that
he, too, was well acquainted with the voice of the Hedge-
hog. We refer to the following in one of the witch
scenes in Macbeth :—

‘‘Thrice and once the Hedge-pig whin’d.”
There has existed in France, for a long period, an
* Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. VIII. ¢. xxxvii.

112 ERINACEADA.

opinion that there are two species of Hedgehog indi-
genous to that country, one of which is said to have the
snout of a Hog, the other the muzzle of a Dog. Per-
rault, who has given the only existing figure of the latter
form, appears to have held this opinion, and to have sup

ported it, at least to his own satisfaction, by dissections.
Ray declares that one of them certainly does not exist
in England, and seems to doubt its reality. Daubenton
also states that he examined two males, said by the
country people to belong to the two sorts above named ;
and that, although he found considerable diversity in the
dimensions of the various parts, as well as in the size
and weight of the individuals, he comes to the conclusion
that these distinctions constitute them varieties only of
the same species.

The Hedgehog hes—net—hitherte,-se—faras—we-tnews;
been—met—within—lheland-end in Scotland appears to be
confined to the middle and southern parts, and to be
absent in the islands. It is generally distributed in
Europe, and a variety, called by Dr. Schrenck Amurensis,
has been met with by him in the vicinity of the Amoor
river.

The body of this animal is oblong, regularly convex
above; the head very conical; the ears short, broad, and
rounded ; the eyes prominent. ‘The teeth are thirty-six
innumber. The central incisive teeth in the upper jaw
are long and robust, separated to a great extent above,
slightly approximating towards the points, at which part,
however, they are still distant; the second and third on
each side are small, particularly the second, and conical,
resembling false molars. ‘There is a small space between
the third incisor and the next tooth, where falls the
suture of the maxillary and intermaxillary bones: this
tooth, in the opinion of M. Frederic Cuvier, is a false

HEDGEHOG. 1f3s

molar, though Desmarest and others consider it a canine, —
a class of teeth which, according to the former celebrated
zoologist, is absolutely wanting in this genus. It resem-
bles a false molar in having two roots. There are three
other false molars, the first two smaller than the former,
and the last having somewhat the form of the true
molars, but with the anterior outer cusp very large,
somewhat like the carnassial tooth in the Carnivora. The
first two true molars are large, nearly quadrate, and
furnished with strong acute tubercles; the first of these
is the largest; the last molar is a small tooth, placed
obliquely, and having in some measure a cutting edge.
In the lower jaw the central incisive teeth stand nearly
forwards, and much resemble those of the upper jaw.
The three following teeth are considered by M. Frederic
Cuvier as false molars: if this be correct, there are but
two incisive teeth in the lower jaw. The two anterior
of these so-called false molars stand forwards, and are
very similar to the lateral incisive teeth of the upper
jaw; the third is also oblique, but more nearly approaches
a perpendicular position. Following these anomalous
small teeth, is a prominent tooth of greater size, and
separated from them by an interval, nearly vertical in
position, but oblique in form, and with two principal
cusps, and an inner rudimentary one. There is nothing
anomalous about either the form or position of this
tooth; it is clearly the last pre-molar, and to it succeed
the three true molars,—the first being the largest, with
five well-marked cusps; the second smaller, with four
sharp cusps, and an anterior rudimentary one; and the
third altogether small, with one pointed inner posterior
cusp, and two other rudimentary ones.

The neck is short. The whole body is covered above
and at the sides with numerous sharp, hard, round spines,

Q

114 ERINACEADA.

attenuated at each extremity, about an inch in length,
arranged as it were in groups, generally diverging in all
directions, but capable of being arranged with some de-
gree of regularity. Their colour is a dirty white, with a
brown or blackish ring rather above the middle. Legs
very low, so as to allow the belly nearly to touch the
ground when the animal is running. Snout, forehead,
sides of the head, sides, and under part of the tail, throat,
breast, and legs, covered with hard brittle hair of a yel-
lowish white colour.

Dimensions, taken from a specimen which, its teeth
being somewhat worn, is evidently adult :—

Inch, Lines. ’

Length of the head and body . : , : oo lOO)
45 a3 laveexal z : : ; , 3 3. (0
55 sy ball. : : ; : : : 136

a ay ROOLSH : : 5 : 3 ‘ 0 8

MOLE. LES

INSECTIVORA. TALPADA.

Genus, Talpa. (Linn.)

MOLE.

Generic character.—Incisive teeth &, equal, or nearly equal ; canines large,
triangular, compressed, with two roots; grinders 7:7: body almost cylin-
drical, covered with short, fine, soft hair; fore-feet very broad, the palms
turned outwards, formed for digging ; tail short; no external ears; eyes
extremely minute.

THE COMMON MOLE.
MOLDWARP (Scottice MOUDIEWARP). WANT.

Talpa Europea.
Specific character.— Incisive teeth all equal ; eyelids open.

Talpa Europea, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 73. Desmar. Mammal. p. 160,

sp. 250. Frem. Brit. An. p. 18. Jenyns, Brit. Vert.

p. 17. Bonar. Faun. Ital. Bras. Saug. Deutsch. p. 109.

», vulgaris, Brisson, Reg. An. p. 281, sp. 1. Is. G. St. Hare,
Dict. Class. d’Hist. Nat. XVI. p. 70.

La Taupe, Burron, Hist. Nat. VIII. p. 81, t. xii.
Mole, Pennant, Brit. Zool. F. p. 128. Saw, Gen. Zool. I. p.

515, t. cxvi

A SUPERFICIAL view of the form and habits of the
Mole is but ill calculated to excite any desire to cultivate

Q
Q 2

116 TALPADA.

a more intimate acquaintance with its history. Blind,
awkward, and shapeless,—condemned to a life of inces-
sant toil in subterranean darkness, its very existence only
indicated by the ravages which it perpetrates in our fields
and gardens,—the sole feeling which it excites in the
mind of a casual observer is pity for the gloomy and
laborious life to which it is subjected, or a determined
hostility and desire for its extermination.

But if, on further investigation, this animal, apparently
so helpless and miserable, be shown to possess as nume-
rous and efficient means of happiness as any of the more
obviously favoured species,—if, in addition to immense
strength, undaunted courage, and indefatigable perseve-
rance, we find that it evinces the skill of a consummate
engineer, an unerring and varied instinct, and the most
ardent conjugal attachment,—how different are the feel-
ings with which we contemplate the former object of our
contempt and pity. There is, however, another side to
this picture. Interesting as its habits and instincts are
to the naturalist, who sees in them only fresh proofs of
the wisdom and beneficence of the Creator, which can
render a life so apparently incompatible with comfort, in
reality one of almost incessant enjoyment, the agricul-
turist looks with far different eyes upon the devastations
committed in the different labours to which its varied
instincts direct it, in the long subterranean galleries, the
upheavings of the soil, and the superficial traces which it
forms,—all of which he deprecates, whether deservedly
or not, as so many causes of serious injury to the district
which the intruder has chosen for its own domain.

The one prominent circumstance which strikes us on
looking either at the habits or structure of the Mole, is
that labour—hard and almost incessant labour—is its
necessary doom. Its feeding and its habitation, its

MOLE. dil

wanderings and its repose, its winter retreat, and the
nest in which its young are brought forth and nourished,
are all so many calls for the most laborious and enduring
toil; but, on the other hand, that toil is so amply pro-
vided for in the whole structure of the animal, so exactly
balanced by the strength and conformation of its limbs,
that it cannot be considered as exceeding the healthful
and even pleasurable exercise of its natural powers.
The general form of the body, which is nearly cylindri-
cal, is calculated to facilitate its rapid progress through
the subterranean passages which form its only routes of
communication between the different parts of its domain;
whilst its soft and silky fur, which, from its being in-
serted in the skin perpendicularly to its surface, will lie
indifferently in any direction, offers no obstacle to its
retrograde retreat when it meets with any opposition to
its progress. The anterior extremities exhibit the most
admirable conformation for the purpose of excavating
its way through the soil. The strength and peculiar
structure of the bones of the shoulder and of the fore-

arm are in harmony with the remarkable form and direc-
tion of the hand. The joints of the fingers are extremely
short, with the exception of the terminal ones, which
are almost as long as the rest of the hand: these are

118 TALPADA.

convex above, grooved beneath, taper at the extremities
(at which part they approximate to each other), and each
is furnished with a long acute nail, which is rendered
strong by having the terminal phalange (which enters
into and supports the nail) cleft longitudinally at its
point. Into this furrow in the bone a corresponding rib
of horn, on the inside of the nail, passes, thus making
the nail of more than usual thickness and strength. The
palms are directed outwards; the hand is only suscep-
tible of being partially closed, which is effected by the
inclination of the terminal joint alone. When thus
bent, the hand is formed of two portions; the one con-
sisting of the palm turned outwards, and the other formed
of the terminal joint of the fingers, the direction of
which is backwards,—a structure which at once explains
the manner in which the earth and the smaller fibres of
roots which are intermixed with it are, as it were, hoed
away, and thrown directly backwards behind the animal.
When at work, the tail is either carried erect or laid
along the back.

But the Mole is not always employed in digging its
weary and laborious way through the solid earth: it runs
along its subterranean galleries and passages, and some-
times also on the surface of the ground, with considerable
rapidity. This requires a very different construction of
the feet from that which has been just described. It is,
in fact, principally by means of the hinder feet, which
are truly plantigrade, that the act of running or walking
is effected. These are either placed under the belly or at
the sides, as they press either against the inferior or
lateral walls of the passage, and thus act as in other
instances of plantigrade progression. The hands, how-
ever, are not without their use in this action, in which
they are employed in their bent position, the extremities

MOLE. 119

of the fingers acting either on the floor or sides of the
passages.

Another very important organ in the peculiar mode of
life to which the Mole is subjected, is the elongated
muzzle. ‘This part projects considerably beyond the
maxillary bones, and consists of the cartilages of the
nose, perforated by the nostrils, which are perfectly

cylindrical tubes, elastic, flexible, and strengthened by a
little bone at the extremity. This curious organ appears,
from the observations of Geoffroy St. Hilaire, to be em-
ployed in two very different offices ;—as a true organ of
prehension, for seizing and bringing to the mouth its
food and other matters; and as a boring instrument for
perforating the earth, and thus acting in conjunction
with the hands in the process of excavation. But
whilst the external appendages to the organ of smell are
thus beautifully developed for purposes remote from its
primary object, the sense itself and its more immediate
seat are found to occupy a very prominent place in the
sentient organization of the animal. The sense of sight,
so important to most others, would in the present case
be useless, at least during by far the greater portion of
its existence ; and hence we find that it is reduced to its
minimum of development, and sacrificed, as it were, to

120 TALPADA.

the necessary pre-eminence of that of smelling. There
can, indeed, be no doubt that to the latter sense the
Mole is indebted for the perception of its food, of its
enemies, and of its mate ; at the same time it appears to
be much assisted by that of hearing, which, without the
usual aids of an external conch, is certainly very acute.
Shakspeare was not unmindful of this fact :
‘Pray you, tread softly, that the blind Mole may not
Hear a foot-fall !”’

This is not perhaps the proper place to enter into an
anatomical discussion to decide the long-contested and
interesting question, whether the Mole possesses true
vision or not. The actual existence of a visual organ,
though in an imperfect state of development, is well
known; and the open condition of the eyelids, in the
common species at least, would lead to the conclusion
that this sense is not absolutely wanting to it. But the
following experiment, instituted by Le Court, witnessed
and recorded by Geoffroy St. Hilaire, appears to set the
question at rest. It was made for the purpose of satis-
fying the doubts of this celebrated physiologist, and was
conducted in the following manner:—A disused water-
pipe or gutter was selected, in which were two openings,
one forming the entrance, the other the exit. Into this
tube several Moles were successively introduced, Le
Court and his companion watching at the opposite open-
ing. Whilst they remained perfectly motionless, the
Mole quickly traversed the pipe and escaped; but if, on
making its appearance at the opening, a finger were but
raised, it was sufficient to check its progress, and to occa-
sion its precipitate retreat. This was repeatedly tried,
and with the same invariable result.

But, it may be asked, if the Mole be really possessed
of vision, how can we reconcile to this fact the decided

MOLE. 12

declaration of so acute and accurate an observer as
Aristotle, that it is absolutely blind? It is not impro-
bable that the solution of this difficulty rests in the
existence, now well ascertained, of a second species of
Mole, indigenous, like the present, to the south of
Europe, the eyelids of which are totally closed, whilst
those of the common one are so far separated as to allow
the entrance of light; and it may be supposed that the
former was the one which usually fell under the observa-
tion of that extraordinary man. To this second species
I shall have occasion to revert.

The organization which I have thus slightly sketched
is destined to the fulfilment of instincts the most interest.
ing and curious. Every one is aware of the fact that the
Mole burrows for its food, that its nest is formed under
ground, that a larger hillock than the rest is raised for the
reception of its young; but it is not so generally known
that its subterranean excavations are of the most distinct
and determinate character—that there are permanent pas-
sages or high roads for its ordinary travels from one part
of its domain to another; that into these roads open the
excavations in which it follows its daily labour in search
of food; that its fortress—the house in which it resides
from the autumn to the spring—is a complex and most
ingenious structure, and that this domicile is always a
distinct and even remote building from that in which the
nest is formed. For these and many other interesting
particulars in the life and habits of the Mole, we are
principally indebted to the researches of Henri le Court,
a person who, having held a lucrative situation about the
court at the epoch of the French revolution, retired from
the horrors of that fearful period into the country, and
there devoted the remainder of his life to the study of

the habits of the Mole, and of the most efficient means
R

122 TALPADA.

for its extirpation. His discoveries have been recorded
by M. Cadet de Vaux, in a work published in the year
1803, and more briefly by Geoffroy St. Hilaire, in his
“Cours ad Histoire Naturelle des Mammiferes.” This
distinguished naturalist indeed visited Le Court for the
purpose of ascertaining the truth and extent of these
discoveries, and of enjoying the facility with which he
was enabled by long habit to trace and to demonstrate
the various labours of this object of his incessant
research.

The district or domain to which an individual Mole con-
fines himself may be termed its encampment. Within its
limits, or at least in immediate communication with this
district, all the labours of the animal are pursued. It
consists of the habitation or fortress, from which extends
the high road by which the animal reaches the opposite
extremity of the encampment, and of various galleries or
excavations opening into this road, which it is continually

MOLE. 123

extending in search of food, and which constitute, in
fact, its hunting-ground. The fortress is formed under
a large hillock, which is always raised in a situation of
safety and protection; either under a bank, against the
foundation of a wall, at the root of a tree, or in some
similar locality. The earth, of which the dome covering
this curious habitation is composed, is rendered exceed-
ingly strong and solid, by being pressed and beaten by
the Mole in forming it. It contains a circular gallery
within the base, which communicates with a smaller one
above by five nearly equidistant passages; and the
domicile or chamber is placed within the lower and be-
neath the upper circular gallery, to which last it has access
by three similar passages. From the chamber extends
another road, the direction of which is at first down-
wards for several inches; it then rises again to open
into the high road of the encampment. From the ex-
ternal circular gallery open about nine other passages,
the orifices of which are never formed opposite to those
which connect the outer with the inner and upper
gallery: these extend to a greater or less distance, and,
according to De Vaux, return, each taking an irregular
semicircular route, and opening into the high road at
various distances from the fortress. Such is a very hasty
description of this most singular structure ; and nothing
surely can be imagined more admirably calculated to
ensure the security or the retreat of the inhabitant, than
such an arrangement of internal routes of communica-
tion as this. The chamber communicating beneath
directly with the road, and above with the upper gallery,
—this with the lower by five passages, and the latter
again with the road by no less than nine,—exhibit
altogether a complication of architecture which may
rival the more celebrated erections of the Beaver.
R2

124. TALPADA.

Another very important part of the encampment is
the high road, which has been termed by the Continental
naturalists ‘‘ the passage’”—a name which affords no
distinctive idea of its nature or use. It differs essentially
from all the other routes and excavations, both in its
construction and use. It extends from the fortress to
the extremity of the domain in nearly a direct line,
forming in fact the main route of communication between
the fortress and the different parts of the encampment ;
and the alleys which lead to the hunting-ground, or
quarries, open into it on each side. Its circumference
is larger than the body of the Mole, though not large
enough to admit of two individuals passing each other.
The walls are beaten by the frequent pressure of the
animal’s sides against them, until they become very
smooth and compact: in fact, this road is principally
formed by the compression of the earth which surrounds
it, rather than by actual excavation; and hence the
infrequency of mole-hills over it, compared with the
number which are observed in connection with the alleys
and the quarries, in forming which the earth is removed
out of the way by being thrown up on the surface. In
some instances the same Mole forms a second and even a
third road; but this is generally done in order to extend
its operations to a new and more productive district.
In other cases, many Moles are known to employ
one road, though they never intrude upon each
other’s hunting-ground: in this case, should two of
them meet, one must retreat into the nearest
alley, or a battle ensues, which proves fatal to the
weaker of the combatants. The road is formed
at a greater or less depth from the surface, according
to the nature of the soil, the danger of injury from
superincumbent pressure, and other circumstances.

MOLE. , 125

Thus, in safe situations, where there is nothing to
disturb or threaten the security of its roof, it will be
found at a depth of about four or five inches; whilst
in other places, as under a road or beneath a stream, the
earth is left not less than a foot or a foot and a half
deep above it.

As it is only by the high road that the Mole can visit
the different quarries or hunting-grounds of its domain,
it is traversed regularly several times in the course of the
day ; hence it is only in this route that it can with any
certainty be taken, and the traps are therefore always
placed in its course by skilful Mole-catchers, so as to
intercept the animal in its journey between the fortress
and that alley which may happen at the time to be the
seat of its labours.

The swiftness with which the Mole will traverse its
domain by means of this principal road, was made the
subject of an amusing and satisfactory experiment by
Le Court. Having ascertained the exact direction of
the road, and finding that the Mole was engaged in
exploring for its food the ground at the farthest ex-
tremity from the fortress, he placed along its course, at
certain distances, several pieces of straw, one extremity
of which penetrated within the passage, and to the other
end was fixed a little flag of paper. He also introduced
into the passage near the end a horn, with the mouth-
piece standing out of the ground. Then waiting till he
was sure of the Mole’s presence at that part of the road,
he blew into the horn, to use the words of Geoffroy,

”

un cri effroyable ;” when, in a moment, the little flags
were successively thrown off, as the Mole, in its rapid
course towards its fortress, came in contact with the
interior extremities of the straws; and the spectators

of this neat and demonstrative experiment affirm that

126 TALPADAE.

the speed of the frightened Mole was equal to that of a
horse at full trot.

The alleys or galleries are opened from the sides of the
road, and generally incline a little downwards from their
origin towards their termination. We have already stated
that the Mole forms the alleys by the expulsion of the
earth ; whilst the passage, or high road, is formed prin-
cipally by its consolidation. When an alley is opened,
if a plentiful supply of food be found, the Mole proceeds
to form various ramifications from its extremity, throwing
up fresh molehills as it advances in its search after its
prey; but if the situation prove but sterile, another
alley is opened at a different part of the road. These
excavations are more or less deep, according to the
nature of the soil and the degree of humidity,—circum-
stances which regulate the situation in which the earth-
worms most abound. In forming its runs, or excavating
its quarries, it pushes the loosened earth before it till it
arrives at the last-formed hillock or mole-hill ; and when
this becomes too distant, it makes its way to the surface
through the solid earth, forming a new shaft, over which
another hillock is gradually made by the successive por-
tions of earth which are brought from the scene of its
mining operations.

But the labours of the Mole are not confined to the
excavations already mentioned. In lands newly sown
in summer with barley or turnips, the surface of which
is consequently light and yielding, after moderate rain,
which has brought the earth-worms to the surface, the
Mole follows them, and pursues its chase along the
superficial layer of the soil, digging a shallow continuous
trench, in which work it advances with great rapidity.
This is done by merely forcing its way through the light
soil, and thus lifting it up; and Mole-catchers take

MOLE. Ny

advantage of these times to steal softly upon them, and
throw them out of the ground with their paddle. But
great quickness is necessary in doing this, for the Mole
will bury itself again so rapidly as often to escape, even
when fairly thrown on to the surface. We have on more
than one occasion seen a Mole making so shallow a run,
that the fine soil has fallen away on each side, leaving
the creature’s back exposed to view. It is said that
the gravid female, to whom the usual excavations in the
subterranean alleys would be too laborious, limits herself
principally to this lighter toil.

This description of the different methods in which the
animal seeks its food, leads to the consideration of the
nature of the food itself. It has been asserted, even by
Le Court, as well as by many other writers, that it con-
sists not only of earth-worms, insects, and other animal
matters, but, in a considerable degree, of many vegetable
substances,—particularly of the roots of the artichoke,
of turnips, potatoes, carrots, and the young tender
fibres of the roots of trees. The truth, however, appears
to be, that it is exclusively, or nearly so, an animal
feeder. The experiments of M. Flourens, as recorded
by Geoffroy St. Hilaire, are conclusive on this point;
and their results are too interesting to be omitted here.
It must be premised that the appetites of the Mole, of
whatever kind, are extreme in their degree. The Mole,
says the latter distinguished naturalist, does not exhibit
the appetite of hunger as we find it in other animals ;
it amounts in it to a degree of frenzy. The animal,
when under its influence, is violently agitated: it throws
itself on its prey as if maddened with rage; its gluttony
disorders all its faculties, and nothing seems to stand in
the way of its intense voracity. This picture certainly
exhibits none of the characters of a vegetable, or even

128 TALPADA,

of a mixed feeder; and M. Flourens accordingly found
that Moles perished with hunger when supplied with a
quantity of various vegetable substances, such as carrots,
turnips, and different kinds of herbs. It is true that
vegetable matters are occasionally found in the stomach ;
but this no more proves them to be vegetable feeders
than the accidental reception into the stomach of some
particles of sawdust by a captive Lion, who has had his
food thrown to him on a floor covered by that substance,
would indicate that the Lion is a feeder on sawdust.
The cases are exactly parallel. The Moles gnaw the
roots of plants for the purpose of extracting from them
such larvee and worms as feed upon them ; they likewise
seize upon earth-worms which are entwined amongst the
masses of fibrous roots and earth which constitute the
superficial layer of grass-lands ; and in each case por-
tions of the roots and of the soil itself would be swal-
lowed with its actual food.

The principal object of its search, however, is the
earth-worm. In pursuit of this its favourite food, it
occasionally follows it towards the surface with such
eagerness, that it actually throws itself out of its burrow
upon the ground. It has been stated that the Mole will
not eat the larve of the scarabeide, and other coleop-
terous insects that live under the ground; but this is
certainly a mistake, as these larvae have been found in
their stomach. It is not, however, to these and similar
kinds of food that the Mole is necessarily restricted: a
mouse or a bird, a lizard or a frog, if placed within its
reach, becomes a speedy victim to its voracity. ‘Toads,
however, it rejects, even when famishing with hunger ;
probably on account of the acrid secretion of the skin,
first noticed by Dr. Davy. Geoffroy gives a curious
picture of the manner in which it will approach, seize,

MOLE. 129

and devour a small bird; exhibiting, in the first place, a
considerable exercise of stratagem to get within reach of
its victim, and changing on an instant this mode of ap-
proach for the most sudden and impetuous attack ;
seizing the hapless bird by the belly, tearing it open,
and thrusting its muzzle amongst the entrails, where it
appears to luxuriate on its bloody repast. Even the
weaker of its own species, under particular circumstances,
are not exempted from this promiscuous ferocity; for
if two Moles be placed together in a box, without a
very plentiful supply of food, the weaker certainly falls
a prey to the stronger. No thoroughbred Bulldog
keeps a firmer hold of the object of its attack than the
Mole. Mr. Jackson, a very intelligent mole-catcher, says
that, when a boy, his hand was so severely and firmly
laid hold of by one, that he was obliged to use his teeth
in order to loosen its hold.

It is not only in the warm and temperate seasons of
the year, when the food of the Mole is of comparatively
easy access and exists in great plenty, that its labours
are steadily and regularly followed; in the winter, when
the frost has penetrated deeply into the soil, and the
ordinary hunting-grounds are rendered useless and im-
practicable, it descends to a considerable depth by a
perpendicular shaft, till it arrives at the part to which
the earth-worms have been driven by the cold. Here
its labours must be even more toilsome and less produc-
tive than ordinary ; but the voracity of this indefatiga-
ble gourmand must still be appeased; and as it lays up
no store for the winter, and cannot fast with impunity
for more than a few hours, it may well be imagined how
incessantly and laboriously it must work in such a sea-
son, and at so great a depth, to obtain a sufficient supply
of worms to satisfy its insatiable craving. This rage of

S

130 TALPADA.

hunger alternates with the most profound repose, which
the animal enjoys either within its fortress, during the
season in which that domicile is occupied, or in a simple
mole-hill, devoted to this purpose, during the summer.
Its bed is formed of various vegetable matters, such as
grass, leaves, or similar soft substances. It sleeps for
about four or six hours at a time in warm weather, and
principally during the day; its usual working time being
very early in the morning and at night.

In the spring, the Mole leaves the fortress, and does
not return to this shelter until the autumn, when it does
not generally re-occupy the same edifice, but constructs
another; leaving the old one to the occupation of the
Field Mouse, or other small animal of similar habits.
During the month of June, or longer, it is in the habit
. of leaving its runs, and wandering during great part of
the night on the surface of the land, in search of its
food. Our late lamented friend Mr. Yarrell mentions
having now and then, when shooting, surprised a Mole
above ground, which his pointers have stood at as if it
were fair game.

In addition to all the accomplishments and arts which
we have assigned to our Mole, it possesses that of being
an expert swimmer; an action for which the structure
both of the hands and of the hinder feet are well
adapted. Surprised in its encampment by the floods of
autumn, it seeks its safety by this means; and a person
residing at Waltham Abbey has assured us that he has seen
Moles swimming very featly when the marshes of that
neighbourhood have been inundated. But it is not only
when driven to it as a means of escape from danger that
it employs this mode of travelling: it will not hesitate
to cross a brook, or even a broad river, in order to change
its hunting-ground, or to emigrate from a district which

MOLE. 131

has ceased to yield it sufficient nourishment; and occa-
sionally it would appear to take the water merely for
the purpose of enjoying the luxury of a bath.

We have ourselves seen a Mole in the Warwickshire
Avon evidently swimming about for its amusement,
and apparently enjoying itself very much, although
it appeared to be very careful not to go far from the
bank, taking five or six short turns in the water, to
and from its hole, which was even with the water’s
edge.

The Mole, like all other voracious animal-feeders, re-
quires to drink frequently. Hence, where there is a
colony of Moles using the same high road, a run is
always made towards the nearest ditch or pond; and
when this cannot conveniently be reached, we have Mr.
Jackson’s authority for stating, that the animal sinks
deep perpendicular shafts, at the bottom of which water
is always found, to which the Mole has easy access.
Sometimes, according also to the observations of Mr.
Jackson, these wells are full to the brim.

If, in the foregoing account of those habits of the
Mole which have reference to the preservation of its in-
dividual existence; we have been struck with the ardour
and perseverance’ of its character,—with the fierceness
and voracity of its hunger, and the laborious and indefa-
tigable toil employed to satisfy that appetite, it is found
to exhibit equal violence in the ardour of the sexual
~ passion, and equal pertinacity and boldness in its pur-
suit. The tracks by which the male pursues his mate
are numerous and curiously divaricating ; they are very
superficial, and are made with great rapidity. They are
termed by the French naturalists “ traces d@’amour ;” and
by our English Mole-catchers, “coupling runs,” or
“rutting angles.” As the males are much more nume-

S2

182 TALPADA.

rous than the females, it often happens that several of the
former sex are in pursuit of one of the latter; in which
case bloody, and even fatal, battles ensue between the
rivals, which fight on the surface of the ground, and the
victorious male is left in undisturbed possession. The
attachment of the male to his mate would appear to be
very powerful, though probably but short-lived. Le
Court several times found a female taken in his trap,
and the male lying dead close to her. Whether this
may have occurred from starvation, the force of sexual
attachment having been strong enough to overcome that
of hunger, it is perhaps difficult to prove; but when it
is recollected how short a fast proves fatal to this animal,
it is not perhaps an improbable explanation of this curi-
ous fact.

De Vaux seems inclined, in his antipathy to the Mole,
to deny to it the possession of a single quality that
bears the slightest analogy to any trait of character which
we are accustomed to consider amiable or virtuous. If,
however, we may believe the statement of one who de-
clares himself to have been an eye-witness of the follow-
ing fact, it is impossible not to accord to it the strongest
conjugal and parental attachment. In the work so often
quoted, is inserted a letter from a person who professes
himself the advocate of this ill-fated animal, and who
affirms that when a sudden flood reaches its nest, the
male and female are seen braving in company the dangers
which threaten them, and exposing their own lives to
the utmost hazard in order to save their young; in which
office of affection they mutually assist and protect each
other.

The nest is always distinct, and frequently remote
from the fortress, and is usually, but not always, covered
by a hillock ; which, when it exists, is much larger than

MOLE. 183

an ordinary mole-hill. It is formed simply by excavat-
ing and enlarging the point of intersection of three or
four passages. The bed of the nest is composed of a
mass of herbage, grass, roots, or leaves: in one which
was examined by Geoffroy and Le Court, no less than
two hundred and four blades of young wheat were
counted. This, however, can scarcely be considered as
an ordinary occurrence, as they generally prefer dry and
soft substances. The choice of materials depends, in
fact, upon the supply to be found near at hand. We
have seen a nest dug out of the bottom of a whitethorn
hedge, composed entirely of whitethorn leaves, and
another in a coppice (a favourite place with the Mole
for nesting), formed with dry fine grass, and leaves of
such kind as appeared in plenty on the ground imme-
diately over the nest. The period of gestation is sup-
posed to be about two months or upwards; and the
young are brought forth in April,—sometimes earlier, at
others later, according to the season: indeed young
Moles have been found at all times from the beginning
of April till August, which has led some persons to
believe that there are more than one brood in the year.
There are generally four or five, sometimes as few as
three, rarely six; and an instance is recorded in the
eighth volume of Loudon’s Magazine of Natural His-
tory, in which seven were found in one nest. The period
of lactation is not accurately known, but is supposed to
continue till the young are about half-grown. The pre-
valence of the number of males over that of females,
and the occurrence of but a single brood in a year, are
circumstances which tend greatly to circumscribe the
increase of the species.

The Mole has always been the object of the most de-
termined persecution on the part of the farmer and the

134 TALPADA.

gardener, from the notion that it occasions a degree of
injury, more or less serious, to various products of the
soil. This absolute proscription of a whole species can
only be justified, if it can be justified at all, by the cer-
tainty that its devastations are so extensive as to inflict
severe loss and damage upon mankind, in this his primeval
and most important occupation; and it will not be an
unreasonable or useless employment to endeavour to
place the subject in its true light, and to ascertain as
nearly as possible to what extent this character of an
universal depredator is deserved. In order to arrive at a
true solution of this question, it is necessary to divest
our minds as well of the prepossessions of the naturalist
as of the prejudices of the agriculturist ; for we shall
probably find, as in most other cases, that the truth lies
between the two extremes. According to its accusers,
there is no portion of its labours, no peculiarity of its
habits, no function of its organization, that is not the
means or the cause of ravage and devastation to our cul-
tivated grounds. ‘The soil, say they, is rendered dry and
sterile by its subterranean roads; the crops are killed by
the exposure or the destruction of the roots; the plants
themselves are overthrown by the construction of the
mole-hills, or they perish from their roots being eaten,
or they are dug up and scattered by the superficial fur-
rows which the animal ploughs up, either in search of
food or in pursuit of its mate: large quantities of young
corn, too, are carried off by it to form its nest; and,
finally, its abandoned fortress becomes the resort of the
Field Mouse and other noxious animals. Thus the field
and the meadow, the garden and the plantation, are alike
the scenes of its ravages; and De Vaux calculates that
the loss which it occasions to the spring corn alone may
be calculated at one-eighth of the whole produce. Then,

MOLE. 135

on the other hand, these prejudiced judges allow nothing
for the benefit which arises from the destruction of in-
numerable worms, and of insects, both in the larva and
perfect state: this advantage is in fact denied by De
Vaux, who declares that the Mole feeds only on the
most harmless of these animals, the earth-worm, and that
it refuses those which are injurious to mankind. Its
more benevolent advocates, on the other hand, contend
not only that the injury which it perpetrates is slight,
but that it is more than counterbalanced by the benefit
which it produces by turning up and lightening the soil,
and especially by itsimmense destruction of earth-worms,
and many other noxious animals which inhabit the
superficial layer of the ground, and occasion great injury
to the roots of grass, corn, and many other plants. If
we examine the real nature and degree of its injuries on
the one side, and its utility on the other, we shall pro-
bably find that both parties are erroneous. The fact of
its devastations cannot be denied—it is only in the de-
gree and extent of them that the estimation is incorrect ;
and whilst its utility in clearing the ground of worms
and similar causes of injury must also be allowed, it can
scarcely be sustained that the lightening of the soil by
the turning up of its hillocks is, at most, more than a
very equivocal source of advantage.

Instances are not wanting of inundations produced by
the burrowing of Moles through dams and dykes ; but it
would be too much to wage war with a whole race for
an accidental transgression of this kind by a few indivi-
duals. Nor is it much to the purpose to urge the
indirect injury which the Mole produces by forming
habitations for different species of Field Mice, which
often succeed to its deserted excavations. It is true that
the new occupants are thus saved the labour of forming

136 TALPADA,

their own retreats; but this cannot materially influence
their number, for it is only by the quantity of nourish-
ment which they are able to procure that the increase of
these little Malthusians is limited.

Be this as it may, however, the opinion is generally so
strong against this active and unceasing labourer, that
thousands are annually destroyed, and a considerable
income is received by a good Mole-catcher in the course
of a season, at a trifling sum given for each captured
Mole. Mr. Jackson, to whom we have already alluded,
and who appears to be a very intelligent person, and
particularly successful in his business, states that he had
been a Mole-catcher for thirty-five years, during which
time he had destroyed from forty to fifty thousand of these
animals. Mr. Couch, whose name is so well known as a
zealous naturalist, and of whom such frequent mention
is made by Mr. Yarrell, in his work on British Fishes,
states that a Mole-catcher in Cornwall took no less than
twelve hundred Moles in six winter months. But all
others must yield to Le Court, who, in the short space
of five months, took no less than six thousand Moles,
within a comparatively small district; and two of his
pupils, during the month that they were under his
instructions, killed nine hundred and seventy-one. It
really seemed as if it were impossible that a Mole could
escape this extraordinary person: wherever he struck
his hoe, he found the Mole’s run; wherever he placed his
trap, the Mole was surely taken. His trap was of a
very simple construction. It consisted of a steel instru-
ment of two branches, formed somewhat like a pair of
sugar-tongs, excepting that the branches crossed each
other about their mid-length; so that the elasticity of
the bend brought the extremities forcibly outwards and
towards each other: the branches were held asunder by

MOLE. 137

a square piece of iron with a hole through it, which the
slightest touch would displace; and the Mole, running
along its passage, threw the trigger, as it may be called,
and was caught by the branches springing sharply to-
gether. This appears to be a very simple, certain, and
effectual instrument; but it is considerably improved
upon in one now much employed in this country, in which
the hinge, connecting the two branches, is placed in the
middle, the spring behind, and the trigger before the
hinge. A sort of box-trap has been recommended in
some places; but it has the defect of being less certain,
and at the same time it is not free from the objection of
cruelty ; as the Moles are taken alive, and when several
are confined in the trap together, they fight in the most
desperate manner, wounding and even destroying each
other. In the middle parts of England a very effective
and simple trap is made by sticking into the ground an
ash or hard stick, three or four feet long, to the free end
of which a loop of fine brass wire is attached, and the
stick being bent down, the wire is made to pass through
a hole in a small piece of board, into which a peg is
introduced from below, to prevent the wire from being
withdrawn by the elasticity of the stick. The board is
so placed as to form a small portion of the roof of the
run, and is firmly kept in position by sticks laid horizon-
tally across it, which are pegged down at their ends by
hooked pegs. The loop of wire passing through the
board is opened below, so as to fit the inside of the run;
and the peg, which keeps it from being drawn up by the
spring-stick, projects downwards into the middle of the
run. The Mole, passing along, pushes out the peg,
whilst its own body is within the wire loop, which is
instantly drawn up, and the creature is speedily killed.
The Mole is not found in the northern extremity of

138 TALPADA.

Scotland, nor in the islands of Orkney and Zetland. It
has never been seen in any part of Ireland, a circum-
stance which has been attempted to be accounted for, by
some, by the nature of the climate and the soil. This,
however, is not an equivalent cause; as it is found in
every kind of soil throughout England and the Continent
of Europe. The more probable solution is, that the
Mole was not originally a native of Ireland, like some
other of our common animals, as for instance, the Snake ;
and, like that reptile, is destitute of the means of migra-
tion.*

The ancients in general appear to have had but
vague notions respecting the habits and structure of
animals: from this charge the great father of natural
science is in an astonishing degree exempt. It has,
however, been adduced as an instance of erroneous and
superficial observation, that Aristotle held the Mole to
be absolutely blind. I have already suggested that this
probably arose from his having principally examined the
species now called Talpa ceca, in which the eyelids are
closed, whilst in the common species they are open.
There is likewise a distinction in the character of the
incisive teeth, which in the Common Mole are all equal,
whilst in the other the middle ones are longer than the
others; and De Vaux states that there are also some
slight differences in their habits and architecture. Both
these species are exceedingly well figured by Prince
Charles Lucian Buonaparte, in his beautiful Iconografia
della Fauna Italica.

* The experiment of introducing a few Moles into some favourite locality
in Ireland, and noting their increase, would determine how far the nature of
the soil is concerned in their absence. We venture to predict, that if such
an introduction ever takes place, that they will be found to thrive as well as
in England.

MOLE. 139

There are several remarkable varieties of the present
species: it is found of a deep black colour, of a mouse-
grey, dark olive brown, pied, yellowish white, and
wholly or partially orange. We have received from
Switzerland (Berne) several examples of the usual dark
colour, but having a well defined lozenge-shaped patch
of orange on the breast. It has been supposed that
some of these differences of colour are connected with
soil or climate; but there appears to be but little ground
for such an opinion.

The ancient English name of the Mole is Mouldwarp,
or Mouldiwarp, from the Anglo-Saxon “ Molde,” soil ; and
“ Weorpan,” to throw or turn-up. This is still its com-
mon name in many parts of England, particularly in the
North. Gascoigne, who wrote in the sixteenth century,
employs indifferently Mowle and Mouldiwarpe; Spenser
uses Mouldwarp; and Shakspeare has Mole, as it is
now spelt: thus, in the first edition of Hamlet, printed

in 1603,—

‘* Well said old Mole, canst worke in the earth
So fast ? a worthy pioner !”

In Dorsetshire, Devonshire, and other parts of the West
of England, it is always called Want: a name probably
introduced by the Danes ; ‘* Wand” being the old Danish,
and ** Vond”’ still the Norwegian name for this animal.
In most of the Midland counties it is called a Hunt,
or Hoont, which is probably the same as Want or
Woont.

The body of the Mole is thick and full, oblong, nearly
cylindrical, not ordinarily raised above the ground: head
tapering to the extremity of the nose, which is formed
for turning up the earth. The teeth sharp-pointed, the

Dee

140 TALPADA,

incisives very smail, the canines long and very acute ;*
the false molars like the canines, but much smaller; and
the true molars broad, and having many sharp conical
elevations. Eyes extremely small, black, situate in the
middle of a circular naked space of about a line anda
half or two lines in diameter: eyelids open to a very
small extent. Ears without any external conch. Anterior
feet very robust, formed for digging; the palms turned
outwards, the fingers short, the terminal phalanx being
as large as all the others; wrist concealed in the fur.
Tail scaly, and furnished also with long stiff hairs. Fur
very soft, silky, and short, inserted perpendicularly to the
surface of the skin; shining like velvet, showing different
tints according to the direction in which it is viewed;
bright grey when seen in the direction in which the hairs
lie, and rich deep black in the opposite one: a slight
yellowish tinge appears on the lower jaw, and along the
middle of the belly.

Dimensions :—
Inch. Lines
Length of the head and body . : : aud 2
», of the head. ; : ‘ ; so 7
>, Of the tail . : . : : set 1 2
Dentition :—
16:06.3:F.M 8: M.§=2

* Assuming that the prominent double-rooted tooth is a canine, as stated
in the first edition of this work. As a contrary opinion to this, although
entertained by so great an authority as the late Prof. de Blainville, has not
been supported by better evidence than the opinion advanced in this work in
1837, we shall adhere to the same formula of dentition as was employed at
that time.

COMMON SHREW. 141

INSECTIVORA. SORICIDA.

>

SSS

Genus, Sorex. (Linn.)

Generic Character.—Incisors }:!, upper ones curved, with a spur or pointed
cusp behind; at their base, lower ones, horizontal in position, produced, with
their upper edge denticulated ; premolars 3:2, upper ones decreasing in size
from first to last, first lower one smaller than second; tips of all the teeth
deeply stained with brown. Snout attenuated, fur short, soft, and silky ; tail
long ; feet formed for running.

COMMON SHREW.
SHREW MOUSE.
Sorex vulgaris. (Linn.)

Specific Character.—Reddish mouse-colour above, paler beneath ; tail some-
what quadrangular, rather shorter than the body, not ciliated beneath.

Sorex vulgaris, Linn. Mus. Adolph. Frid. 10, 1754. Naruusrus, Weigm.
Archiv. I. 1838, 46. Buas. Saugth. Deutsch. p. 129.
Niuss. Skand. Faun. p. 75.

tetragonurus, Herm. Obs. Zool. 48, 1780. Jenyns, Mag. Zool. Bot. II.
p. 24, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1838, p. 417, Ann. Mag. Nat.
Hist. 1841, v. 7, p. 261.

araneus, Betz, Brit. Quad. p. 109. Mace. Brit. Quad. p. 123.

9

be)

Since the publication of the first edition of the
present work, much has been done, both in this country

142 SORICIDA.

and on the Continent, towards clearing up the synonymy
of the European representatives of this difficult group
of animals. The British species received the attention
of the Rev. Leonard Jenyns as early as 1838, and in a
series of papers, which merit our sincerest praise, he
showed that the Sorex araneus of English naturalists was
not identical with the Sorex araneus of French and Ger-
man zoologists. He had before this time, in his work
on British Vertebrate Animals, suggested the probability
that such was the case; but it was not until the publica-
tion of his paper in the Magazine of Zoology and
Botany that this became certain. In 1834, M. Duver-
noy published an elaborate paper on Shrews in the
Transactions of the Natural History Society of Stras-
burg, the chief object of which was to make known
that there were three distinct types of dentition among
these animals, which were regarded by him as indicating
three sub-genera. Mr. Jenyns, referring to this paper, was
able to show that the Common Shrew of Great Britain
possessed a type of dentition quite distinct from that of
Sorex araneus, but was identical in that respect, and, in-
deed, in all these respects, with the Sorex tetragonurus
of Herman, to which he referred it.

In his second paper, which appeared in the Annals of
Natural History for the same year, 1838, Mr. Jenyns
again reviews the British species, and confirms his former
opinion respecting the identity of the so-called Sorex
araneus of the country with the Sorex tetragonurus of
Herman. He also in this paper points out an error into
which he had fallen in his former one, 2.e. of confound-
ing a second and smaller British species with the Sorewx
tetragonurus, which he here regards as new, and describes
under the name of Sorex rusticus. His third communi-
cation appeared in the Annals and Magazine of Natural

COMMON SHREW. 143

History for 1841, and to this we shall have occasion to
refer in our account of the next species. But previously
to the publication of this last paper, indeed bearing the
same date as the first by Mr. Jenyns, and one year later
than the date of publication of the first edition of the
present work, a very excellent memoir on the European
Shrews, by M. Nathusius, was commended in Weigman’s
Archives, in which the Sorex tetragonurus of Herman is
given as a synonym of the Sorex vulgaris of Linnzus,
and this decision is now generally accepted.

From their obscure and hideling habits, the Shrews
are difficult of observation ; their long and pointed snout,
their extensible form, and short and velvety coat, enable
them to pass through the closest herbage, or beneath the
carpets of dry leaves in the coppice and woodland, in
which situations, as well as in the open fields, whether
cultivated or in pasture, they seek their food. But they
are not confined in their habitat to such situations, as
with their congeners, the Water Shrews, they are often
met with in marshy and fen districts. The food is chiefly
insects and worms, but also, as we have ascertained by
personal examination, the smaller Mollusca are not re-
fused. We have often found their runs in close herbage,
around the foot of the trees in coppices, and not unfre-
quently these runs contain fragments of the shells of
Vitrina pellucida, and some of the species of Zonites, and
the remains of Coleoptera. That the Shrew feeds upon
the Common Slug, Limazx agrestis, is also certain, as we
have taken the remains of this creature from its stomach,
and, moreover, have fed it, when in confinement, with
these Mollusks.

This animal, like the Mole, is excessively pugnacious,
so that it is rare to see two of them together, excepting

144 SORICID.

in the act of fighting. If two Shrews be confined in a
box together, a very short time elapses before the weaker
is killed and partly devoured. They not only destroy
each other, but there is reason to believe that many of
them are victims to the voracity of the Mole. A friend
at Waltham Abbey informed us, that in a field which
had always before been abundantly inhabited by Shrews,
scarcely one was seen during the season of 1837, but
that a colony of Moles occupied the district, to whose
voracity he, with much probability, attributed the dis-
appearance of the Shrews.

It has often been stated that Owls, like Cats, will kill
but not eat the Shrew; and this opinion has received
some plausible support from the circumstance that Shrews
are not uncommonly found dead, with the loins pinched,
as if by the beak of some rapacious bird. The following
fact, however, shows that this notion is altogether erro-
neous. Mr. Turner, of the Botanic Garden at Bury
St. Edmunds,* on examining twenty pellets or casts of
the Barn Owl, taken promiscuously from a mass of them,
covering, to the depth of several inches, the floor of an
ancient retreat of a pair of those birds, found amongst
them the skeletons of no less than seven Shrews. We
have ourselves seen several bushels of refuse taken from
the inside of an old tree, which had been for many years
the abode of the Barn Owl, and amongst the numerous
small skulls which it contained, the most abundant ap-
peared to be that of the present species. There appears
to be more truth in the assertion of Pennant, and many
other writers, that “Cats will kill, but not eat the

Common Shrew ;” and this aversion may probably arise
from the rank musky smell which this species possesses,

* Loudon’s Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. v. p. 727.

COMMON SHREW. 145

and which may also have been in some measure the cause
of the ancient prejudice concerning its supposed power
of inflicting injury by the mere contact of its body.
Thus, in Edward Philips’s “ World of Words,” it is stated
that the Shrew Mouse is “a kind of Field Mouse of the
bigness of a Rat and colour of a Weasel, very mischievous
to cattel; which going over a beast’s back, will make it
lame in the chine; and the bite of it causes the beast to
swell at the heart and die.”

The superstitions of olden times are now fast fading
from among us, like the ignited vapours of unwholesome
bogs before the approach of day. The time can scarcely
be far distant when even the existence of those which
now remain will be matter of mere tradition, and offer
many a subject of curious investigation to the antiquaries
of succeeding ages; and many animals which, like the
Shrew and the Hedgehog, are now the dread of the
ignorant, and are destroyed from mistaken notions of
their being directly or indirectly injurious to mankind,
will be suffered to live on, and fulfil the beneficial offices
which some of them at least confer upon us, by the
destruction of creatures more noxious than themselves.
The prejudices just alluded to, however, are still rife in
many parts of the country ; and the Shrew is yet believed
to produce lameness by running over the foot, and dis-
ease to any part of an animal by the same means. The
use of the ancient antidote to these imagined injuries
has now probably passed away: it consisted in the
application of a twig of a Shrew-ash, of the preparation
of which Gilbert White gives the following amusing
account :—

«¢ At the south corner of the plestor, or area, near the
church, there stood about twenty years ago, a very old
grotesque hollow pollard-ash, which for ages had been

U

146 SORICIDA.

looked upon with no small veneration as a Shrew-ash.
Now, a Shrew-ash is an ash whose twigs or branches,
when applied to the limbs of cattle, will immediately re-
lieve the pains which a beast suffers from the running of
a Shrew Mouse over the part affected; for itis supposed
that a Shrew Mouse is of so baneful and deleterious a
nature, that wherever it creeps over a beast, be it horse,
cow, or sheep, the suffering animal is afflicted with cruel
anguish, and threatened with the loss of the use of the
limb. Against this accident, to which they were con-
tinually liable, our provident forefathers always kept a
Shrew-ash at hand, which, when once medicated, would
maintain its virtue for ever. A Shrew-ash was made
thus: into the body of the tree a deep hole was bored
with an auger, and a poor devoted Shrew Mouse was
thrust in alive, and plugged in, no doubt with several
quaint incantations long since forgotten.” * Another
method of cure was to make the person or animal pass
through the arch of a bramble, both ends of which were
rooted and growing.

The female Shrew brings forth in the spring from five
to seven young ones. The nest, which consists of soft
herbage, is made in any hole or depression on the ground,
or ina bank: it is covered over at the top, and is entered
at the side. ‘The increase of the species which such a
numerous progeny would be calculated to produce, is
counterbalanced, not only by the destruction which takes
place amongst them through the agency of other animals,
~—as Moles, Weasels, and. Owls, but by a very general
mortality which prevails early in autumn, the cause of
which does not appear to be understood. So many may
be found at that season lying dead in footways, or on
other bare ground near their haunts, as to have led to the

* White's Selborne, pt. IT. xxviii.

COMMON SHREW. 14.7

belief among country people that the Shrew could not
eross a public way without incurring instant death. We
confess ourselves wholly unable to furnish any expla-
nation, having failed to discover any cause of death.
Amongst the many we have ourselves picked up and
examined, have been individuals of both sexes, and of
all ages, as shown by the worn or unworn condition of
the teeth, and the more or less naked state of the tail.

For the following etymological observations on the
word Shrew, we are indebted to our late learned friend
Mr. Thompson, of the London Institution :—

*“§Scneapa (Schreawa, Angl. Sax.). ‘A Shrew Mouse ;
which by biting cattle it venometh them that they die.’—
(Somner.) Lye adds the orthography of Schreova. The
etymon may possibly be found in Schreadan, to cut, or
Schrif, to censure bitterly ; or rather Scheorfian, to bite
or gnaw (all Angl. Sax.), and the ordinary notion is that
the biting disposition, expressed by the word Shrew,
comes from the name of the Shrew Mouse; though Todd
prefers deriving it from the German Schreive, to clamour,
or from the Saxon Schyrvan, to beguile. In the word
Erdshrew the prefix is clearly the Anglo-Saxon €on%,
Forth, earth—designed to express the animal’s habita-
tion.”

This species varies considerably in colours. It is
usually of areddish mouse-colour above, greyish beneath ;
but the brown of the upper part is more or less red in
different individuals, in some approaching to black, in
others to reddish brown, or chestnut, and we have seen
one having all the upper parts cinnamon brown, with a
strong tinge of ash colour, and the grey colour of the
belly darker or lighter, and more or less tinged with
yellow. Snout much attenuated; ears small, rounded,
scarcely visible above the fur, with two internal lobes,

UZ

148 SORICID®.

which are fringed with whitish hair; the anterior teeth
of a rich brown colour. The body shortened, and the
back elevated when at rest, but susceptible of considerable
extension when running: tail always shorter than the
body, though somewhat varying in proportional length ;
four-sided, with the angles rounded; of nearly equal
size throughout, not attenuated at the extremity; fur-
nished everywhere with short, close, rather stiff hairs, but
not ciliated.

It sometimes occurs spotted with white ; and we have
askin which is beautifully pied, having a broad white
band over the loins, which extends all round the animal.
This specimen was taken near Amesbury in Wiltshire.
Individuals finely powdered with white are not rare, and
have somewhat the colour and appearance of the hair of
a roan horse.

Dimensions :—
Inch. Lines.
Length of the head and body . : ; i 2 BAD
», of the head . . : ; py eae)
», of thetail . : ; 3 : 1 AL Bi
», of theears . : . ‘ > Oe
», of the hind-foot and claws. ; . 0 63
,, of the fore-foot and claws : : tal) ene:
,, from end of nose to eye . ‘ 0 52

», from end of nose to angle of mouth, fora
ing the gape-line

=)
Oo

LESSER SHREW. 148a

INSECTIVORA. SORICID A,

LESSER SHREW.

Sorex pygmeus (Pallas).

Specifie Character.—Brown above, white beneath; tail usually longer than
the head and body, well clad with hairs, The fifth pointed tooth in the
upper jaw in the same line as the preceding ones, and distinctly visible
externally, Length of head and body about two inches.

Sorex pygmeus, Partas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., I., 134.
», rusticus, Jenyns, Ann. Nat. Hist., 1838, p. 417.

In the “ Magazine of Zoology and Botany” for 1837,
the Rev. L. Jenyns described two varieties of Sorex
tetragonurus (S. vulgaris), and in 1888, in the ‘* Annals of
Natural History,” he separated the smaller of these as a
distinet species under the name of S. rusticus. At the
same time he described an Irish specimen as possibly
distinct, for which he proposed the name of S. hibernicus,
but he was afterwards convinced that it was identical.
In 1857, Prof. Blasius expressed his conviction that
S. rusticus of Jenyns was identical with S. pygmeus of
Pallas (‘‘ Sdugethiere Deutschlands,” p. 153). By the kind-
ness of our friend Prof. Newton, we have been able to
examine one of Mr. Jenyns’ typical specimens, presented

1486 SORICIDA.

by him to the Cambridge University Museum, and can
fully confirm the accuracy of Blasius’s identification.

The Lesser Shrew is distributed throughout the greater
part of Europe, Northern Asia, and North Africa, but is
nowhere so abundant as the last species. It appears to
be generally distributed throughout England, Scotland,
and Ireland.

In its habits it seems to agree with the Common
Shrew. Blasius remarks that it is not so often seen
abroad during the day, and it is subject to the same
mysterious mortality in autumn.

The best characters to separate the Lesser from the
Common Shrew are to be found in the teeth. In
S. vulgaris the fifth single-pointed tooth in the upper jaw
—regarded by Dr. E, Brandt as a minute canine—is
extremely small, and is out of the line of the others, so
as to be almost entirely invisible from the outside. In
S. pygmeus, on the other hand, these teeth diminish
regularly in size, and the fifth stands in the same line
with the rest, so as to be plainly discernible externally.
In both species the front incisors have brown tips. In
the Lesser Shrew the white of the lower parts is clearer,
and the tail, which is longer in proportion, is more hairy
at all ages, but it must be remarked that the last is a
character in which the Common species is very variable.

With the exception of the Sorex suaveolens of Pallas,
this is the smallest of European mammals; the average
length of its head and body being about two inches,
though some individuals are rather larger. The follow-
ing are the measurements in inches and decimals of a
Scotch specimen in our own collection :—

Length of the head and body : : 1°97 in.
», of theta . : : J ° 1:4
»» of the hind-foot . : . : “4

WATER SHREW. 149

INSECTIVORA. SORICIDA.

Genus, Crossopus. (Wagl.)

Generic Character.—Incisors }:1, the upper ones curved, with a talon or
pointed cusp behind, at the bases, lower ones with their upper edge nearly
entire ; pre-molars 3: 3, the first upper one larger than the two following, the
fourth minute, first lower one smaller than the second. All the teeth more

or less stained with rufous. Feet and under surface of the tail ciliated with
stiff hairs.

WATER SHREW.

Sorex fodiens. (Pall.)

Specific Character.—Nearly black above, white beneath, generally with
the colours distinctly separated; but sometimes the dark colour passing
wholly or partially on to the under surface, which is also sometimes stained
with rust-colour ; tail two-thirds the length of the body; feet and tail ciliated
with strong white hairs.

Sorex fodiens, (Patuas.) Scores. Satigth. p. 571. Linn. Syst.
Nat. ed. Guut. I. p. 113. Friem. Brit. An. p. 8.
Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 18. Buas. Saiig. Deutsch.
120. Nuss. Skand. Faun. 37.
3 Daubentonii, Erxt. Syst. 124. Georr. Ann. Mus, XVII. p. 176.
Fr. Cuvier, in Dict. des Se. Nat. XXXIII. p.
425. Dusmar. Mammal. p. 150.
5 bicolor, SHaw, Nat. Misc. t. lv.
Crossopus fodiens, Waat. Isis. 1832. 275.
Amphisorex Pennanti, Gray, Ann. Nat. Hist. II. p. 287.
5 Linneanus, Gray, Nat. Ann. Hist. II. 287.

150 SORICIDA.

Sorexremifer, Grorr. Ann. Mus. XVII. 182. t. II. f. 1.
an ciliatus, Sow. Brit. Misc. t. xlix.
Musaraigne @eau, Davpent. Mém Acad. des. Se. 1756, p. 211. Bur-
Fon, Hist. Nat. VIII. p. 64, t. xi. f. 1.
Water Shrew, Pennant, Brit. Zool. I. p. 125, t. ii.

In the first edition of this work, the present species,
with the Common Shrew, was placed in the Genus Sorea,
but the difference observable in its dentition, which is
also observed in some exotic species of Soricide, added
to the adaptive character exhibited by the ciliated feet
and tail, have induced us to follow the example of
Professor Blasius in regarding it as generically distinct.
The name of Crossopus, given to it by Wagler, in the
‘“‘Tsis” for 1832, must of course hold precedence over
that of Amphisorex bestowed on it by Duvernoy in 1834,

The habits of this beautiful little creature are clearly
indicated by the peculiarities of its structure. Possess-
ing the same general conformation as the former species
—the same soft short silky coat—a body similarly
gracile, and a snout almost equally attenuated,—the
addition of stiff cilia to the sides of the toes, and the
greater breadth of the feet, together with the fringe of
hairs on the under surface of the tail, show that its
ordinary pursuits require the use of oars and rudder;
and that while, like all the other species of the family,
its food consists of insects, it is in the water that this
food is to be obtained.

The observations of several intelligent naturalists have
not only confirmed this conclusion, but have afforded
many curious details as to its mode of life; and we find
that its habits are no less interesting than its form and
movements are elegant and pleasing.

An intimate friend, in whose capabilities for accurate
observations we place the greatest reliance, being one day

WATER SHREW. 151

concealed, gun in hand, for the purpose of shooting some
carrion crows, near a hillside ditch, at Temple Grafton,
near Stratford-on-Avon, had his attention called to a
Shrew of this species, which was busily engaged in
seeking for food amongst the stones in the rapid but
shallow water at the bottom of the ditch. These it
turned over, or displaced, by forcing itself under them,
and in this manner several of large size, compared with
that of the animal itself, were removed. The food
appeared to be taken at the moment the stone was raised
from its resting-place, though in some instances by the
animal merely poking its long snout under the stone,
without lifting it; but in every case, when caught, it
was conveyed to the side to be devoured. It consisted
of some small creatures having hard parts, which the
Shrew was heard crunching up in the process of mas-
tication.

Shortly afterwards the spot was pointed out to us,
and, on examination, we found the pretty stream Sessile-
eyed Crustacean, Gammarus Pulex, in plenty under the
stones in the ditch, and entertained but little doubt
that it was on these small crustaceans that the
Shrew was feeding, and that the crushing sound ob-
served during mastication was occasioned by their hard
coverings.

We do not know whether the Water Shrew is pisci-
vorous in its habits, though it is not unlikely that it may
feed on the spawn or fry of minnows, or other small fish,
but to its carnivorous propensities we can ourselves bear
testimony. Having occasion to enter an outhouse used
as a carpenter’s shop, at Welford Hill, we were somewhat
surprised to hear the shrill chattering squeak of a Shrew,
and its quick rustle, or rather rush, amongst the shavings
upon the floor. Remaining still for a few minutes, we

152 SORICIDA,

saw an animal of the present species emerge from the
shavings, and, scampering across a large sheet of brown
paper, pass under the dried body of a barn-door fowl,
which was lying in a corner. On lifting up the fowl
by the legs, the Shrew made its escape from a hole in
the abdomen, and it was found on examination that
nearly all the internal parts, in a half dried and half de-
composed state, had been devoured, though whether
wholly by the Shrew or in part by Mice we are unable
to state.

Another equally well authenticated and interesting
notice of its flesh-consuming habits may with advantage
be introduced here. A brother of one of the authors
of the present work, having one night placed a steel trap
for vermin, visited it the following morning; and on
drawing near, saw that it contained a full-grown Rat, on
which was perched a small black object, which proved on
closer approach to be a Water Shrew.

The Rat was dead, and the Shrew was devouring it.
Although the slender snout and the projecting and com-
paratively weak teeth of the Shrew were but ill-adapted,
one would have thought, for devouring prey of the size
of a full-grown Rat, yet the animal had succeeded in
making a small hole through the skin; and this it was
most energetically employed, by means of both teeth and
claws, in enlarging. So ferocious were it actions, that it
might very properly be said to be fighting the Rat; and so
intent was it on its work, as to suffer itself to be captured
by the observer, who laid the loading-rod of his gun
across its back. We have once, and once only, seen it at
Selborne. It was hunting in the most active and curious
manner at the bottom of a small roadside stream; and as
its body was much flattened, the white of the belly
projected in a narrow border, edging the deep black of

WATER SHREW. 153

the back, and rendering it altogether the prettiest object
imaginable.

According to the account given of one of them by
Mr. Dovaston,* to whom we are indebted for the first de-
tailed description of its manners, ‘‘ It dived and swam
with great agility and freedom, repeatedly gliding from
the bank under water, and disappearing under the mass
of leaves at the bottom, doubtless in search of its insect
food. It very shortly returned and entered the bank,
occasionally putting its long sharp nose out of the water,
and paddling close to the edge. This it repeated at
frequent intervals from place to place, seldom going
more than two yards from the side, and always returning
in about half a minute. Sometimes it would run a little
on the surface, and sometimes timidly and hastily come
ashore, but with the greatest caution, and instantly
plunge in again.” Its swimming is principally effected
by the alternate action of the hinder feet, which produces
an unequal or wriggling motion: it makes its way, how-
ever, with great velocity ;. and as it swims rather superfi-
cially, with the belly flattened, the sides, as it were, spread
out, and the tail extended backwards as a rudder, it
forms a very beautiful and pleasing object, moving on
the calm surface of a quiet brook, or diving, in an
instant, after its food, its black velvety coat becoming
beautifully silvered with the innumerable bubbles of air
that cover it when submerged ; and on rising again, the
fur is observed to be perfectly dry, repelling the water
as completely as the feathers of water-fowl. When sub-
merged, the ear is nearly closed by means of three little
valves. It is attacked by the Weasel, which will even

* Loud. Mag. II. p. 219.

154: SORICIDA.

follow it into the water, where, however, it readily saves
itself by diving. It burrows under the margin of the
bank ;—a safe and ecommodious habitation, from which it
can, at the first alarm, throw itself into the water and
elude pursuit.

It is often found at some distance from the water.
There can be no doubt that it frequently seeks its food
on the land, perhaps when it has exhausted the ditch
or brook to which it has attached itself; for it appears,
from Mr. Dovaston’s account, to remain for a long
season the denizen of one chosen spot, where it pairs,
and probably rears its offspring.

The female, which is a little smaller than the male,
produces from five to seven or eight young. Some assert
that nine is the ordinary number ; but hitherto we have
not ourselves seen more than six.

It is remarkable that so beautiful and interesting an
animal should for a long time have been so entirely
unknown or neglected by the naturalists of this country,
especially when it is considered that its presumed rarity
can only be attributed to the want of observation; as
numerous localities have been ascertained since Mr.
Dovaston recalled our attention toit. It has been met
with in Scotland, and is too common in most parts of
England to render an enumeration of localities necessary.
In other European countries also it appears to be so
well known that we refrain from particulars, but may
remark that we are unaware whether it has been seen
in Ireland, and we do not find it associated with our
two other species of Shrews by Dr. Leopold Von
Schrenck, in his work on the Mammalia of the Amoor
River. A Shrew of this genus from the Himalayas has
been described by our friend Dr. Gray under the name

WATER SHREW. 155

of Crossopus Himalayaicus, which, if distinct from the
present species, is certainly closely allied to it.

The black and silky fur of the upper part in this spe-
cies, and its elongated snout, have given rise to the opinion
in some places that it was a small species of Mole ;
to which both the structure and habits of the whole
genus indicate a very near affinity.

The snout of the Water Shrew is less attenuated
than that of the Common Shrew, and somewhat
depressed ; eyes very small; ears very short, furnished
with three internal lobes, one of them fringed with
white hair, which, reaching to the surface of the fur,
indicates the situation of the ear by a small white spot:
anterior teeth ferruginous at the tips; body broader
and more full than in S. vulgaris; tail rather slender,
quadrangular, compressed at the tip, fringed with stiff
hairs beneath; feet rather broader than in the former
species, formed for swimming, having a lash of stiff
white hairs on the edge of the toes; fur short, soft,
and silky. The colour of the upper parts, including
the head, back, flanks, and outer surface of the fore
and hind-legs, a rich brownish black; the under parts
nearly pure white, the line of demarcation between the
two colours being generally abrupt ; a dusky spot around
the pubis.

The Water Shrew is subject to considerable variation
in colour, and this at one time led to the belief that
more than one aquatic species existed in this country.
The most remarkable variety is that which was des-
cribed as the Oared Shrew in the first edition of this
book, and as Sorex ciliatus by Sowerby, and S. remifer
by Geoffroy. The Rev. Leonard Jenyns, in a paper on

“The Smaller British Mammalia,” which appeared in the
X 2

156 SORICID&.

“Annals and Magazine of Natural History” for 1841,
when speaking of Sorea ciliatus, says: “I have seen so
many intermediate specimens, in point of colour, between
this and the last species (S. fodiens), that I consider it
extremely doubtful whether they be distinct.” In 1845
we received at one time as many as eighteen specimens,
which had been all taken in a low and moist meadow by
the side of the Warwickshire Avon, near to the village
of Welford. Of these, one had the uniform black
colour of S. ciliatus, and six had the well-defined black
and white of S. fodiens, whilst the remainder presented
every intermediate shade in the colouring of the under
parts. In a few there was a slight yellowish tinge on
the breast. A careful inspection showed that all those
having the under parts white, had teeth of a very
dark-brown colour, and unworn, whilst in those which
had those parts clouded or blackish, the teeth light
yellowish brown in colour, and considerably worn.
These examples were taken during haymaking, and in
the harvest of the same year, four others were brought
to us which had been taken by some mowers in a barley-
field at Welford Hill, about a mile from the meadow
above mentioned, consisting of dry sandy soil, and
considerably removed from any water. In these indi-
viduals the black of the upper parts was graduated into
pale grey beneath, strongly stained and spotted with
yellowish chestnut on the throat and breast, and in all
of them the teeth were much worn, and pale in colour.
We were at the time led to suspect, from the worn con-
dition of the teeth, that the colouring of the under
parts might be due to age and season, and to this
opinion we still adhere, notwithstanding that we have
met with a few—though but a few—similar specimens

~——-—

WATER SHREW. 157

in the winter season, since we have subsequently found
them by no means rare during the summer.

Dimensions :—

Inch. Lines.

Length of the head and body . F : SOR tS
;, Of the head .
», Of the tail .
», of the ears . 5
,, of the hind-foot and claws
,, of the fore-foot and claws . : a
,, from end of nose to eye ‘ ; ; 0

OS hore
a OO ree OS
mI el

Be

158 URSIDA.

CARNIVORA. URSIDAE.

tl

i
a

My}
Mi

Genus, Meles. (Cuv.)

BADGER.

Generic Character.—Second incisive tooth in the lower jaw placed behind
the others ; grinders 3, in an uninterrupted series; feet plantigrade; a glan-
dular pouch underneath the tail, having a transverse orifice.

THE BADGER.

BROCK. GREY. BAWSENED-PATE.

Meles taxus.

Ursus taxus, ScurRer. Saiig. III. t. 142.
Ursus meles, Linnmus, Syst. Nat. XII. p. 70.
Meles vulgaris, DusMar. Mammal, p. 173, sp. 266.
>, taxus, Frem. Brit. An. p. 9. Jrenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 10.
Le Blaireau, Burron, Hist. Nat. VII. p. 104, t. vii.
The Badger, Punn. Brit. Zool. I. p. 85, t. viii.

Since the extirpation of the Bear, Ursus arctos, of the
existence of which mention is made in Scottish history as

BADGER. 159

late as in the year 10738, the family of the Urside * has
had no other representative, in our indigenous zoology,
than the present animal, which in its habits, no less
than in its structure, claims no very remote relationship
to that tribe.t

Heavy, sleepy, and slothful—endowed with but a
moderate degree of intellect, and with instincts dull
and obtuse, it yet possesses a character and qualities
which, if not peculiarly interesting and intelligent, are
far from being disgusting and ferocious; and if it do
not boast the admirable sagacity and lively attachment
of the Dog, it is yet free from the cunning and rapine
of the Fox, and the fierceness and treachery of the Cat.
Its favourite haunts are obscure and gloomy; it retires
to the deepest recesses of woods, or to thick coppices
covering the sides of hills; and there, with its long and
powerful claws, digs for itself a deep and well-formed
domicile, consisting of more than one apartment. ‘The
general form of the elongated but robust body—the
long taper muzzle, terminating in a movable snout—the
hard coarse hair—the loose and leathery skin, the low
and plantigrade limbs, and the fossorial character of
the claws, combine to fit the Badger for a subterranean
abode, and to enable it to form that abode by its own
labour. Here it sleeps during the greater part of the
day, coming abroad only for a short period in the
evening or night, to seek its sustenance, in the choice
of which it exhibits as completely an omnivorous a

* The Bear tribe.

++ Since the above was written, the genus J/eles has been shown to possess
intimate zoological affinities with the Mustelade. Our friend Mr. Water-
house—perhaps the highest existing authority on what relates to Mammalia—
has traced gradations through a series of genera, from Meles to Mustela ; but
as we believe in certain points of relationship between the MMustelade and
the Urside, we, for the present, shall retain the Badger in the latter
family.

160 URSIDA.

character as perhaps any animal with which we are
acquainted. Its food, in fact, consists indifferently of
various roots, earth-nuts, beech-mast, fruits, the eggs of
birds, some of the smaller quadrupeds, frogs, and insects.
Buffon states that it digs up wasps’ nests for the sake
of the honey,—a fact which has received an interesting
confirmation from the observation of a correspondent of
Loudon’s ** Magazine of Natural History,’ who seems,
however, to attribute the destruction of these nests to
the fondness of the Badger for the larve of the wasp,
as he says that the combs were found scattered about,
but none were left that contained the maggots. As no
wasp in this country lays up a store of honey, like the
bee, it is but too obvious that it can only rob the nests
for the sake of the larve; yet if a predilection of the
Badger for honey has elsewhere been observed, it offers
a striking analogy to several others of the group,
particularly to its Oriental relation the Ratel, Mellivora
Capensis, which is known to live principally upon it.

The Badger is endowed -with astonishing strength of
jaws, which is aided by the peculiar manner in which the
lower is articulated with the upper, the condyle being
received deeply into the glenoid cavity, which bends
over it, before and behind, so as to retain it permanently
in its place. It also possesses great general muscular
power; and these means of inflicting injury, combined
with the defensive coat of mail afforded by its strong
leathery hide, and rough long shaggy hair, render him
a formidable enemy to attack or to cope with. Such
qualities as these formerly occasioned the cowardly and
barbarous amusement of Badger-baiting, now probably
but little known, to be a favourite and exciting sport
amongst our rustic population. The poor devoted
Badger was put into a small tub or barrel, or some such

BADGER. 161

place of partial protection, and there baited by numerous
Dogs, collected without much regard to breed, though
the Rough Terriers were the favourites; and it would
be difficult to say whether the cruelty were greater to
the persecuted Badger, or to his canine tormentors.

The gradual cessation of these barbarous and dastardly
sports is indeed one of the necessary results of the
spread of education, which at once produces a taste
for the substitution of intellectual for mere animal
sources of enjoyment, and supplies the means for its
indulgence; but there is, in the present instance, another
cause for the decline of this amusement, perhaps as
efficient as the former,—which is, the numerical decrease
of the species itself: and were it not for this, it is to be
feared that a humane interposition to save an unhappy
Badger from this tormenting persecution, might still
chance, in some places at least, to be met with honest
Dandie Dinmont’s astonished exclamation, ‘‘ Lord save
us,—to care about a Brock!” The recollection of the
custom, however, .will continue to be interesting to the
philologist when the custom itself shall long have passed»
away, as having given rise to a common expression,
which will probably be perpetuated as part and parcel
of our language. A person who is beset by numerous
assailants is said to be * badgered.”

The Badger is taken in various ways. The favourite
mode, and that which is perhaps the most successful, is
by catching him in a sack placed at the entrance of his
hole. The haunt of a Badger being ascertained, a moon-
light night is chosen, when he is out feeding, and a small
sack is placed within the mouth of the hole, fastened at
the outside, with the mouth of the bag outwards, and
having a running string round it. Two or three couples
of hounds are then thrown off at some distance: and as

NG

162 URSID&.

soon as the Badger hears their cry, he makes for his
home with all speed, and runs into the sack, which closes
behind him by the tightening of the running string at its
mouth. Another method is by digging him out. This
plan, however, is always laborious, and often attended with
uncertain results, arising from obstacles in the shape of
large roots, stones, or from the position of the hole,
which is not unfrequently in the front of some steep
bank or cliff, in which situation the Badger could only
be reached by mining horizontally, a proceeding attended
with immense labour. Nevertheless, Badgers are fre-
quently taken by means of the spade, and we have often
conversed with men engaged in their capture, In some
parts of Oxfordshire, where they are still common. In
the well-known, but now little worked, slate quarries of
Stonesfield, the Badger finds a stronghold from which it
would be difficult to dislodge him. The intricate pas-
sages and crevices in these excavations, while they furnish
to this animal a commodious retreat, afford also an effi-
cient means of defence against the entrance of dogs,
‘which in their attempts to dislodge the Badger, often get
fixed between the stones, and perish. There are other
places also in the same neighbourhood, and in the ad-
joining Gloucestershire or Cotteswold Hills, where the
Badger is still found, as in the forest of Wichwood, in
Ditchley Park and woods, at Oddington, Addlestrop,
and at Daylesford, in the park planted by Warren Hast-
ings. Temple Guiting, Seizencote, and Chipping Camp-
den are other localities in the vicinity of which the
Badger occurs. We have been careful to enumerate the
above localities, as we think that in some of them these
animals have rather increased than diminished in numbers
within the last few years, a fact which is certainly rather
remarkable, when we consider the large size of the

BADGER. 163

animal, and the increase of population in this country.
But it is probable that the oolitic district to which we
have alluded, with a very undulating surface, and thickly
spotted with parks, woods, and coppices, containing
broken ground and deserted quarries, and, moreover, in
many places of a very friable nature, in which not only
Badgers but Foxes and Rabbits can speedily establish
extensive burrows, is of all others the kind of habitat
suitable for the Badger. At any rate, we find that there
are many wilder and less frequented districts in which
the Badger is comparatively rare. The burrow is usually
around horizontal hole or tunnel, the end of which is
turned upwards abruptly for about a foot, and the ver-
tical part of the hole leads into a rounded excavation,
of just sufficient size for the animal to lie coiled up in.
When the burrow is increased in length, the extension
takes place in the same level as the first or horizontal
part, leaving the dormitory like an upstair room. It is
not unusual in a long burrow to find several of these
resting-places, but always placed above the line of the
burrow in such a manner as to ensure good drainage,
and to place the animal in a position of advantage on the
approach of an enemy within his abode.

“If taken young, the Badger may be easily and com-
pletely tamed. I had one for a considerable time,
which was sent to me by my late valued friend, James
Buckland, Esq., of Shaftesbury, who had obtained it
from a cottager in the neighbourhood, whose children
Mr. Buckland accidentally saw playing with the Badger
as familiarly as they would with a puppy. He found
that the animal had been taken when very young, and
had been brought up as the playmate of the children;
it had, however, become rather too rough in its fondness,
and the poor man was willing to part with it. It thus

¥ 2

164 URSID&.

came into my possession, and soon became a great
favourite, showing, too, on its part, great attachment to |
me and to the household. It followed me like a Dog,
yelping and barking with a peculiar sharp cry, when he
found himself shut out of the room in which I happened
to be sitting. He was accustomed to come into the
dining-room during dinner, of which he was generally
permitted to partake, and he always ate his morsels in a
very orderly manner. He was, in fact, an affectionate,
gentle, good-tempered fellow, and very cleanly withal.
He died of the disease which destroys so many carnivor-
ous animals when in a state of confinement—a stricture
of the pyloric opening of the stomach, by which the
passage of the food into the intestine is gradually in-
terrupted, and ultimately stopped.”*

The male and female Badger are rarely seen in com-
pany. It is probable that the sexes are directed to each
other by scent, and that the fetid secretion from the
glandular pouch under the tail is intended in this, as in
many other instances, to afford them traces of each other.
The female brings forth her young in the summer, to the
number of three or four in a litter. Her nest is formed
of moss and grass, and is prepared beforehand for the
reception of the young.

The Badger, as we have already stated, is still found
in many parts of England, but is nowhere abundant, and
in some places has become a rare animal. It is a native
of almost every country in Europe, not excepting the
North. M. Nilsson includes it in his Scandinavian
Fauna, and it occurs, according to Prof. Schinz, in the
Alps. Dr. Eversman met with it in Buckhara, and
Dr. L. von Schrenck gives a variety of it in his work on

* Brit. Quad. Ist Edition, p. 125.

BADGER. 165

the Mammalia of the Amoor river, as Meles taxus, var.
Amurensis. The Badger was known to the ancients, for
Pliny speaks of it, though but cursorily, but Aristotle
does not even allude to it.

The word Badger is of very uncertain origin. Skinner
derives it from the Teutonic ‘ Back,” the jaw, quasi
** Backer,” on account of the great strength of that part
in this animal. The Anglo-Saxon * Broc”’* is still re-
tained in Scotland and in the northern counties of Eng-
land ; it is also termed “‘ Grey,” and ‘‘ Bawsened-pate ; ”
the word Bawsened meaning striped with white.

As far as we have observed, it is only borne in Heraldry
as ‘* canting arms ;” it occurs in the coats of Badger and
Brock.

The body is robust, though somewhat elongated; the
legs are short, and the body consequently low; but it
appears more so than it really is, in consequence of the
length of the hair on the belly, which even reaches to
the ground. The head is taper, and the muzzle pro-
duced ; the ears small and rounded, and nearly hidden
in the long hair of the sides of the head; the eyes
small; the tongue smooth; the number of the grinding
teeth is variously stated by different naturalists as being
4:4, 4:4, 2:4, or 2:4, according as a small rudimentary
false molar exists or is wanting, immediately behind the
canine, above or below. In a cranium in our possession
it is wanting in both jaws; and, on the contrary, Desma-

rest gives the higher number, from a specimen in which
it existed in both ; whilst in Frederic Cuvier’s figure and
description it is wanting in the upper and exists in the
lower. The second incisive tooth in the lower jaw is
placed behind the other two.

* Many places still retain the name originally given, from the occurrence of
the ‘‘ Brock”—Brockbridge, in the parish of Selborne—-Brockenhurst, &e.

166 URSID.

The back is rounded. The tail very short, not extend-
ing farther than the middle of the hinder legs. Feet
hairy, particularly the hinder ones, with five toes on
each, armed with strong curved fossorial claws. Hair
of the body long, loose, and of three colours,—white,
black, and reddish, the union of which produces a rich
grey, which varies in tint in different parts. Head white,
excepting a band of black, commencing between the
nose and the eye, and extending backwards, and widen-
ing so as to include the eye and ear, the latter being
white at the tip. Lower jaw, throat, breast, and belly,
the interior of all the legs and the feet, black; the back,
shoulders, and rump, reddish grey; the sides and tail
light grey.

Dimensions :—

Feet. In. Lines,

Length of the head and body . ; f pdevounl)
», of the head ‘ : : , 3 ONS Gens
», of the ears ; ; F ‘ FO 20)
», Of the tail. ; Pepi «, ; 200! sk GeG

Height at the shoulder . ; : F 5 Ou

COMMON OTTER. 167

CARNIVORA. MUSTELADA,

Genus, Lutra.

OTTER.

Generic Character.—Body elongated and low ; feet with five toes on each,
palmated ; tail flattened horizontally ; incisive teeth &, grinders 3:2 or 2:2;
tongue slightly rough ; ears small.

COMMON OTTER.
Lutra vulgaris.

Specific Character.— Deep brown ; throat and breast cinereous ; tail more
than half the length of the head and body.

Lutra, Ray, Syn. Anim. Quad. Ktery, de Quad. p. 91.

Mustela lutra, Laiyn. Syst. Nat. XII. 1, p. 66.

Viverra lutra, Linn. Faun. Suee. 2, p. 5.

Lutra vulgaris, Erxues. Syst. p. 448. Drsmar. Mam. p. 188, sp. 289.
Fiem. Brit. An. p. 16. JEnyns, Brit. Vert. p. 13.

Lutra Roensis, Octtsy, P.Z.S. 1834, III.

La Loutre, Burron, Hist. Nat. VIT. p. 134, t. ii.

Common Otter, Pxrnn. Brit. Zool. I. p.92, No. 19, t. viii. Saaw, Gen. Zool.
Isp: 437, t.. c:

Wirn the general form and aspect which characterize
its family, the Otter exhibits many modifications of that

168 MUSTELAD®.

typical structure which are necessary to fit it for its
aquatic and piscivorous habits. The generally elongated
body is much flattened horizontally ; the tail is flat and
broad, forming an admirable rudder; the legs are short,
and so loosely articulated as to allow of their being
turned in every direction in the act of swimming; the
feet are broad, and the toes distant and connected by a
complete web; and the skin is protected by a compact
fur, consisting of two very different kinds of hair ;—
the shorter being very soft and fine in its texture, to
preserve the body from sudden changes of temperature ;
and the longer, coarse, hard, and shining, which presents
a very smooth unresisting surface as the animal cuts
the water in its course. The teeth, too, though essen-
tially similar to those of the rest of the group, are par-
ticularly strong, and their tubercles very pointed,—by
which structure the animal is enabled to seize and to
hold securely its scaled and slippery prey.

From this conformation it is evident that every facility,
consistent with the preservation of its structural relations
to the rest of the group, is given to the Otter for the
pursuit and capture of its proper food. It swims and
dives with great readiness, and with peculiar ease and
elegance of movement; and although its action on land
is far from being awkward and difficult, yet it is certainly
in the water that the beautiful adaptation of its structure
to its habits is most strikingly exhibited. It swims in
nearly a horizontal position, and dives instantaneously
after the fish that may glide beneath it, or pursues it
under water, changing its course as the fish darts in
various directions to escape from it, and, when the prey
is secured, brings it on shore to its retreat to feed.

As the Otter lives exclusively on fish, when it can
procure them, it frequents lakes, rivers, smaller streams

:

COMMON OTTER. 169

or ponds, and not unfrequently descends to the sea:
and the havoc which it makes amongst the finny in-
habitants is almost incredible. In feeding, it holds the
fish between its fore-paws, eating first the head, and then
downwards to the vent, leaving the tail. But it is not
only to those which are necessary for its sustenance that
its ravages are restricted,—for, as honest Izaak Walton
says very truly, ‘The Otter devours much fish, and kills
and spoils much more than he eats.”

The accounts which some writers have given of its
habits are greatly exaggerated. We read of its exca-
vating a very artificial habitation, burrowing under
ground to a considerable distance; making the aper-
ture of its retreat always under water, and working
upwards, forming here and there a lodge, or dry resting-
place, till it reaches the surface of the ground at the
extremity of its burrow, and making there a breathing-
hole, always in the middle of a bush or thicket.* This
statement is wholly incorrect. The Otter avails itself
of any convenient excavation, particularly of the hollows
beneath the overhanging roots of trees which grow on
the banks of rivers, or any other secure and concealed
hole near its fishing haunt; though in some cases it
fixes its retreat at some distance from the water, and,
when driven by a scanty supply of fish, it has been
accused of resorting far inland, to the neighbourhood of
the farmyard, and attacking lambs, sucking-pigs, and
poultry,—thus assuming for a time the habits of its
more terrestrial congeners. This we believe, however,

* Tt is worthy of remark that this erroneous account of the retreat of the
Otter is almost exactly similar to the haunt of the Ornithorhynchus, as de-
scribed by Mr. George Bennett, in the Transactions of the Zoological Society ;
though the former is to be found in books published ages before the latter
animal was discovered.

Z

170 MUSTELADE.

it does only when driven from its proper haunts by
severe and continued frost. The obvious difficulty of
making detailed observations on the habits of an ani-
mal like the Otter, when in its native haunts, will, we
hope, be sufficient excuse to our readers for the inser-
tion of the following somewhat trivial remarks, the only
merit of which consists in their accuracy:—In 1850 we
observed an old pollard ash standing on the bank of a
small stream called the Stour, running into the Avon
near Stratford, which was frequented by an Otter. The
tree was hollow, and had been partly undermined by the
action of the water, and its interior rendered accessible
from the stream, though not from the river-bank. A
narrow platform, or stair of earth, was the only lodge-
ment which the tree afforded, and on this, without the
least interposition of soft or warm material, the Otter
had evidently, from its padded and smooth appearance,
been accustomed to lie. The presence of hairs sticking
upon the moist earth, as well as bones and scales of fish,
sufficiently indicated the nature of the frequenter of this
retreat. In order to reach the top of the platform, the
creature had to climb up the front of it, which being of
clay, and rendered soft by its contiguity to the water,
was deeply scored and ground by the Otter’s nails. A
large steel trap was placed on the mud, under water, near
to the tree, but the only result was that the place was
abandoned. A short time afterwards our attention was
called to a well-beaten track through an osier-bed in the
Avon, a mile or two down stream, evidently the run
of some large animal, which, coming from the water at
one end of the bed, passed again into it at the other.
There could be no doubt that it was the track of an
Otter, some fragments of fish serving to confirm the
opinion, which the inspection of the run itself pointed

COMMON OTTER. 171

out. Again the trap was brought into requisition, and
placed under water as before, in such a position that
it was supposed the Otter would make use of it as a
stepping-stone, when going into or out of the water.
However, it proved, as on the former occasion, to be a
failure, and the trap, remaining undisturbed, was after a
time removed to the run itself and carefully covered,
and on the following day was found to contain a female
Otter, weighing 14 lbs. A few days later another was
similarly captured, and at the same spot; a male, weigh-
ing 18 lbs. We had often heard from the Avon fisher-
men that the Otter was always observed to travel over
rather than under or around anything, when passing up
or down stream, and our own observation in the instance
just given confirms their statement. It is also asserted
by these men that an Otter will often travel many miles
in a single night; and to this statement, too, we can add
our own testimony, having on one occasion tracked one
for several miles in the snow, sometimes on one side of
the stream, and sometimes on the other; and occasionally
it appeared to have proceeded for a distance of a quarter
of a mile in the water, though apparently not for the
purpose of securing food, as it had evidently emerged
from the water, and at once passed on, on its way.

It is asserted by some that the Otter confines its haunts
to the rivers and lakes, never descending to the sea.
This, however, is a mistake. In the northern parts of
Scotland they certainly frequent the sea, and extend their
rambles to a considerable distance from the shore; and
Mr. Couch, of Polperro, states that ‘‘ in the summer, and
when the weather will permit, it occupies a retired ‘and
quiet station where the land stretches into the ocean,
It swims low in the water, and will go a mile or more
after its prey. The neighbourhood of a populous har-

Z 2

172 MUSTELADA.

bour isa frequent station. Fishes,” continues Mr. Couch,
‘seem to have an instinctive dread of the Otter; for I
am credibly informed that it has been seen to collect
into a shoal a vast number of trouts in a river, and to
drive them before it until the greater part have thrown
themselves on shore.”

Otter-hunting, formerly one of the most interesting
and exciting amusements of which the English sportsman
could boast, has of late years dwindled into the mere
chase of extirpation. It was in other days pursued with
much of the pomp and circumstance of regular sport :
the Dogs were chosen for their perseverance and reso-
lution ; “good Otter-hounds,” says an old sportsman,—
and Mr. Daniel mentions a cross between the Harrier
and a Terrier as producing a good breed for the purpose,
—‘‘ will come chaunting and trailing along by the river-
side, and will beat every tree-root, every osier-bed, and
every tuft of bulrushes;—nay, sometimes they will take
the water, and beat it like a Spaniel.” The huntsmen
and others of the party carried Otter spears, to strike
the Otter when driven within their reach; horsemen and
footmen joined in the chase; and the whole company
formed a cavalcade of no inconsiderable extent and im-
portance. ‘These scenes are now no longer witnessed, or
but rarely, in England; but in Wales the chase of the
Otter is still kept up with some spirit, in certain roman-
tic districts of that romantic country. The sketch from
which the vignette is taken, was kindly drawn for us by
our lamented friend, the late John Morgan, Esq., and
forms one of his memoranda of a day’s chase of this
animal amidst the wild and picturesque scenery of
Glamorganshire.

In beating for an Otter, it is necessary to mark the
character and direction of his ‘‘ seal,” or footmark, in the

COMMON OTTER. 173

mud or soil, as well as the recent or older appearance of
his “* spraints,” or dung. These signs of his having been
either remotely or more recently on the spot will afford
a tolerably certain indication whether the animal be still
in the neighbourhood, or whether a further search must
be made for later marks of his presence. When the
Otter is found, the scene becomes exceedingly animated.
He instantly takes the water, and dives, remaining a
long time underneath it, and rising at a considerable
distance from the place at which he dived. Then the
anxious watch that is kept of his rising to ‘‘ vent,” the
steady purpose with which the Dogs follow and bait
him as he swims, the attempts of the cunning beast to
drown his assailants, by diving whilst they have fastened
on him, the baying of the hounds, the cries of the hun-
ters, and the fierce and dogged resolution with which
the poor hopeless quarry holds his pursuers at bay,
inflicting severe, sometimes fatal wounds, and holding
on with unflinching pertinacity even to the last,—must
altogether form a scene as animated and exciting as the
veriest epicure in hunting could desire.

The return from such a day’s sport as this in the
county of Carmarthen is thus described by a corre-
spondent of the Sporting Magazine :-—“ Sitting near the
window, I beheld approaching the bridge a cavalcade,
and found it was Squire Lloyd of Glansevin, escorted by
the gentlemen of the neighbourhood, returning from
Otter-hunting. The gentlemen in the front rank were
mounted; and next the horsemen were three men neatly
dressed in scarlet coats and white trousers, with long
spears, on which were suspended three huge Otters.
Now the huntsman appeared with his well-disciplined
hounds; and then followed the cart, with nets, spears,
and other paraphernalia; and an old ballad-singer ap-

174 MUSTELADA.

peared in the rear, who sang the praises of the high-bred
hounds and their worthy master.” Alas! that worthy
the warlike deeds of

whose ancestors were doubtless recounted and sung by

9

* Squire Lloyd of Glansevin,’

the voices of a score of bards, should have the peaceful
triumphs of his Otter-hunt chaunted by ‘‘an old ballad-
singer!’ The finest Otter-hunting on record, however,
is probably that of a party in Essex, who, in the year
1796, killed nine Otters in one day.

That the Otter may not only be readily and easily
tamed and domesticated, but taught to catch and bring
home fish for its master, is a fact which is so well known,
and has been so often proved, that it is surprising it
should not have been more frequently acted upon. From
Albertus Magnus down to the late excellent Bishop
Heber, instances have been continually narrated, some of
which have gone no further than the domestication of pet
Otters, whilst in others the animal has been rendered a
useful purveyor of fish for the family table. Amongst
other writers who have attested similar facts, honest
Izaak Walton says, “I pray, sir, save me one [young
Otter], and I'll try if I can make her tame, as I know
an ingenious gentleman in Leicestershire, Mr. Nicholas
Seagrave, has done; who hath not only made her tame,
but to catch fish, and do many other things of much
pleasure.” Albertus Magnus, Aldrovandus, Gesner, and
others, had asserted it; yet Buffon, losing for once his
accustomed credulity, and running to an opposite extreme,
refuses to believe in the susceptibility of the Otter to be
brought to a state of domesticity. The former of these
writers states that, in Sweden, Otters were kept in the
houses of the great for the express purpose of catching
fish, which they would do at a signal from the cook, and
bring home their provender to be dressed for dinner.

COMMON OTTER. 175

Numerous instances have been recorded in later times,
by Daniel, Bewick, Shaw, and others; in one of which
an Otter had been known to take eight or ten salmon in
a day : and the following passage in the journal of Bishop
Heber confirms some previous statements, that one of the
Asiatic species, probably Lutra nair (Fr. Cuv.), may be
rendered similarly useful :—‘‘ We passed, to my surprise,
a row of no less than nine or ten large and very beautiful
Otters, tethered with straw collars and long strings to
bamboo stakes on the banks (of the Matta Colly). Some
were swimming about at the full extent of their strings,
or lying half in and half out of the water; others were
rolling themselves in the sun on the sandy bank, uttering
a shrill whistling noise, as if in play. I was told that
most of the fishermen in this neighbourhood kept one or
more of these animals, who were almost as tame as Dogs,
and of great use in fishing ; sometimes driving the shoals
into the nets, sometimes bringing out the larger fish with
their teeth. 1 was much pleased and interested with the
sight. It has always been a fancy of mine that the poor
creatures whom we waste and prosecute to death, for no
cause but the gratification of our cruelty, might, by
reasonable treatment, be made the sources of abundant
amusement and advantage to us.” ‘This interesting ac-
count justifies the conclusion drawn by the good prelate
from the scene that so much delighted him, that ‘ the
simple Hindoo shows here a better taste and judgment
than half the Otter-hunting and Badger-baiting gentry
of England.” With such instances as these before us,
there seems to be no reason why this animal, so tractable
and docile as it is proved to be, should not be very
generally domesticated for the purposes of sport, or
employed by fishermen as a means of assisting them in

their calling.

176 MUSTELADA.

The method which has been recommended to train
them to this purpose is as follows:—They should be
procured as young as possible, and they are at first fed
with small fish and water. Then bread-and-milk is to be
alternated with the fish, and the proportion of the former
gradually increased till they are led to live entirely on
bread-and-milk. They are then taught to fetch and carry,
exactly as dogs are trained to the same trick; and when
they are brought to do this with ease and docility, a leather
fish stuffed with wool is employed for the purpose. They
are afterwards exercised with a dead fish, and chastised if
they disobey or attempt to tear it; and finally, they are
sent into the water after living ones. In this way,
although the process is somewhat tedious, it 1s believed
that the Otter may be certainly domesticated, and rendered
subservient to our use.

The fur of the Otter is very much valued in many
other countries, but has been less employed in England.
Great numbers of the skins of the American Otter are
annually imported here, to be again exported to the
North of Europe, &c.*

The female goes with young nine weeks, and produces
from three to five young ones, in March or April. The
nest is formed of grass and other herbage, and is usually
placed in some hole in the bank of a river, protected
either by the overhanging of the bank, or by the pro-
jecting roots of a tree.

The habits of the Otter, and its rank fishy taste, have

* The number of Otter-skins imported into this country in
1830 was 713,115
1831 ,, 494,067
1832 ,, 222,493
USSSeeues 23, 889
After September Ist, 1833, the duty was reduced from 3d. each to 1s. per
hundred, since which we believe the importation has gradually increased.

COMMON OTTER. 177

procured for it the distinction of being permitted by the
Church of Rome to be eaten on maigre days. The quiet
humour of good old Izaak Walton could not rest without
a sly hit at this fact :—

‘* Piscator. I pray, honest huntsman, let me ask you a
pleasant question: do you hunt a beast, or a fish ?

** Hunt. Sir, it is not in my power to resolve you; yet
I leave it to be resolved by the College of Carthusians,
who have made vows never to eat flesh. But I have
heard the question hath been debated among many great
clerks, and they seem to differ about it; yet most agree
that her tail is fish: and if her body be fish too, then I
may say that a fish will walk upon land (for an Otter
does so), sometimes five or six or ten miles in a night.”

Now, were we to adopt the reference recommended by
honest Izaak, the description of this animal would have
fallen within the province of our late lamented friend,
Mr. Yarrell, rather than ours; for, says Pennant, “in the
kitchen of the Carthusian convent near Dijon, we saw
one preparing for the dinner of the religious of that
rigid order, who, by their rules, are prohibited during
their whole lives the eating of flesh.”

In Daniel’s Rural Sports occurs the following notice
of a spotted variety of the Otter:—“In Scotland the
vulgar have an opinion that there is a king or leader
among the Otters, spotted with white, and larger. They
believe that it is never killed without the sudden death
of a man or of some animal at the same instant; that its
skin is endowed with great virtue as an antidote against
infection, a preservative of the warrior from wounds, and
ensures the mariner from all disasters upon the sea.” In
Stoddart’s work on Angling, a similar notice occurs ;
and Mr. Blyth, when living at Tooting, favoured us with
the following information :—‘ On my inquiry of an

A A

178 MUSTELAD.

Aberdeenshire friend if he knew of the Spotted Otter,
he at once answered that he supposed I meant the King
of the Otters; showing that at least it is currently
known. My friend even knew of a rivulet where one
had been taken, though he himself had never seen it.”
It is doubtless the same variety as that mentioned by
Desmarest, and stated by Lesson to have been found near
Paris. The specimen alluded to is in the Museum of
the Jardin des Plantes, and is of a lively yellowish brown
colour, whitish brown beneath; the sides of the head,
the throat, and the upper parts of the neck, whitish ;
and the whole of the upper part of the fur irregularly
spotted with pure white. It is by no means rare to see
an Otter having a few white spots, though they are
rarely as much marked as the one above mentioned. It
appears to be a variety analogous to that which often
occurs in birds having a few white feathers, which at the
moulting period are often lost, and replaced by others of
ordinary colour. This variety should not be confounded
with albinism, which is retained for life.

There is in the Museum of the Zoological Society of
London a beautiful specimen of an Irish Otter, presented
by Mr. Ogilby, who considers it to be a distinct species
from that of England. ‘On account of the intensity of
its colouring, which approaches nearly to black, both on
the upper and under surface; of the less extent of the
pale colour beneath the throat, as compared with the
Common Otter as it exists in England; and of some
difference in the size of the ears, and the proportions of
other parts; Mr. Ogilby has long considered the Irish
Otter as constituting a distinct species; and he feels
strengthened in this view of the subject by the pecu-
liarity of its habits and manners. It is, in fact, to a
considerable extent a marine animal, being found chiefly

COMMON OTTER. 179

along the coast of the county of Antrim, living in hol-
lows and caverns formed by the scattered masses of the
basaltic columns of that coast, and constantly betaking
itself to the sea when alarmed or hunted. It feeds
chiefly on the salmon; and as it is consequently injurious
to the fishery, a premium is paid for its destruction, and
there are many persons who make a profession of hunting
it, earning a livelihood by the reward paid for it, and
by disposing of its skin.” Mr. Ogilby had not had an
opportunity of comparing it minutely with the Common
Otter, or of examining its osteology ; until this had been
done, it was premature to admit it as a distinct species;
and we may be allowed to add, that in the stuffed speci-
men above mentioned, we have not found characters
sufficiently distinct to lead to the belief that it is more
than a very dark and handsome variety of the common
species; and in this opinion of its identity with the
common species, we are supported by that of Prof.
Blasius. The Otters of Zetland are equally marine in
their habits, and judging from two beautiful skins pre-
sented by John Bruce, Esq., of Sumburgh, they are
almost as dark-coloured: these skins are evidently larger
than those usually found in England, and the fur is
nearly as fine as those imported from America. The
size of the Otter varies considerably even in England.
The usual weight of a fine male is from twenty to twenty-
four pounds; that of the female, about four pounds less ;
but Pennant records one which was found in the year
1794 in the river Lea, between Hertford and Ware, the
weight of which was forty pounds. The Otter has been
met with in China, in the Amoor River, and given in the
work which we have before quoted by Dr. Leopold Von
Schrenck, on the Mammalia of that district, together
with another species, the Lutra aterrima of Pallas.
AAR

180 MUSTELAD®.

The head is broad and flat; the muzzle very broad ;
the upper lip thick, and hanging over the lower, which
it partly conceals; whiskers very thick and strong; eyes
situated an inch behind the nostrils, small, black, the
cornea remarkably prominent; ears short and rounded;
body very long and low; legs short; feet palmate, the
toes being furnished with a perfect and strong inter-
digital web, and with short claws, which are somewhat
turned up, though not retractile. Tail little more than
half as long as the body and head together, very broad
and strong at the base, and flattened horizontally : two
small glands, secreting a fetid liquid, under the tail.

The fur consists of two distinct and very different
kinds of hair; the shorter being extremely fine and soft,
of a whitish grey colour, and brown at the tips; the
longer hair stiffer and thicker, very shining, greyish at
the base, bright rich brown at the points, especially on
the upper parts and the outer surface of the legs; the
throat, the cheeks, the breast, belly, and inner parts of
the legs, brownish grey throughout.

Dimensions of a specimen from Sutherlandshire : —

Feet. In. Lines.

Length of the head and body . : : Sule eal (05
,, of the head . ; ; 70. 4:10
he of the ears . 3 ; , ; mri) Uy tS
5 of the tail . The R28 (f)

The specimen taken in the Warwickshire Avon, to
which we have alluded, and which weighed 14 lbs., had
the following dimensions :—

Feet. In. Lines.

Length of the head and body . : : Pepa axis!
5, Of the head. ; 3 : F ;~ 20) 356
», Of the ears . : : ; : = 107 O2N6

a of the tail . : : ‘ : oe LOO

COMMON OTTER. 181

A male taken at the same time as the last-mentioned
example (which was a female) weighed 18 lbs., and had a
total length of 34 feet.

Dentition :—

182 MUSTELADA.

CARNIVORA, MUSTELADA.

Genus, Mustela.

WEASEL.

Generic Character.—Body elongated, vermiform ; feet short ; toes sepa-
rate ; claws sharp ; ears small; grinding teeth 4:4; tongue rough.

COMMON WEASEL.

Mustela vulgaris.

Specific Character.—Reddish brown above, white beneath; tail of the
same colour as the upper part of the body.

Mustela vulgaris, Linn. Syst. Nat. Dusmar. Mam. p. 179, sp. 275. Fiem.
Brit. An. p. 13. JEnyns, Brit. Vert. p. 12.

Viverra vulgaris, SHaw, Gen. Zool. I. 2, p. 240.

Foetorius vulgaris, Knys. and Bras. Wirbelth. Europ. p. 69, n. 147. Buas.
Saugth. Deutsch. p. 231.

La Belette, Burron, Hist. Nat. VII. p. 225, t. xxix. f. 1.

Common Weasel, Pennant, Brit. Zool. I. p. 95, t. vii. No. 17. SHaw, Gen.
Zool. I. p. 420, t. xeviii.

With the fur white.

Mustela nivalis, Linn. Fn. Suec. Il. p. 7.—Syst. Nat. I. p. 69. Mutt.

Zool. Prod. p. 3.

COMMON WEASEL. 183

THE near approximation in figure and character, and
the great general similarity in habits, which a comparison
between the Stoat and Weasel presents, have occasioned
considerable confusion in some of the accounts which
have been given of their history; though the difference
of size and colour would at once be sufficient to distin-
guish the species, were there no other points of disagree-
ment between them. The Stoat is brown above, dirty
white beneath ; the tail always black at the tip, longer
and more bushy than that of the Weasel, and the former
animal is twice as large as its elegant little congener;
the Weasel, on the other hand, is red above, pure white
beneath, the tail red and uniform. Their habits also,
though generally similar, are, in many of their details,
considerably distinct; and we are fully borne out by
observation, in saying that the accusations which are so
current against the Weasel, of the mischief which he is
said to perpetrate in the farmyard and the hen-roost, as
well as amongst game of every description, on Hares and
Rabbits no less than on the feathered tribes, are princi-
pally due to the Stoat.

It is not meant to be asserted that the Weasel will not,
when driven by hunger, boldly attack the stock of the
poultry-yard, or occasionally make free with a young
Rabbit or a sleeping Partridge ; but that its usual prey
is of a much more ignoble character, is proved by daily
observation. Mice of every description, the Field and
the Water Vole, Rats, Moles, and small birds, are their
ordinary food; and from the report of unprejudiced
observers, it would appear that this pretty animal ought
rather to be fostered as a destroyer of vermin, than extir-
pated as a noxious depredator. Above all, it should not
be molested in barns, ricks, or granaries, in which situa-
tions it is of great service in destroying the colonies of

184 MUSTELAD®.

Mice which infest them. Those only who have witnessed
the multitudinous numbers in which these little pests are
found, in wheat-ricks especially, and have seen the man-
ner in which the interior is sometimes drilled, as it were,
in every direction by their runs, can at all appreciate the
amount of their depredations ;* and surely the occasional
abduction of a chicken or a duckling, supposing it to be
even much more frequently chargeable against the Weasel
than it really is, would be but a trifling set-off against
the benefit produced by the destruction of those swarms
of little thieves.

The Weasel climbs trees with tolerable facility, and
surprises birds on the nest, sucks the eggs, or carries off
the young, and will creep, as we know from personal
observation, along the boughs and twigs of a hawthorn
hedge in search of the nests. It has been asserted that
it attacks and destroys snakes: this, however, we believe
to be entirely erroneous. We have tried the experiment
by placing a Weasel and a common snake together in a
large cage, in which the former had the opportunity of
retiring into a small box in which it was accustomed to
sleep. The mutual fear of the two animals kept them at
a respectful distance from each other; the snake, how-
ever, exhibiting quite as much disposition to be the as-
sailant as its more formidable companion. At length
the Weasel gave the snake an occasional slight bite on
the side or on the nose, without materially injuring it,
and evidently without any instinctive desire to feed upon
it; and at length, after they had remained two or three
hours together, in the latter part of which they appeared

* A friend of ours assures us that at least three bushels of different species
of Mice have been killed out of one wheat-rick. We have ourselves often seen
great numbers killed on the removal of a rick. But, with few exceptions, they
have been of the common species, Mus musculus.

COMMON WEASEL. 185

almost indifferent to each other’s presence, we took the
poor snake away and killed it.

Far different was this Weasel’s conduct when a Mouse
was introduced into the cage: it instantly issued from its
little box, and, in a moment, one single bite on the head
pierced the brain, and laid the Mouse dead without a
struggle or a cry. We have observed that when the
Weasel seizes a small animal, at the instant that the
fatal bite is inflicted, it throws its long lithe body over
its prey, so as to secure it should the first bite fail ; an
accident, however, which we have never observed to occur
when a Mouse has been the victim. The power which
the Weasel has of bending the head at right angles with
the long and flexible, though powerful neck, gives it
great advantage in this mode of seizing and killing its
smaller prey. It also frequently assumes this position
when raising itself on the hinder legs to look around.

The disposition which has been attributed to the
Weasel of sucking the blood of its prey, has, we believe,
been generally much exaggerated. Some persons have
positively denied the existence of such a propensity, and
our own observation, as far as it goes, would tend to
confirm that refutation of the commonly received notion.
The first gripe is given on the head, the tooth in ordinary
cases piercing the brain, which it is the Weasel’s first act
of epicurism to eat clean from the skull. The carcase is
then hidden near its haunt, to be resorted to when
required, and part of it often remains until it is nearly
putrid.

The Weasel pursues its prey with facility into small
holes, and amongst the close and tangled herbage of
coppices, thickets, and hedgerows. It follows the Mole
and the Field Mouse in their runs; it threads the mazes
formed in the wheat-rick by the colonies of Mice which

BB

186 MUSTELAD#.

infest it; and its long flexible body, its extraordinary
length of neck, the closeness of its fur, and its extreme
agility and quickness of movement, combine to adapt it
to such habits, in which it is also much aided by its
power of hunting by scent,—a quality which it partakes
in an equal degree with the Stoat. In pursuing a Rat or
a Mouse, therefore, it not only follows it as long as it
remains within sight, but continues the chase after it has
disappeared, with the head raised a little above the
ground, following the exact track recently taken by its
destined prey. Should it lose the scent, it returns to
the point where it was lost, and quarters the ground with
great diligence till it has recovered it; and thus, by dint
of perseverance, will ultimately hunt down a swifter and
even a stronger animal than itself. But this is not all.
In the pertinacity of its pursuit, it will readily take the
water, and swim with great ease after its prey.

It is, however, sometimes itself the prey of hawks;
but the following fact shows that violence and rapine,
even when accompanied by superior strength, are not
always a match for the ingenuity of an inferior enemy.
As a gentleman of the name of Pinder, then residing at
Bloxworth, in Dorsetshire, was riding over his grounds,
he saw, at a short distance from him, a kite pounce on
some object on the ground, and rise with it in his talons.
In a few moments, however, the kite began to show signs
of great uneasiness, rising rapidly in the air, or as quickly
falling, and wheeling irregularly round, whilst it was
evidently endeavouring to force some obnoxious thing
from it with its feet. After a short but sharp contest,
the kite fell suddenly to the earth, not far from where
Mr. Pinder was intently watching the manceuvre. He
instantly rode up to the spot, when a Weasel ran away
from the kite, apparently unhurt, leaving the bird dead,

COMMON WEASEL, 187

with a hole eaten through the skin under the wing, and
the large blood-vessels of the part torn through. A
similar anecdote is related in Loudon’s Magazine of
Natural History, where the dramatis persone were a Stoat
and an eagle; but the truth of it appears not to be
vouched for by the narrator. Of the accuracy of the
present fact there is, however, no doubt, as we knew
Mr. Pinder well, and have often heard the circumstance
related.

The female Weasel is much smaller than the male, and
is no doubt the ‘little reddish beast, not much bigger
than a Field Mouse, but much longer,” mentioned by
White in his Natural History of Selbourne, and called
*‘Cane” by the people of that district. It is known in
Surrey also by the name of “ Kine,” as Mr. Blyth has
informed us. We have received specimens of this animal
from several parts of England, and find, as may be sup-
posed, that it is nothing more than the female Weasel
of unusually small size. She brings forth four, or more
frequently five young, and is said to have two or three
litters in a year. ‘The nest is composed of dry leaves
and herbage, and is warm and dry, being usually placed
in a hole in a bank, in a dry ditch, or a hollow tree.
She will defend her young with the utmost desperation
against any assailant, and sacrifice her own life rather
than desert them; and even when the nest is torn up by
a Dog, rushing out with great fury, and fastening upon
his nose or lips.

We have ourselves had several opportunities of ob-
serving the nest of the Weasel, and in every instance it
was placed ina hole in the ground, which from its size
had much the appearance of having been constructed
by the animal herself. The smallest number of young
observed was four, and the greatest six. Seating our-

BB 2

188 MUSTELADA,

selves on one occasion in a place of concealment, near
one of these nests, we saw the parent bring, in a little
more than an hour, five Mice for her young, which were
playing in and out of the hole. On the arrival of the
mother with the fifth, we shouted, causing a hasty retreat,
the Mouse, which we wished to examine, being left be-
hind. It proved to be a full-grown specimen of the
Field Vole, Arvicola agrestis, and from the general resem-
blance which all bore to this one, we have no doubt that
they were of the same species. They were carried by
the neck, with the body hanging in front of the animal’s
breast, and not in either instance dragged on the ground;
and it was very curious and interesting to see the little
creature come marching along with her load, and with
neck elevated into a vertical position to hold it high
enough to be clear of the ground. Nothing can exceed—
scarcely perhaps equal—the playfulness of a nest of
Weasels about three-fourths grown. Kittens and pup-
ples are proverbially playful, but they are no match
in this respect with the young creatures of which we
are now speaking. ‘They will take hold of each other,
and roll over and over with such rapidity, and cut so
many antics, that the eye can scarcely follow their move-
ments; and then, perhaps, darting into their hole, one
after another, will in a few moments again appear, and
repeating their gambols again disappear, and so on, until
the arrival of the mother, when all will follow her into
the hole, and remain there for some time after she has
again gone forth in quest of more food. We have
always observed that the young, even when fully three-
fourths grown, venture only a few yards from the hole,
and make not the least attempt to purvey for themselves.

Sometimes, though rarely, the Weasel becomes white
in the winter; and the tail, though paler than at other

COMMON WEASEL. 189

times, always retains its reddish tinge, as that of the
Ermine does its black tip. In this state it is the
M. nivalis of Linnzeus. One which we received from
the extreme north of Scotland had two white spots on
each side of the nose, which it retained through the
summer.

The name is Teutonic; the Anglo-Saxon word being
**Wesle,”’ and the Danish ‘‘ Vesel ;” which latter, however,
is equally applied to the Ermine.

We have chosen to retain the generic appellation
Mustela for the present form, in preference to Putorius,
applied to it as a sub-genus by Cuvier, because we con-
sider it as the type of the family ; for which reason also,
the word Martes having been assigned by Ray to the
Martens, we have retained it for that genus instead of
Mustela. Count Keyserling and Professor Blasius, in
their work on the European Vertebrata, ‘‘ Die Wirbel-
theire Europas,” have rejected the genus Martes, and
made use of the old Linnean one, Mustela, for the Mar-
tens; whilst for animals of which we are now treating
they have formed a new genus called Fetorius. We see
no sufficient reason, however, for rejecting the name of
Martes, assigned by Ray to the Martens, and shall con-
tinue the same generic names for this group which were
made use of in the former edition of this work.

It will be unnecessary for us to mention specially the
differeut countries in which the Weasel is found, except-
ing to state that it is distributed over the whole of
Europe, and has been met with near the Amoor River
by Dr. Von Schrenck.

The general form and aspect of the Weasel show it
to be typical in the group of vermiform Carnivora. The
body is extremely slender and arched; the head small
and flattened; the eyes black, and remarkably quick

190 MUSTELADA.

and lively; the ears short and rounded: the neck is
very long, being but little shorter than the trunk, and
very flexible; the tail short, not one-third the length
of the head and body, smaller than that of the rest of
the genus, and without the terminal tuft of long hair
which exists in the Stoat; legs short, and furred to the
end of the toes; fur short and close. The colour of
the upper part of the head, neck, and body, the tail,
the feet, and the outer surface of the legs, is a light
reddish brown; the whole of the inferior parts quite
white. Dimensions :—

Inch. Lines. Inch. Lines.
Length of the head and body (of the male) 8 3 (of the female) 7 0
», of the head a ue) + 16
», of the ears we 0 4 he 0 3
», of the tail es 2 °6 an 2 0

ERMINE WEASEL. 191

CARNIVORA, MUSTELADZ.

ERMINE WEASEL.

STOAT, STOUT, GREATER WEASEL.

Mustela erminea. (Linn.)

Specific Character.—Body reddish brown above, white beneath (in winter
wholly or partially white) ; extremity of the tail black.

Mustela erminea, Lrny. Fn. Suec. II. p. 6, n. 17.—Syst. Nat. I. p. 68.
Dresmar. Mammal. p. 180, sp. 277. Fr. Cuvier, in
Dict. des Sc. Nat. XXIX. p. 250. Frem. Brit. An.
p. 13. Jrnyns, Brit. Vert. p. 13.
Viverra erminea, Suaw, Gen. Zool. I. p. 426, t. xcix.
Foetorius Erminea, Kuys. and Buas. Wirbelth. Europ. pp. 69, 145, Buras.
Wirbelth. Deutsch, I. p. 228.
In the summer dress :—
Roselet, Burron, Hist. Nat. VII. p. 240, t. xxxi. f. 1.
Stoat, Pxrnn. Brit. Zool. p. 84.
In the winter dress :—
TI? Hermine, Burron, |. c. p. 240, t. xxix. f. 2.
Lymine, Penn. 1. c. p. 84.

Tue habits of the Stoat or Ermine, in this country at
least, differ from those of the Weasel, principally with
relation to the difference of size. Although much more

192 MUSTELADE.

destructive than that animal to poultry and to game, the
favourite object of its pursuit is the Common Rat, the
Water Vole, and the Rabbit; as that of the Weasel is
the different species of Mice. Although prevented from
following the latter little pests into their runs, which
are often not much larger than their own _ bodies,
the Stoat nevertheless destroys a great many, as we
have seen a considerable number of Mice brought by
a female Stoat to her young ones; but perhaps the
portability of the prey may in this instance have been
considered. It occasionally attacks Hares, even when
full-grown, pursuing them with the utmost pertina-
city, and hunting them down by dint of its indefatiga-
ble perseverance. The late Rev. F. W. Hope in-
formed us that on one occasion, when shooting in Shrop-
shire, he heard at a short distance the shrill loud scream
of a Hare, which he concluded was just caught in a
poacher’s springe. On running towards the spot from
which the sound proceeded, he saw a Hare limping off,
greatly distressed, with something attached to the side
of the throat, which a nearer approach showed to be a
Stoat. The Hare made its way into the brushwood with
its enemy still holding on. The following anecdote,
related to us by the late Mr. Wells, of Redleaf, in
Kent, affords another remarkable instance of the tenacity
with which the Stoat retains its hold on its prey, and at
the same time offers a somewhat ludicrous example of
the real value of newspaper art-criticism :—Being on a
visit to that gentleman, one of the beautiful Landseers
in his fine collection having attracted our attention, he
gave the following relation respecting it. Some years
before, Mr. (now Sir Edwin) Landseer, being at Redleaf,
the keeper brought in a dying Hare, with a Stoat still
hanging to its throat. The painter seized the oppor-

ERMINE WEASEL. 193

tunity, and immediately made a sketch of the curious
group which he afterwards elaborated, with his unrivalled
talent, into the beautiful picture which was now the
object of our admiration. The picture was duly exhi-
bited at the Royal Academy; and in the ordinary
critique on the exhibition which appeared in one of the
papers of the day, was the following notice of it:—
“No—. We do not consider this one of Mr. Landseer’s
happiest efforts. We never saw a Rabbit so large, nora
Ferret of this colour!” It is a curious fact, that the
Hare, when pursued by the Stoat, does not betake itself
to its natural means of escape, its fleetness of foot,
which would in a few seconds carry it out ef all danger
from its little enemy, and which it always employs when
escaping from the chase of Dogs or of the Fox; on the
contrary, it hops languidly along, evidently aware of
the Stoat’s approach, yet as if incapable of exerting its
powers to avoid the impending destruction. Whether
this arises from a stupid indifference, or from not appre-
ciating its danger, or, on the other hand, from intense

terror, producing an effect similar to that miscalled fasci-
“nation, which the small bright eye of the Rattlesnake
excites in its helpless victims, it is perhaps difficult to
decide.

We are, however, somewhat disposed to believe that
the apathy proceeds from a silly ignorance of danger,
as we have seen a Hare watching the approach of a Stoat,
apparently with great curiosity, and certainly without
the least appearance of fear, and occasionally sitting up
on her hind legs, to get a better view. The actions of
the Stoat, meanwhile, were not less remarkable than
those of the Hare. Instead of making a direct approach,
it committed a hundred extravagant movements, rolling
over and over, leaping up, and even turning summersaults,

OC

194 MUSTELADE.

but nevertheless gradually approaching its victim, which,
excepting for our interference, it would doubtless have
shortly pounced upon and destroyed.

The Stoat is certainly one of the boldest animals of
its size. It pursues its prey with the greatest intrepidity,
even into circumstances of considerable danger, and,
like the Weasel, will follow it into the water: it will
also cross the water for the purpose of besieging the
haunts of the Water Vole, Arvicola amphibius, of which
it destroys great numbers. In swimming, “it lifts the
head and neck well out of the water, likea Dog.” That
the Stoat is also an expert climber, the following state-
ment will fully show:—Mr. W. B. Tomes being attracted
by the clamour of some sparrows in a tree, on looking
up, saw some brown object projecting from the entrance
of anest of one of these birds, which was in the top
branches of the tree. A shot from his fowling-piece
brought down a Stoat, whose fore parts had been con-
cealed within the nest, the contents of which the animal
was doubtless making free with. We saw the tree
shortly afterwards,—an ash, with a clear bole of ten
inches in diameter, such as we should have thought it
scarcely possible for a Stoat to ascend. It hunts its
prey by scent ;—a fact observed by the father of the
author of our former edition very many years since, and
more recently stated by our friend Mr. Hogg, in his
interesting paper on the habits of the Stoat, to which we
shall have occasion again to refer. In short, in all these
circumstances, its habits are exactly similar to those of
the Weasel. Like that animal, too, it is known often to
make use of the excavations of the Mole for its winter
retreats.

Of all the animals with which we are acquainted, the
Stoat is the most playful. Not even the lively Squirrel,

ERMINE WEASEL. 195

nor yet the Weasel (so long noted for its activity and
vigilance, as to have furnished a theme for a popular
song, and an equally well-known proverb), can vie with
the Stoat in the activity and eccentricity of its gambols.
We have occasionally seen one on a bit of bare ground,
or closely browsed turf, suddenly dart off into the most
extravagant antics imaginable, running at top speed in
every direction, backward and forward, lunging from
side to side in its course, and alternately showing its
brown back and white belly ; then, perhaps, rolling over
and over, leaping into the air, or turning a summersault,
and then back again, forming a double summersault ;
and at last, perhaps, bounding off and away in a series
of leaps, which scarcely any other creature of its size
could accomplish.

But it is not merely when disposed for a game of
play that the Stoat will show these antics. We have
already alluded to the playful demeanour of one when
within sight of a Hare; and we may here further remark
that the same propensity is often exhibited when in the
energetic pursuit of prey. ‘The scent—to use a sporting
phrase—is frequently followed by making a series of
casts, backward and forward, across the direct line, and
at each double the Stoat will make a leap or turn a
summersault.

The female brings about five young ones in the month
of April or May.

We have seen the young ones, about the haymaking
season, of nearly the size of the mother, but showing
not the least inclination to cater for themselves, spending
the whole of the time when she was absent foraging, in
playing with each other near the mouth of the hole,
which in all the instances we have met with was in a dry

bank.

to

CC

196 MUSTELAD®E.

The winter change of colour which this species so
universally assumes in northern climates, is not only
matter of much interest to the naturalist and the phy-
siologist, but, as we shall presently see, of considerable
importance also in a commercial point of view. The
whole of the coloured parts of the fur become of the
purest white, excepting the extremity of the tail, which
remains permanently black; and the under parts retain
a slight yellowish tinge. This is effected, not by the
loss of the summer coat and the substitution of a new
one for the winter, but by the actual change of colour
in the existing fur. It is not easy to offer a satis-
factory theory for this phenomenon, but we may per-
haps conclude that it arises from a similar cause to that
which produces the grey hair of senility in man, and
some other animals: of this instances have occurred in
which the whole hair has become white in the course of
a few hours, from excessive grief, anxiety, or fear; and
the access of very sudden and severe cold has been
known to produce, almost as speedily, the winter change
in animals of those species which are prone to it. This
transition from one state of the coat to the other does
not take place through any gradation of shade in the
general hue, but by patches here and there of the winter
colour intermixed with that of the summer, giving a pied
covering to the animal.

In northern latitudes, even in the alpine districts of
Scotland, this change is universal; but farther south it
becomes an occasional, and even rare, occurrence. In
Northumberland, Durham, and other counties in the
north of England, it is very frequent, although far
from general; in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and the
Midland Counties generally, it is sometimes seen; and
there are two specimens of the Ermine in the Museum

ERMINE WEASEL. 197

of the Philosophical Society of Cambridge taken in that
county. Mr. Couch, of Polperro, states that he has seen
it more than once in Cornwall.

An intelligent labourer at Selbourne, whose habits of
life formerly gave him greater opportunity of observing
the fere naturd than would be strictly legal, assures us
that he has repeatedly seen the Stoat in its white dress,
and occasionally in its pied or transition colours, in that
neighbourhood. One in this state of partial change,
killed on Selbourne Hill, we have ourselves presented
to the Alton Museum.

It appears to be established that, whatever may be the
change which takes place in the structure of the hair,
upon which the alteration of colour immediately depends,
this transition from the summer to the winter colours is
primarily occasioned by actual change of temperature,
and not by the mere advance of the season. The obser-
vations of our friend John Hogg, Esq., contained partly
in an excellent paper on the subject in the fifth volume
of Loudon’s *‘ Magazine of Natural History,” and partly
in a letter with which he has favoured us since the pub-
lication of that paper, tend amply to confirm this view of
the matter. ‘‘ Within the last nine years,” says Mr.
Hogg, writing from the county of Durham, “I have had
the good fortune to meet with two Ermines alive, and in
two of the most different winters that have occurred for
a great many years: the one was in the extremely severe
winter of January to March, 1823, and the other was in
the almost as extremely mild January of the present year
(1832). In consequence of the months of December, 1831,
and January, 1832, having been so extremely mild, I was
greatly surprised to find this Stoat clothed in his winter
fur; and the more so, because I had seen, about three
weeks or a month before, a Stoat in its summer coat or

198 MUSTELAD.

brown fur. I was therefore naturally led to consider
whether the respective situations, which the brown and
white Stoats seen by me this warm winter inhabited,
could alone account for the difference of the colours of
their fur in any clear and satisfactory manner. The
situation, then, where the brown Stoat was seen, is in
N. lat. 54° 32’ nearly, and W. long. 1° 19’ nearly, upon
a plain elevated a very few feet above the level of the
river Tees, in the county of Durham. Again, the place
where I met with the Ermine, or white Stoat, on the
23rd of January, 1832, is in the North Riding of York-
shire, m N. lat. 54° 12’ nearly, and W. long. 1° 13’
nearly: it is situated at a very considerable elevation,
and in the immediate neighbourhood of the lofty moor-
lands called the Hambledon Hills. These constitute
the south-western range of the Cleveland Hills, which
rise in height from 1,100 feet to 1,200 feet above the sea.
At the time, the Ermine was making its way towards the
hills, where, no doubt, he lived, or frequently haunted ;
and, consequently, the great coldness of the atmosphere,
even in so mild a winter, upon so elevated and bleak a
spot as that moorland, would satisfactorily account for
the appearance of the animal in its white fur; although
the place is, in a direct line, more than twenty-three miles
distant to the south of the fields near the Tees inhabited
by the brown Stoat.”

We have repeatedly seen the Stoat in Warwickshire
more or less marked with white; and having examined a
considerable number of specimens, can from our own ex-
perience make a pretty accurate statement of the com-
mencement and progress of the change in the colour of
the fur, which occasions this piebald and peculiar appear-
ance. The first indications of alteration in colour are
such as might readily escape observation. It is on the

ERMINE WEASEL. 199

basal or brown part of the tail and on the toes that the
white first makes its appearance ; and after this, the white
of the belly extends upwards on the animal’s sides, thus
destroying the regularity of the line where the brown and
white meet; about the same time the limbs become
powdered with white. A more advanced stage shows the
limbs and root of the tail white, and the brown of the
back reduced to a narrow stripe, excepting on the rump,
which, with the head and hind neck, is the latest to
change ; and, in fact, these parts rarely become quite
white in this country.

The following statement of an experiment recorded in
the account of the former voyage of Captain Ross to the
Polar regions, offers an interesting confirmation of the
theory above offered, though the animal which was the
subject of it belonged to a very different group. It was
the Hudson’s Bay Lemming :—

** As it retained its summer fur, I was induced to try
the effect of exposing it to the winter temperature. It
was accordingly placed on deck in a cage on the Ist of
February ; and next morning, after having been exposed
to a temperature of 30° below zero, the fur on the cheeks
and a patch on each shoulder had become perfectly white.
On the following day the patches on the shoulders had
extended considerably, and the posterior part of the body
and flanks had turned to a dirty white. At the end of a
week it was entirely white, with the exception of a dark
band across the shoulders, prolonged posteriorly down to
the middle of the back.” It is unnecessary sto, pursue
the details of this cruel but conclusive experiment
further; it obviously proves that a low temperature
alone is sufficient to blanch the fur in such animals as are
susceptible of sucha change. It also clearly shows that
the view which we have taken of the mode in which this

200 MUSTELAD A.

change takes place, by the actual change of colour in the
existing fur, is the true one.

But what is the final cause of this curious phenome-
non? What object connected with the well-being of
the subjects of it does it effect in their favour? One
object, undoubtedly, is the safety they obtain by the
concealment afforded them, by an approximation to the
colour of the earth’s winter covering. The Ptarmigan,
the Alpine Hare, and many other mammalia and birds,
are all more or less liable to become the prey of rapacious
birds or quadrupeds, which are directed in the chase by
their sight. The mottled browns which form the prin-
cipal summer colours of these creatures, are well adapted
for their concealment amongst the brown heaths and fern
of the summer and autumn; but such colours would
render them conspicuous by contrast amongst the snows
of winter.

But this, though perhaps the most obvious, is not the
most important advantage gained by the assumption of
the white clothing in the winter season. It is too well
known to require more than an allusion, that although
the darker colours absorb heat to a greater degree than
lighter ones, so that dark-coloured clothing is much
warmer than light-coloured, when the wearer is exposed
to the sun’s rays—the radiation of heat is also much
greater from dark than from light-coloured surfaces, and
consequently the animal heat from within is more com-
pletely retained by a white than by a dark covering ;
the temperature, therefore, of an animal having white fur,
would continue more equable than that of one clothed
in darker colours, although the latter would enjoy a
greater degree of warmth whilst exposed to the sun’s
influence. Thus the mere presence of a degree of cold,
sufficient to prove hurtful, if not fatal, to the animal, is

ERMINE WEASEL. 201

itself the immediate cause of such change in its condi-
tion as shall at once negative its injurious influence.

This winter change of the fur, and the permanency of
the black colour of the tail, render the fur of the Ermine
one of the most beautiful and valuable. When made up,
the tails are inserted, one to each skin, at regular dis-
tances, and in the quincunx order; and the pure white
of the skin is thus relieved and set off by the rich black
of the tail. It is not only much used for the winter
garments of ladies, but it forms the distinctive doubling
of the robes of state of kings and nobles, as well as of
their crowns and coronets. ‘The early employment of
this fur for such uses occasioned its introduction amongst
the tinctures of heraldry, in which it is frequently
adopted, either as the ground of the shield, or the colour
of the bearings.

The few specimens of the fur which could be obtained
in this country, even in the northern parts of the island,
are very inferior, in beauty and value, to those which
are imported from those far northern climates in which
they abound, as Russia, Norway, Siberia, and Lapland ;
where they must be exceedingly numerous, as our own im-
portation alone in 1833 amounted to 105,139. The great
superiority of these northern skins consists in the fur
being longer, thicker, and of a purer and brighter colour.

Besides being generally distributed in Europe, the Stoat
has been met with by the Russian naturalist, Dr. Von
Schrenck, in the vicinity of the Amoor River, in China.

The derivation of the word Stoat is very probably, as
Skinner has it, from the Belgic ‘‘ Stout,” bold; and the
name is so pronounced in Cambridgeshire and in some
other parts of England to the present time. Gwillim,
in his “ Display of Heraldrie,” gives the following etymo-
logy of Ermine :—‘ This is a little beast, lesse than a

1D) 10)

202 MUSTELADA.

Squirrell, that hath his being in the woods of the land
of Armenia, whereof hee taketh his name.”

The Stoat is about one-third larger than the Weasel,
which in its form it almost exactly resembles; the head
is a little broader in proportion to its length, and the
taillonger.. The upper part of the head, neck, and body,
and the greater part of the tail, are of a pale reddish-
brown colour; the under parts white, with a very slight
tinge of yellow; margins of the ears and toes white; tip
of the tail black, and somewhat bushy. In the winter,
the whole of the body becomes white, slightly tinged
with yellow, the extremity of the tail remaining perma-
nently black. In the autumn and in the spring it is
found pied with patches of the summer colour, inter-
mixed with the white of winter. Dimensions :—

Female. Male.
Inch. Lines. Inch. Lines.
Length of the head and body ae9 0 HO)
>, of the head : oak 0 2 3
> Of thevears) 5. ; ; «0 4} 0 5
3, of the tail 4 8 6 5

FITCHET WEASEL. 208

CARNIVORA. MUSTELADA.

FITCHET WEASEL.

FITCHEW, POLECAT, FOUMART, FULIMART.

Mustela putorius.

Specific Character.—Fur long, dark brown on the surface, yellowish
beneath ; head blackish, with white spots about the ears and mouth; tail
about one-third the length of the head and body.

Mustela putorius, Lixy. Fn. Suec. II. f. 6.—Syst. Nat. I.p.167. Desmar.
Mammal. p. 177, sp. 271. Fem. Brit, An, p. 14.
Jenyns, Brit, Vert. p. 11.
5, eversmani, Lesson, Man. p. 144.
Viverra putorius, Suaw, Gen. Zool. I. p. 415, t. xeviii.
Foetorius putorius, Krys. and Buas. Wirbelth. Europ. p. 62. Bras. Wirbelth.
Deutsch. p. 222.

Putois, Burron, Hist. Nat. VII. p. 199, t. exxiii.
Fitchet Weasel, Punnant, Brit. Zool. I. p. 89, t. vi.
Polecat, Suaw, Gen. Zool. 1. ¢.

Tue Fitchet, Fitcher, or, as it is more frequently
termed, the Polecat, although smaller than either of the
Martens, is the largest of the indigenous species of the
restricted genus Mustela. In its habits it greatly re-
sembles the two former species; but instead of being
contented with the lesser quadrupeds and birds, it attacks

204 MUSTELAD A,

Rabbits, Hares, or Partridges, and commits great ravages
in the hen-house or poultry-yard, where it destroys great
numbers, not only of chickens and ducklings, but of full-
grown poultry; and even ventures to attack geese and
turkeys ;—no less than sixteen of the latter large and
powerful birds having been known to be killed by a
single Polecat in the course of one night: for, like the
other species of the genus, it takes advantage of oppor-
tunity, and destroys many more than it can eat at once ;
and after making an epicurean repast on the brains, and
quenching its thirst with the blood of its victims,—in
which peculiarities it probably exceeds most of the other
Weasels,—it carries off the carcases to its haunts, where
portions of them are often found in a state of putridity.
Their usual place of retirement is in woods or coppices
situated at no great distance from farms; from whence
they issue about the dusk of evening, or later, to prey
upon any living thing, of manageable size, which may
come within their reach. Nevill Wood, Esq., of Foston
Hall, in Derbyshire, has informed us that ‘‘some years
ago he had ten fine young ducks, which were shut up
every night in a small outhouse, destroyed in one night
by a Polecat ; and on entering the place in the morning,
he found every one of them lying dead, each with a hole
in the neck; and in a few moments the perpetrator of
the bloody deed marched out towards him, licking his yet
bloody jaws, and without exhibiting the slightest alarm.
Indeed,” says Mr. Wood, “it is a curious fact, that this
animal generally kills all the poultry in the apartment it
plunders, be they never so many.”

But if the Polecat be so formidable an enemy to the
farmyard, it is not less so to the game-preserve and the
warren. The destruction which it occasions amongst the
eges and young of Pheasants and Partridges, young

FITCHET WEASEL. 205

Hares and Rabbits, is incalculable; and in the latter
case particularly, it follows these animals into their bur-
rows with such facility, that a single family of Polecats
would shortly produce a sensible diminution in numbers
amongst the denizens of a whole warren.

However, of late years, the Polecat, like many other of
our indigenous mammals of considerable size, which are
fast tending towards extermination, has become much
less common, and its depredations are probably confined
to such districts as have deep woods and other inaccessi-
ble retreats.

Bewick has given a figure of the Fitchet—and a very
spirited one it is—in the act of holding an eel which he
has just caught. This figure is intended to perpetuate a
curious fact, of an individual of this species having been
observed repeatedly to resort to the bank of a river in
search of those fish, of which no less than eleven were
found in its retreat. A no less curious example of aber-
rant appetite in this animal is related in Loudon’s Maga-
zine,* of a female Polecat which was pursued to her nest,
where were found five young ones *‘ comfortably embedded
in dry withered grass; and where they were lodged, all
things were tight and snug to a wonder; but,” says the
narrator, ‘‘ in a side hole I picked out and counted most
carefully forty large frogs and two toads. These were
all alive, but merely so; capable of sprawling a little,
and that was all: for the mother had contrived to strike
them all with palsy. They were merely capable of spraw-
ling, and not of moving away; and on examination I
found that the whole number, toads and all, were bitten
through the brain.” There are numerous facts confirma-
tory of this predilection for frogs; and it is perfectly
consistent with the habits of some of its congeners. A

* Vol. vie p. 206.

206 MUSTELADA.

tame Grison, Galictis vittata,* which we possessed for
several years, was very fond of frogs; but these were
not the only reptiles which were obnoxious to its voracity.
On one occasion, in the winter, we had placed it in its
cage, in a room with a fire, where we had also two young
alligators, which in general were stupidly tame; on going
into the room in the morning, we found the Grison at
large, and one of the alligators dead, with a hole eaten
under the fore-leg, where the great nerves and blood-
vessels were torn through ; and the other alligator began
snapping furiously at every one who attempted to ap-
proach it.

The female Polecat brings four, five, or six young, in
May or the beginning of June. She makes her nest in
some retired place, in a rabbit-burrow, in holes of rocks,
or amongst heaps of stones grown over with herbage or
brushwood.

The long fur of this animal, though far less beautiful
and of inferior value to that of the Sable, or even of the
Marten, is still much esteemed, and numbers are annu-
ally imported here from the north of Europe, under the
name of Fitch.

The common name of this species, Polecat, is pro-
bably nothing more than Polish Cat. Foumart, Fulmart,
Fulimart, ave contractions of Foul Marten, a name applied
to it in contradistinction to the Sweet Marten, on account
of the disgusting odour produced by the exudation of
a fetid secretion from a pouch or follicle under the tail,
and which is even more. intolerable than that of the
Common Weasel or the Stoat.

The general form of the Fitchet is rather stouter in
proportion than that of either of the former species,
closely resembling, in fact, large examples of the com-

* See Trans. Zool. Soc. Vol. II. p. 208.

FITCHET WEASED. 207

mon Ferret: the head is broader; the nose rather
sharp; the ears round, and not very conspicuous; the
neck of less proportional length than in the others; the
tail rather bushy, and little more than one-third the
length of the body and head. The fur of the body is
of two sorts: the shorter being woolly, of a pale yel-
lowish or fulvous colour; the longer shining, and of a
rich black or brownish black. From this results a general
brown colour, mixed with yellow, which varies according
to the proportion in which the two kinds of fur are seen.
The head, tail, and feet are the darkest parts; and some
marks about the mouth and the ears are white.

Whether the domesticated Ferret (M. furo, Linn.) is
merely a variety of the Polecat, or a distinct species, is
still a subject of dispute among naturalists. It is im-
possible to point out any constant anatomical distinction
between the animals, and they are said to breed freely
with one another. On the other hand, the intolerance of
cold of the Ferret has been considered as evidence of
its being derived from an original stock brought from
Africa or some other tropical land.

Dimensions :— Feet. Inch. Lines.

Length of the head and body ; : : ce 5 0
5, of the head ; : 2 : 7 0 3 4
», of the ears : : : ; ; 0) 0 5
», of the tail 0 6 0

208 MUSTELADA.

CARNIVORA. MUSTELADA

Genus, Martes. (Ray.)

MARTEN.

Generic Character.—Grinding teeth 2:4 ; body much elongated ; feet short,
with separate toes ; tongue smooth.
COMMON MARTEN.
MARTERON, MARTERN, MARTLETT, STONE MARTEN,
BEECH MARTEN.
Martes foina.

Specific Character.—Greyish-brown ; throat white ; under-fur whitish.
The third upper grinder convex on its outer margin; the fifth notched

externally.
Mustela martes, var. gutture albo, Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 67.
5» fowma, Guet. Lyn. Syst. Nat. p. 95. Dusmar. Mammal.
p. 182. Jxnyns, Brit. Vert. p. 11. Buastus Siugeth.
pacly.
Martes fagorum, Ray, Syn. p. 200. Frum. Brit. An. p. 14.
saxorum, Kern, Quad. p 64.

”

La Fowine, Burron, Hist. Nat. VII. p. 161, t. xviii.

Martern, Marteron, Murrett, Pinax, p. 167.
Marten, Penn. Brit. Zool. I, p. 92, No, 13, t. vi. Saw, Gen.

Zool. I. p. 409.

COMMON MARTEN. 209

THE generic separation of the Weasels from the Mar-
tens appears to be perfectly justified by their habits no
less than by their structure. Exhibiting the carnivorous
and sanguinary propensity in an extreme degree, and
confined principally, though not exclusively, to the
ground for their accustomed habitation as well as for
their food, the whole of the true Weasels possess a still
more elongated body than the Martens, with shorter ears
and tail, and a closer fur: they have also fewer false
grinding teeth, by one on each side, both of the upper
and lower jaw. The Martens, on the other hand, reside
chiefly in trees, and their structure is admirably suited
for such haunts. Creeping from branch to branch in
silent and stealthy pursuit of Birds, Squirrels, and
other small animals, their sharp and long claws afford
them a firm and secure hold of the bark, whilst the long
and somewhat bushy tail must considerably aid them in
maintaining their balance on the boughs; the ears too
are large and open,—a circumstance which is of great
advantage to them in discovering and pursuing their prey,
amidst the dense foliage in which they love to conceal
themselves ; and, upon the whole, the typical structure
of the Martens is evidently intended to fit them for living
in trees, whilst that of the Weasels is as obviously suited
for the pursuit of animals not only on the ground, but
in the burrows and other subterranean retreats to which
their peculiar prey resorts.

It is, however, true that the animals belonging both to
the one and the other of these forms, occasionally deviate
from the habits which more particularly belong to them.
Many of the Weasels are known at times to resort to
trees in pursuit of the smaller birds, and especially for
the purpose of attacking their nests, from which they
devour both eggs and young; whilst the Martens often

EOE

210 MUSTELAD A.

descend to the ground and destroy not only Mice, Rats,
Moles, and other small quadrupeds, but Rabbits, Hares,
and, as it is asserted, even Lambs. They are very de-
structive to game of every kind, and to all sorts of
domestic poultry, from the Pigeon to the Turkey. It has
also been stated that in Scotland the Marten, as well as
the Fox, will descend to the sea-shore at low tide, and
carry off numbers of the large muscle, Modiola vulgaris,
to feed upon them; and Professor Rolleston speaks of
their “ fruit-eating tendency when ina state of domesticity,
which is significant, as it separates them more or less from
the true Weasels.”

There are few groups in the whole class of quadrupeds
which offer more stubborn difficulties to the zoologist,
as regards the discrimination of the species, than the
Martens. Agreeing not only in the more essential
generic characters, but in the general tone and arrange-
ment of the colours, there has always been some diffi-
culty in ascertaining, especially with the two British
Martens, whether they constitute varieties only, or
whether they really possess distinctive specific characters.
Albertus Magnus, followed by Agricola, Gesner, and
Aldrovandus, have all treated of them; though, with the
exception of Agricola, they throw but little hght upon
the present question. He indeed describes them as
distinct, and assigns to them the same differences in
habit, as have since been attributed to them by Buffon.
But Linneus did net recognize the distinction ; and it
is only in the last edition of his Systema Nature, that
he appears even to have been aware of the variety.
‘*Varietas duplex rusticis,’ he observes; “ Fagorum
gutture albo; Abietum gutture flavo.” Klein and
Brisson revived the former opinion of their being dis-
tinct; and although Daubenton, with the caution of an

COMMON MARTEN. 211

accurate observer of nature, and sincere lover of truth, ac-
knowledges his doubts upon the subject, Buffon embraces
and maintains their distinctness with his accustomed
sacrifice or distortion of facts, apparently only to afford
him an opportunity of displaying the usual eloquence of
his comparisons or contrasts. Pennant takes the same
view, in which he has been followed by subsequent
British faunists, as well as by Blasius in his “ Siiugethiere
Deutschlands.” Our late valued friend, Edward T. Ben-
nett, Ksq., formerly the accomplished secretary of the
Zoological Society, drew up an interesting and very
lucid statement of these various opinions, and the
grounds on which they have been maintained, in his
usual masterly manner, including in this comparison the
Sable, which future observations may perhaps prove to
be merely a variety of the Pine Marten.*

A deliberate consideration of these and other autho-
rities, and a comparison of many specimens of both
kinds, had, when the first edition of this work was
written, failed to lead us to a conclusion at all satisfac-
tory to our own mind, and it was only with the precau-
tion of a protest against being considered as decidedly
supporting the opinion that they are essentially different,
that we ventured then to assign to them a distinctive,
specific character. Impressed with these difficulties, we
some time since invited, through the medium of the

* At the very hour when the author was writing the above sentence, the
sanguine hopes which a sudden improvement in Mr. Bennett’s health had
raised, were at once crushed ; and friendship and science have to mourn to-
gether a loss which can scarcely be repaired. This excellent person was alike
distinguished by the extent of his information, the solidity of his judgment,
the affectionate sincerity of his heart, and the high unflinching rectitude of
his life. Under a retiring and modest exterior, he possessed qualities which
might have adorned a far more public and prominent career than his ; but,
loving science and his friends for their own sake, he was satisfied with the
approbation of the wise, and the affection of those who enjoyed the happiness
and privilege of his regard.—Wole to the First Edition.

pL hy. MUSTELADA.

« Bield,” such information from practical observers as
might assist us in solving this vexed question ; and we
have to thank several intelligent correspondents for their
courtesy in replying to our request.* The result of all
our recent investigations, then, is to confirm us decidedly
in the opinion that the two forms are specifically distinct ;
and this conviction is strongly corroborated by its being
held by Professor Rolleston, who, from extensive oppor-
tunities of comparing the animals, and from the observa-
tion of considerable osteological differences, comes to the
same conclusion.

The practical experience of intelligent sportsmen,
whose opportunities of personal observation have not
been neglected, are always valuable, not only as regards
the biography of the animals, but incidentally also as to
the scientific phase of the subject. A letter with which
we have been favoured from R. T. Vyner, Esq., of
Wheatley, in Oxfordshire, while it affords much amusing
information on the habits of these and some other of
our native animals, throws much light upon the specific
distinctness of the two forms, and is confirmatory of
the view now taken. This gentleman concludes that
the Beech Marten is at present much less common than
the Pine, and is, indeed, now very nearly extinct in
England, which is accounted for by its habit of leaving
its summer haunts of woods and rocky places, to inhabit,
in the winter, farm buildings, faggot-stacks, and other
similar localities, and thus becoming exposed to various
means of destruction. ‘The Pine Marten, on the con-
trary, continues to inhabit, at all seasons of the year, its

* The gentlemen to whom we are thus indebted are R. T. Vyner, Esq., of
The Elms, Wheatley, Oxfordshire ; Capt. Edwards, of Tychés, Haverfordwest ;
W. H. Wayne, jun., Esq., of Tickwood Hall, Salop ; C. H. Binstead, Esq., of

Grasmere, Westmoreland ; and our friend the Rev. E. Elton. To Prof. Rolles-
ton our thanks are specially due for much interesting information.

COMMON MARTEN. 213

accustomed retired haunts, rarely, if ever, intruding into
the immediate purlieus of human habitations.

The present species is also found to inhabit the
sides of mountains or rocks,—from whence its names of
Stone Marten, Stein Marder, Martes Saxorum,—where it
chooses its retreat in any commodious fissures or excava-
tions. It has now and then been known to take up its
abode in the neighbourhood of farms, and to commit con-
tinual depredations on the poultry-yard. It is difficult
to imagine upon what ground this animal could have
been considered as the Pine Marten in a domesticated
condition ; yet we find Buffon gravely proving the con-
trary by a comparison of the two with the wild and
domestic Cat. The present species is in truth as wild as
its congener; and in this respect differs from it only by
venturing, with somewhat greater boldness, to the neigh-
bourhood of the habitations of man.

The female makes her nest generally in a hollow tree,
but not unfrequently in holes in rocks, sometimes in
ruined buildings, or even in granaries and barns: it is
formed of straw or grass. She has at least two litters in
a year; some assert four: and the number of young
ones at each birth varies from two to seven; the usual
number being four or five.

The aspect and attitudes of the Marten are perhaps
more elegant than those of any other of our native
quadrupeds, unless we except the Otter in pursuit of its
prey in the water. Endowed with great liveliness and
activity, its movements are at once rapid and gracile.
Its limbs are elastic, its body lithe and flexible, and it
bounds and springs over the ground with equal speed
and grace. It is, however, wild and untameable to a
ereat degree, if captured when full-grown, or after a
very early age. A specimen formerly in the Zoological

214 MUSTELADA.

Gardens was excessively timid and wild: if it were
driven from its close box into the outer part of the cage,
which could only be done by force, it would bound
recklessly from one side to another, striking itself against
the wires with great violence. If, however, it be taken
young, it is susceptible of great docility, and the remark-
able elegance of its form, the beauty of its fur, and the
playfulness of its manners, when thoroughly reclaimed,
render it one of the most pleasing of pets: neither has
it in the same degree that disgusting odour which cha-
racterizes all the Weasels; for although it has similar
scent-glands, the secretion is less fetid, and in the Pine
Marten is considered by many to be absolutely agreeable.
Hence its name of Sweet Marten, in contradistinction
to the Foumart (quasi Foul-marten), or Polecat. Mr.
Vyner, however, who has taken many specimens when
sporting in France, informs us, that on being skinned,
a very unpleasant faint odour is perceived, which is not
the case with the Pine Marten.

In a very learned and elaborate paper published in
the Cambridge “‘ Journal of Anatomy and Physiology,”
Prof. Rolleston has enunciated the theory that “ the
white-breasted Marten (Mustela Foina) was the animal
which the ancient Greeks and Romans employed for the
sane domestic purposes for which we employ the Felis
domesticus.”” He says, ‘* I shall address myself to showing
that the white-breasted Marten, which is known also as
the ‘Beech Marten’ or ‘Stone Marten,’ was function-
ally the ‘Cat’ of the Ancients.” The paper will well
repay careful examination. It exhibits the well-known
largeness and originality of the author’s criticism, and
the subject is exhaustively treated from the literary
point of view by very numerous quotations from classical
authorities.

COMMON MARTEN. 215

The fur of this animal is of much less value than that
of the yellow-breasted Marten, and bears no comparison
with that of the Sable: there are, however, great num-
bers imported into this country from the North of
Europe, and they are frequently dyed and sold as an in-
ferior kind of Sable. The inferiority of its fur consists
not only in the colour and actual length, but in the
relative length of the longer hair when compared with
the inner soft downy hair, which it scarcely conceals ;
and hence the texture as well as the colour of the fur is
much deteriorated. It is known to furriers by the name
of Stone Marten. The length and beauty of this fur,
as well as of that of most other animals of the kind, is
much increased by the accession of cold weather, from
climate or season. Thus the northern skins are more
full and of a finer colour and gloss than those from a
more temperate climate, and all of them more so in the
winter than in the summer.

Professor Rolleston differs considerably from Blasius
as to the relative lengths of the two species. He assigns
the relative length of the body (including, we presume,
the head) and the tail as 18 in. +12 in.= 380 inches to
Martes Abietum, and 16 + 8=24 inches to M. Foina.
Blasius gives to the former 17” 6” +3” 10” +4 9”’= 80” 4”,
and to the latter, 17” + 3 8’ + 9’= 29” 8”.

The head of the Marten is somewhat triangular; the
muzzle pointed ; the nose extending a little beyond the
lips; the eyes large, prominent, and remarkably lively; the
ears large, open, and rounded; the body much elongated
and very flexible; the tail long, thick, and somewhat
bushy ; the feet rather short; the toes generally naked,
but at times, probably in the winter, covered beneath
with a thin soft hair. The fur is of two sorts: the inner,
extremely soft, short, copious, and of a light yellowish-

216 MUSTELAD®.

grey colour; the outer, very long, shining, ash-coloured
at the roots, brown at the extremity, but of different
degrees of intensity at different parts of the body; the
middle of the back, the tail, the outer parts of the legs
and the feet, being darker than the other parts ; the belly
lighter and greyer: the throat is white; in one instance
we have seen it of a light yellowish tinge: the inner sur-
face and margin of the ears are also whitish.

Dimensions of Beech Marten, as given by Blasius :—

Inch. Lines.
0

bo
for)

Total length : :
Length of body . ; 4
>, head
soe alls
oe ipeean :
3etween eye and snout
Between eye and ear
Opening of the eye
Upper arm
Lower arm
Fore-foot, with nail é : :
Thigh : 5 : : 5
Leg . j :
Hind-foot, with nail

a

WBOWNNNN CH rHE DOWN

Or Oe WD OO O&
ee On

My Xe

PINE MARTEN. PANY

CARNIVORA. MUSTELAD A,

PINE MARTEN.

Martes abietum.

Specific Character. — Rich brown ; throat yellow ; under-fur yellowish-grey.
The third upper grinder concave on its outer margin ; the fifth simply rounded
externally.

Mustela martes, Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 67. Dzsmar. Mammal. p. 181,
sp. 280, Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 11. Buasius, Siiugeth.

p. 213.
Martes abietum, Ray, Syn. Quad. 200. Fre. Brit. An. p. 14.
La Marte, Burron, Hist. Nat. VII. p. 190, t. xxii.
Pine Marten, Penn. Brit. Zool. I. p. 94. Swaw, Gen. Zool. I. p. 410.

WE have already described the principal characters by
which the two species of Martens are distinguished, the
most obvious of which are those of colour. But as these
are always associated with certain tangible diversities in
size and proportion, and as the habits of the two animals
also offer considerable variation, there appears to be satis-
factory ground for considering them as specifically distinct.
The Pine Marten is so called from its preference for the

¥ F

218 MUSTELAD®.

forests of those trees, as the former is called by some
the Beech Marten, from a similar supposed preference
for beech woods. There is, however, scarcely sufficient
ground for the exclusive appropriation of the two species
to these different localities. The Pine Marten is certainly
attached to pine forests; but it is because the pine forests
are abundant in those places which, for climate as well as
for the production of its food, are most suited to its wants
and habits.

Although probably existing in greater numbers than
the other in this country, it is less frequently trapped or
shot, which arises from its retiring to more remote and
unfrequented places, such as the depths of forests,
shunning the neighbourhood of man. It is equally agile,
equally destructive to birds and the smaller animals, and
still more timid and wild. All the Martens which we have
ourselves met with in Scotland have been of this species.

The female makes her nest of moss and leaves in the
hollow trunks of trees, or usurps that of the Squirrel or
the Woodpecker. The number of young ones at a birth
is stated to be usually but two or three.

The principal structural differences between them have
been already adverted to. The fur in the present species
is much more abundant, of a finer and softer texture, and
of a much richer colour ; and is consequently more highly
valued, though it is not nearly equal to that of the Sable.

In the essay which we have quoted before, by Mr. Ben-
nett, on the comparison of the Beech and Pine Martens
and the Sable, that gentleman showed, with his usual acu-
men and extensive knowledge, the difficulties which exist
in separating the Sable from the present species. The
colour of the fur is scarcely a tangible or satisfactory dis-
tinction, for different individuals of the former species
vary quite as much in this respect as the Pine Marten and

PINE MARTEN. 219

the Sable: the existence of fur on the toes, which has been
adduced as a character of the Sable, probably depends on
climate, and it is mentioned by Pennant as having been
observed by him in the Common Marten. Never having
seen an undoubted whole specimen of the true Sable, we
are unable to offer any satisfactory addition to our know-
ledge onthe more important characters of the two animals;
but we have found, in the examination of numbers of the
finest Sable skins, that the yellow patch on the throat had
always an irregular outline, and that there were also small
spots of the same fine colour scattered on the sides of the
neck. This is a distribution of the colour which we have
never observed either on the Common or Pine Marten.
We offer the fact, however, merely as one which, combined
with other characters, may possibly aid in determining the
question when we have fuller information on the subject.

Dimensions of the Pine Marten, as given by Blasius :—

In. Lines.

Total length : : c é 5 2 0
Length of body . 17 6

», of head 3. 10

» of tail g 0

», of ear : 1 8
Between eyes and snout 1 4-2

» eyesandear . : : : el 15
Opening of the eye 5 6
Length of upper arm . ; ‘ : ae 7

>, of lowerarm . : : : EZ 8
Fore-foot, with nail 2 24+.5''5
Thigh ae
Leg , s 3 5
Hind-foot, with nail 3 6+5”

220 FELIDA.

CARNIVORA. FELIDA.

Genus, Felis.

CAT.

Generic Character.—Grinding teeth 4:4. No tubercular grinder in the

lower jaw ; tongue armed with recurved horny papille ; claws retractile.

WILD CAT.
Felis catus. Linn.

Specific Character. —Yellowish grey, with a dark longitudinal stripe along
the back, and numerous obscure transverse stripes on the sides ; tail of equal
thickness throughout, less than half the length of the head and body, grey,
annulated and tipped with black.

Felis catus, Linn. Fn. Suec. 9.—Syst. Nat. I p. 62.6. Desmar. Mam.
p. 232, sp. 366. Tumm. Monogr. p. 126. Firm, Brit.
An. p. 15. JuEnyns, Brit. Vert. p. 14. Buas. Stugeth.
Deutsch. p. 162, fig. 101.

Felis sylvatica, Merrert, Pin. p. 169.

Chat sauvage, Burron, Hist. Nat. VI. t. i.

Wild Cat, Pennant, Brit. Quad. I. p. 81.

Common Wild Cat, Jarprnn, Feline, p. 248, t. xxix.

Ir is impossible to take even the most casual view of

the form and structure of the family to which the present

WILD CAT. 29}

animal belongs, without recognizing at once their perfect
adaptation to the strongest carnivorous habits. The
lithe and agile body; the light, yet powerful limbs; the
retractility of the claws; the firm fibre of the muscles;
the short jaws, restricted to a simple vertical motion, and
furnished with few, but strong and trenchant teeth; offer
altogether a combination of characters, all tending to fit
these animals for the pursuit and destruction of living
prey, to a degree which points them out as constituting
the typical group in that division of the mammiferous
quadrupeds, which are nourished by animal food. Even
the Weasels, sanguinary as they are, and with a con-
formation fitted for the capture and destruction of the
smaller animals, yet exhibit in the general structure of
the organs of motion—in the number, strength, and form
of their teeth, and in many other particulars, a deviation
from the type, a weakness and indecision in their zoolo-
gical characters, which place them below the Cats in the
intensity and force of their carnivorous propensity. If
the perfection of organization in an animal consist in
the completeness of its adaptation to that animal’s
habits, then all the forms, innumerable and varied as
they are, which crowd before us to attest the immensity
and grandeur of creative wisdom, are alike perfect ; but
this adaptation is certainly most striking and obvious, in
those prominent and typical groups which stand out as
the landmarks of zoological classification,—the centres,
as it were, of the complicated system of creation.

The Wild Cat is the only species of the family which
is indigenous to the British Islands.. In earlier times,
when woods and forests covered many parts of the
kingdom, which are now reclaimed and devoted to agri-
culture, the Wild Cat was much more generally distri-

buted over the face of the country; but it is now almost

222 FELIDA.

entirely restricted to Scotland, some of the woods in the
north of England, the woody mountains of Wales, and
some parts of Ireland. Their favourite places of resort
are the most inaccessible mountainous woods, where they
retreat not only to hollow trees, or the depth of thickets,
but to concealed fissures of rocks, in which they seek their
safety and repose, and bring forth and rear their young.

In stating the localities and estimating the numbers of
this species, it is necessary to guard against confounding
with it the numerous instances of escaped Domestic
Cats, returning to a state of almost absolute wildness,
breeding in the woods, and feeding on birds and small
quadrupeds. These, though far less powerful than the
true Wild Cat, are very destructive to game of every
description; and, still retaining some traces of their old
domesticity, they often revisit the farmyard, and carry
off the poultry.

The question whether the Domestic Cat is originally
derived from this species or not has long been a disputed
one. On the one hand, it must be confessed that it is
impossible to point out any structural differences of
importance between the animals, for Blasius’s cranical
characters (Saiigeth. Deutschl., pp. 160, 161,) prove not to
be constant when a large series of skulls are compared.
Butit seems strange that the characteristic cylindrical and
truncated tail of F. catus should never reappear in any of
the domestic breeds. Many writers have favoured the idea
that our tame Cats are descended from the Nubian F,
maniculata, but we are not aware that a careful anatomical
comparison has ever been made. On the whole, we must
regard the origin of the Domestic Cat as being still an open
question.

The disappearance of the Wild Cat from the districts
where it was once so common, is not to be attributed ex-

WILD CAT. 220

clusively to the destruction of the woods which formed
its resort; but rather, in many parts, to the introduction
of the fowling-piece in place of the primitive means of
destruction known to our forefathers: for, although it
was formerly considered a beast of chase, yet the great
facility with which it climbs trees, and could thus escape
from the pursuit of the Dogs, must have much restricted
the extent of its destruction; but in the present day,
when such shifts will no longer avail, it falls so surely
before the gun of the gamekeeper or the forester, as to
threaten its extermination at no very remote period.

The strength and fierceness of this species are such as
to render it an adventure of no trifling annoyance, and
even of some danger, to come into close quarters with
it, especially when exasperated by a wound. It is no
pleasant affair to encounter an enraged male Cat even of
the domestic race; the strength and sharpness of his
claws, and the length and power of his canine teeth,
combined with a fierceness and rage which render such
weapons doubly formidable, constitute him an opponent
of no ordinary importance: but the Wild Cat is still
more to be dreaded, from the greater size, power, and
ferocity by which it is characterized. Hence Pennant
designates it as the “ British Tiger.”

The female is considerably smaller than the male.
She forms her nest either in hollow trees, or more com-
monly and more safely in the clefts of rocks; and has
even been known, as Sir William Jardine says, to usurp
the nest of some large bird as her own. She usually
brings four or five young.

The Wild Cat is found throughout the whole of those
countries of Europe in which extensive forests exist,
especially in Germany, and in all the wooded climates of
Russia, Hungary, and of the north of Asia; these are of

224 FELIDA.

larger size, and their fur is longer and held in much
higher estimation than that of those inhabiting warmer
latitudes.

The head of the Wild Cat is triangular, strongly
marked; the ears rather large, long, triangular, and
pointed; the body strong, and rather more robust than
that of the Domestic Cat; the tail of equal size
throughout its length, or rather larger towards the ex-
tremity. The fur is soft, long, and thick; the colour of
the face is a yellowish-grey, and a band of black spots
towards the muzzle; the whiskers are yellowish-white ;
forehead brown; the head grey, marked with two black
stripes passing from the eyes, over and behind the ears ;
back, sides, and limbs grey, darker on the back, paler on
the sides; with a blackish longitudinal stripe along the
middle of the back, and numerous paler curved ones on
the sides, which are darker towards the back, and become
obsolete towards the belly, which is nearly white. The
tail is annulated with light grey and black, and the tip is
of the latter colour; the feet and insides of the legs are
yellowish-grey ; the soles of the feet are black, at least
in the male, of which sex Temminck declares it to be a
peculiarity: the colours of the female are altogether
paler, and the markings less distinct.

The dimensions of the Wild Cat differ greatly, if we
take the statement of various naturalists. The medium
size of the full-grown male is as follows; the female
being always rather smaller :—

Feet. In. Lines.

Length of the head and body . ‘ ; RL LORRO
», of the head . 3 ‘ ; ; | OSes
», Of the ears . F ; , ; . Oh io
sy) = On the tail. ; : : ; F OMe

CANIDA. 225

CARNIVORA. CANIDA.

Genus, Vulpes.

Generic Character.—Grinding teeth $:°; tongue smooth; claws not
retractile ; pupil, when contracted, elliptical; tail bushy.

COMMON FOX.
Scotticé, TOD.
Vulpes vulgaris. (Briss.)

Specifie Character.—Reddish-brown above, white beneath ; behind the
ears black ; the tip of the tail white.

Canis vulpes, Linn. Syst. Nat. edit. XII. I. p. 59. Mutzer, Zool. -
Dan. Prod, p. 2. Drsmar. Mammal. p. 201, sp. 304.
Fr. Cuvier, Dict. des Se. Nat. VIII. p. 561. Jznyns,
Brit. Vert. p. 14. Bras. Wirbelth, Deutsch. I. 191.

Canis melanogaster, Bonar. Icon, Faun. Ital. fase. I. f. 1.

Vulpes vulgaris, | Brisson, Reg. Anim. p. 239, 5. Frum. Brit. An. p. 13.

Le Renard, Burron, Hist. Nat. VII. p. 57, t. iv.
Fox, Pennant, Brit. Zool. I. p. 71. Suaw, Gen. Zool, I,
p. 314.

THe Fox has been celebrated from the earliest anti-
GG

226 COMMON FOX.

quity for the cunning and ingenuity which it manifests,
whether in obtaining food or in eluding pursuit. The
general expression of its features, the obliquity and
quickness of the eye, the sharp, shrewd-looking muzzle,
and the erect ears, afford the most unequivocal indica-
tions of that mingled acuteness and fraud which have
long rendered it a byword and a proverb; for it is well
known that this character of its physiognomy is not
falsified by the animal’s real propensities and habits.

The Fox spends much of his time in burrows; either
excavating them for himself, or seizing upon and appro-
ptiating the preoccupied habitations of some other fos-
sorial animal, as the Badger or the Rabbit. In this
retreat, which in sportsman’s language is called its earth,
it remains concealed during the day, and comes abroad
only in the night in search of its food. Its instinctive
cunning leads it soon to suspect the wiles of its enemies;
and it will in a very short time ascertain the design of
a trap or a gin, though concealed with the utmost care.
It is credibly stated by a French writer, that a Fox has
been known to remain within its retreat without food
for fifteen days, rather than risk the danger of falling
into the traps, which its sagacity had ascertained to be
set around it.

It does not, however, by any means live exclusively in
burrows, but, as every lover of the hunt is well aware,
is commonly found in woods, and affects certain covers
in which to repose during the day, in preference to
others where the lying, as it is termed, is not so good.
Woods having a northern aspect are said to be unfavour-
able for Foxes. But the Fox does not altogether dis-
dain the open country, being often found lying upon
stubble-cocks, or on a grassy hedge-bank, from which
places it is sometimes roused by the courser, the mettle

CANIDA. 297

~~

of his greyhounds being often, on such occasions, put
to a severe test. We have also seen Foxes taken in old
straw or stubble-ricks, near unfrequented farmsteads ;
and have even known the female breed and rear her
young ones in sucha place. But these haunts are not
usual, the Foxes which frequent them being reputed by
foxhunters old individuals which have retired to quiet
country quarters, and as being possessed of more than
ordinary cunning.

Our late kind friend and correspondent Mr. Hogg, to
whom we have been indebted for much interesting informa-
tion on the habits of many of our indigenous animals,
writes thus :—‘‘ I remember once when out hunting, the
Hounds found a Fox who did not leave the cover, but kept
running from one part of it to another. Just asa Hound
was about to seize him, he jumped over the Dog, and
thus saved himself. This tedious sport was kept up for
a long time, till Reynard being thoroughly tired with
so many leaps and so many enemies, at last fell a prey
to them. The huntsman on taking him up found that
he had lost one of his forelegs. The cover being entirely
of furze, and not large, I could see all sides of him
during this hunt, and was much pleased with the many
elegant and quick leaps which the poor three-legged Tox
made to save himself from destruction.

“The young are very active; and I have seen them
occasionally at play on a summer’s evening, Jumping over
their dam and each other, and running after their brushes.
They have a short stifled bark.””. Mr. James states, “‘ We
have ourselves observed the playfulness of young Foxes,
and may here observe that they can be watched without
giving them the least alarm, if the observer be elevated
only a few feet from the ground. Seated in the top of
a pollard ash, we have watched for an hour at a time,

228 COMMON FOX,

without exciting the least suspicion, several half-grown
Foxes, although they were continually within a few feet
of us.”

[ts usual prey consists of hares, rabbits, various kinds
of ground birds, particularly partridges, of which it
destroys great numbers; and it often makes its way into
the farmyard, committing sad havoc amongst the poul-
try. It has been known not unfrequently to carry off
a young lamb. In default of this its favourite food, it
has recourse to “rats and mice, and such small deer ”—
or even to frogs or worms. We have heard from a man
much engaged in woods, that the Fox gives the prefer-
ence to putrid meat. The remark was elicited by
observing the skin of a Hedgehog turned inside out,
which was at once claimed by the woodman as the work
of a Fox. We are much disposed to accord with this
opinion, having often observed that Hedgehogs which
have been taken in traps are, after a time, devoured by
some animal of sufficient size to turn the skin inside out-
wards. As Badgers do not occur where this has been
observed, and Dogs and Cats will not feed on the Hedge-
hog, it must be attributed either to the Fox or to magpies
and crows. As a further evidence of the proneness of
the Fox for high meat, we may mention having seen the
remains of several rooks and a magpie taken from the
nest of a Fox, all of which had been trussed and hung
up in a cornfield as scarecrows, and had become quite
putrid. The Fox also resorts to the sea-shore, in search
of such fish, mollusca, crustacea, and other marine animals
as the tide has left upon the beach. Besides the kinds
of food above mentioned, there is no doubt but that
coleoptera are consumed in great numbers. We have
often seen a Fox searching for and picking up something

of small size, which we could not doubt consisted of

CANIDA. 229

insects; and the droppings of these animals are often
composed almost entirely of the wing-cases of beetles.

The Fox can scarcely be said to be susceptible of
attachment or capable of being tamed. The utmost
degree of domestication to which it can be reduced, is to
suffer the person who has fed and brought it up to handle
it without much danger of being bitten; but it is wholly
devoid of that instinct of gratitude and kindness which
characterize its congeners—the Dog, and even the Wolf
and Jackal. Although taken young, or even born in cap-
tivity, and brought up in company with domestic Dogs,
it still remains suspicious, sly, and timid, retreating from
every attempt at familiarity, and scarcely distinguishing
its companions by any mark of recognition.

It has often been asserted that the Fox and the Dog
will breed together. The experiments of Buffon certainly
failed, and we have in vain endeavoured to trace any valid
ground for this general belief. This refusal to intermix
with the Dog evinces a far more remote affinity to that ani-
mal than either the Wolf or the Jackal, with both of which
the experiment has often been successfully made. The
female Fox loses all her timidity and shyness when suck-
ling her young, in whose defence she exhibits a degree of
courage and boldness which are very foreign to her general
habits and disposition. The time of gestation is not
perhaps accurately ascertained, but is certainly between
sixty and sixty-five days. The young are born in April,
and area year and a half in attaining their full size. The
Fox is said to live thirteen or fourteen years; but as this
ean only have been ascertained of individuals in confine-
ment, it is exceedingly probable that in a state of nature
it considerably exceeds this period.

Its resemblance to the Dog, the Wolf, and the Jackal

can scarcely be considered as sufficient to constitute it a

230 COMMON FOX.

species of the same generic group. The general form of
the body, and particularly the sharp elongated muzzle,
the elliptical pupil, and the full bushy tail—all of them
characteristic of every species of Fox—do not belong to
any of the true Dogs: we cannot, therefore, but consider
them as generically distinct. We may mention, as further
argument in support of the generic separation of Vulpes
from Canis, that the species of the former group retain,
although geographically separated, the same Fox-like
aspect and behaviour which we have attributed to our
English species.

There is a general opinion amongst sportsmen that we
have more than one species of Fox, and we have even
heard this opinion warmly contended for. It is of course
needless for us to state that this is an error, and that the
so-called species which are severally denominated the
Greyhound, the Mountain, and the Bush or Cur Foxes,
are but varieties of the common species. We confess
ourselves, however, unable to explain whether these
varieties are due to locality, age, or sex.

The figure of the Fox is slighter than that of the Wolf;
but it has less of ease and suppleness in its movements,
The muzzle is elongated, becoming very pointed towards
the apex ; the head round; the ears erect and triangular ;
the eyes oblique, and the pupils elliptical or nearly linear
when exposed to the light of day, becoming round, or
nearly so, only in the dark; the body is much elongated,
and the limbs short in proportion ; the tail is large, thick
and bushy, and so long that when pendant it touches the
ground. The colour, though principally fulvous, is a com-
bination of that colour with black and white, distributed
in various proportions on different parts of the body.
The fulvous colour predominates on the head, the back,
the sides, the posterior parts of the limbs, and the sides

CANIDA. 231

of the tail. The shoulders are reddish-grey ; the throat
and chest are grey; the belly, the internal surface of the
limbs, the cheeks, the upper lip, and the extremity of the
tail are white ; there is a black line extending from the
inner angle of the eye to the mouth; and the external
surface of the ears, excepting the base, and the anterior
part of the limbs, are of the same colour.

The late Prince Charles Lucien Buonaparte described,
in his Fauna Jtalica, a Fox which differs from the common
one in having the fur of the belly black. From this cha-
racter the Prince gave it the specific name of melanogaster.
The opinion expressed in the former edition of this work,
that this might be nothing more than a variety of the
common species, has been entertained also, in his subse-
quently published work on the Mammals of Germany, by
Professor Blasius ; and an individual taken in Warwick-
shire had all the under parts of a greyish-black hue.
Being scarcely full grown, it is probable that with age
the dark parts would have assumed their ordinary colour;
and there is little doubt that it was an animal resem-
bling this one which was described as Canis melanogaster.
The Common Fox is sometimes seen in this country with
the tip of the tail black or dark grey: Mr. Ogilvy has
suggested that this may arise from the unusual length of
the black hairs of this part, which are generally quite
concealed by the long white hair; and both this gentle-
man and Mr. Blyth state that cubs of the same litter
differ in this respect ; a proof of how little value are
such circumstances as distinctive characters.

The Fox has a sub-caudal gland which secretes an ex-
tremely fetid substance ; and its urine also possesses the
same intolerable odour. The Fox varies considerably in
size, and perhaps a little in form. It is larger and stronger
in some parts of the country than in others; but, as

232 COMMON Fox,

already observed, these variations appear to be accidental,

and not to merit the distinctions which have been applied
to them.

Dimensions :—

Ft. In. Lines. Ft. In. Lines.

Length of the head and body , 7 AB Oo Beil @
», Of the tail < ; : ee Meek Oe Ms weal 2) 2(0)
», of the head ‘ ; ie OVS (0% oye TOOT
», Of the ears . ; : OS? UGe ee Ole Shee

Height of the shoulders, about ; ; lt eee

SEALS. 230

CARNIVORA. PINNIPEDIA.

Sub-Order CARNIVORA PINNIPEDIA.
SEALS.

THERE are few groups among the whole of the mam-
miferous class which are so indistinctly known, or of
which the species are so often confounded, as the Seals
and their allies. The great general similarity of their
form and habits has occasioned the confusion of distinct
species under one name, while, on the other hand, their
great variation in colour and markings, whether acci-
dental or connected with differences of age or sex, has
often led to the enumeration of species which do not
exist in reality. Under these circumstances, it is
evident that structural differences alone can be depended
on in the discrimination of these animals, and the
characters of the skull and of the teeth will generally
be found most available for this purpose, aided by the
outward proportions and other circumstances. The
characters of the northern Seals have been greatly
elucidated by the labours of De Blainville, of George
and Frederick Cuvier, and of Lilljeborg, Nilsson, and
Gray, but comparatively little has been done since the
publication of our first edition in the determination of
the species which occur on the British coasts, and con-
siderable uncertainty still remains to be cleared up by
future observers.

The true Seals, or Phocide, along with the Walrus
(Trichecus) and Eared Seals (Otaride) constitute a very

H H

234 PINNIPEDIA.

natural and well-marked sub-order of the Carnivora—the
Pinnipedia of Illiger. They differ in many striking
characters from the families which we have already
considered, and it is highly interesting to observe the
various modifications of structure which combine to fit
them for their peculiar mode of life. The Bat in its
aerial flight, the Mole in its subterranean excavations,
and the Stag in his swift terrestrial course, do not
exhibit more perfect instances of the adaptation of form
and structure to habits than do these animals in their
amphibious existence.

As already indicated, this group or sub-order may be
divided into three well-defined families, of which two
are represented in our fauna. Of these the first is that
of the typical Seals (Phocide), of which the common
Ph, vitulina of our coasts may be taken as the type.
Here we have all the modifications of structure charac-
teristic of the group in their highest development. The
rounded head, the absence of an external ear, the
tapered almost spindle-form body, and the close-lying
outer hair, present no obstacle to a rapid passage
through the water, while the thick soft wool which
closely covers the skin prevents sudden changes of
temperature, and retains the heat of the body. A thick
layer of subcutaneous fat not only assists in promoting
the last object, but also renders the whole animal lighter,
and brings it nearer to the specific gravity of the fluid in
which it passes so much of its time. The eyes are large
and brilliant, and the nostrils are capable of being
entirely closed. The ears are inconspicuous openings,
totally devoid of any exterior conch, but provided with
a minute triangular valve which just closes the orifice
when submerged. The whiskers are very stiff and
thick, and appear to be of some importance as organs of

SEALS. 200

~

touch, the root of each bristle, as in the land Carnivora,
being provided with a considerable nerve.

The teeth are of the usual type of the order, specially
modified for the purpose of seizing the scaly and
slippery fish on which the Seal feeds. The canines are
strong and acute, the molars beset with pointed tuber-
cules of various forms, but all adapted to a piscivorous
diet ; in the genus Halicherus those of the upper jaw are
remarkable for their simple and conical form. In the
seals the first or milk-teeth are merely rudimentary,
and are absorbed without cutting the gum, usually
during foetal life; at the age of a week, according to
Prof. Flower, scarcely a trace of them remains. The
tongue is smooth, and slightly notched at the tip, and
the gullet is very dilatile. The stomach is simple in its
character, the intestine is very long, and is provided with
a coccum, and the liver is remarkable for the great
enlargement of the inferior vena cava.

The whole skeleton is constructed on the same plan as
that of the other Carnivora. In the skull, the brain-case
is very broad and flattened, and the portion between the
orbits is much compressed. The internal bones of the
nostrils are extremely large and complicated, and the
division between them is well-developed, extending
forward in one genus (Cystophora) even in front of the
nasal bones.

But perhaps the most striking peculiarity of the Seal
lies in the position and functions of the limbs, which are
not fitted to raise the body from the ground, and are
almost exclusively used in aquatic progression. Both
the fore and hind limbs are enclosed in the common
integument as far as the wrist and ankle-joints, and the
toes are connected together by complete webs. The
hind feet are extended backwards in the line of the

236 PINNIPEDIA.

body on either side of the short tail, the soles of the
feet being opposed, and their dorsal surfaces conse-
quently turned outward. The result of this structure
on the motions of the animal are very striking. On dry
land, a Seal usually makes no use whatever of its limbs;
resting on its belly, it throws itself forward by the
action of the pectoral and abdominal muscles in a series
of most ludicrous spasmodic plunges or bounds, but as
will be seen hereafter, the fore-feet are sometimes called
into play by some species to drag the body forward. In
the water the hind limbs only are used as propellers, the
flippers being only used to balance the body or to change
its position; as Prof. Huxley remarks, “the fore limbs
are applied against the sides of the thorax, and the
hinder moiety of the body being very flexible, the con-
joined hind limbs and tail are put to the same use as the
caudal fin of a cetacean.” For amore detailed account of
the motions of Seals on land and in the water, we may
refer our readers to a paper on the mechanism of flight
and swimming, by Dr. J. B. Pettigrew, in Vol. X XVI.
of the “Transactions of the Linnaan Society,” and to
one on Ph. grenlandica, by our friend Dr. Murie, in the
Zoological Society’s ‘* Proceedings” for 1870.

The second family (Trichechide) of the sub-order
consists, as far as is known, of a single genus and
species, distinguished by the enormous developement of
the canine teeth in the adult. The Walrus is a native of
the Arctic regions, and only visits our coasts as an acci-
dental straggler. In many respects it may be regarded
as intermediate between the Phocide and Otaride, par-
ticularly in its quadrupedal gait and in its manner of
swimming, but these and other points in its history will
be considered hereafter.

The third family (Otaride) is distinguished by the

SEALS, Dot

possession of external ear-conches. The Sea-Bears and
Sea-Lions walk erect like the Walrus, and differ from the
true Seals in many points of their anatomy. They are
mostly natives of the South Seas and the Pacific Ocean,
and none of them are members of the European fauna.

On the British coasts Seals are hardly plentiful
enough to be of more than local importance as objects
of pursuit, though large numbers are annually killed in
some parts of Scotland and Ireland. But it is very
different in the far north, where vast herds of Ph. gran-
landica, Ph. barbata, and Cystophora cristata assemble in
spring on the ice of the Greenland and Spitzbergen
seas, as well as in Davis’s Straits and around Newfound-
land. Every spring a large fleet of European vessels
sails northwards and coasts along the southern margin of
the ice-fields, till the Seals are met with, when the
hunters endeavour to cut off their retreat to the open
water, and then despatch them with heavy clubs. The
numbers thus destroyed are very great; Dr. R. Brown
estimates the value of those killed in the Greenland
seas alone at about £116,000 (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1868,
p- 604). It appears inevitable, as Dr. Brown re-
marks, that such indiscriminate slaughter must soon
ereatly diminish the numbers of the northern Seals,
and eventually destroy the value of the “fishery.”
But if the Seal is thus an object of value to civilized
man, itis still more so to the native Greenlander and
Eskimo, to whom it affords many of the necessaries of
life. Its flesh is their principal food, the fat yields oil
for their lamps, the skin affords excellent clothing,
while of the semi-transparent membrane of the intestine
they make bottles for storing the oil, windows for their
huts, and even shirts.

The word Seal is certainly from the Anglo-Saxon

238 PINNIPEDIA,

Selec, Seole, which remains almost unchanged in the
Scotch ‘‘ Sealch.”

It appears highly probable that the myths of antiquity
were indebted to this group of animals for the form of
some of their fabled deities, particularly of the Tritons.
The rounded head with its strangely human expression,
the hand-like fore-feet and the conformation of the fin-
like hind limbs, so closely resembling the tail of a fish,
might easily suggest the idea of a being who was man
above and fish below. Still more probable is it that the
Mermaid of our own superstitions originated in the
appearance of some species of Seal in an unwonted
locality, a circumstance sufficient in the olden time to
give rise to a far more egregious violation of truth than
the conversion of the animal into a sea-maiden. The
only other creature which can have a claim to be re-
garded as the origin of this world-wide myth is the
Manatee, a point which will be alluded to hereafter.
We learn from Suetonius and Pliny that the skin of the
Seal—vitulus marinus—was believed by the Romans, and
among them by the Emperor Augustus, to be a protection
against lightning.

In our first edition we enumerated five species of this
group, namely, Phoca vitulina, Ph. greenlandica, Ph. bar-
bata, Halicherus gryphus, and Trichechus rosmarus. Of
these we have resolved to omit Ph. barbata, for which
the Gray Seal has often been mistaken, and of whose
occurrence on our shores there is no good evidence.* In

* It is true that the late Mr. Macgillivray speaks of a Scotch specimen
in the Edinburgh University Museum (Naturalists Library, Vol. XVIL.,
p- 112), but no trace of it can be found by our friend Prof. Turner, who has
kindly sought for it in the Museum of Science and Art, to which the Uni-
versity collection was transferred in 1854, nor is anything said by Macgil-
livray of its history. It seems probable that there was some mistake, either
in the identification of the species, or as to the locality whence it was
procured,

SEALS. 239

case, however, that it may yet visit these islands, we give
a figure of its skull as a vignette to the present article.
This species may be readily recognized by its very dark
colour, its great size, and the form of its fore-feet, of
which the ¢iird toe is the longest; the frontal portion of
the skull is much arched, as shown in the figure, and the
nasal bones are depressed in front, instead of being
nearly horizontal as in the other species.

We have retained Ph. grenlandica in our list, though
with much doubt, and have added two other species
which have been recorded since the date of our first
edition, namely, Ph. hispida and Cystophora cristata.

240 PHOCID.£.

CARNIVORA PHOCIDA.
PINNIPEDIA.

Genus PuHoca (Linneus, 1766).

Generic Character.—Head rounded, muzzle bald, brain-case of skull
large. Teeth, inc. §, can. {:}, grinders 2:3, tuberculated, the first with one
root, the rest with two.

COMMON SEAL.

Phoca vitulina (Linnzeus).

Specific Character.—Spotted above with grey and black, whitish below.
Ascending processes of intermaxillaries truncated, not reaching the nasals or
touching them at one point only; bony palate acutely notched behind,
posterior palatine foramena opening on maxille. Molars crowded, placed
obliquely. Length of adult from three to five feet.

Phoca vitulina. Linn £us, Syst. Nat. I. 56 (1766).
5, vartegata. Nusson, Skand. Fauna (1820).
Calocephalus vitulinus. F. Cuvipr, Dict. Se. Nat. XX XIX, 544 (1826).
Tang-fish (Shetland) ; Rawn (Hebrides) ; Sealch, Selkie (Scotland), Sea-
dog, Sea-calf, and Sea-cat (of Sadlors).

Tue distinguishing characteristics of this, the com-
monest European species of Seal, are at length well
determined. Of these, the oblique position of the

COMMON SEAL. 241

molar-teeth, by which the inner posterior margin of one
is brought in contact with the outer anterior margin of
the next behind it, was pointed out in our first edition
as being not less striking than distinctive. Since then
Mr. Ball has expressed the opinion that this character is
not to be depended. upon, it being a mark of youth and
disappearing ‘‘ long before the skull attains its maximum
size’ (Trans. Roy. Irish Ac., v. VIII.); but we still believe
that it will be found to be characteristic at all ages,
although it is certainly more marked in young than in
very old animals. In the structure of the skull, also,
well-marked features will be found, of which we may
mention the following:—The posterior margin of the
palatal bones is deeply and acutely notched, affording
a good character to distinguish the skull from that of
Ph. barbata and Ph. grenlandica ; and the posterior pala-
tine foramena are situated on the maxille, and not on the
palatines or on the suture as in Ph. hispida. Another
striking peculiarity is in the form of the intermaxillary
bones, the ascending processes of which do not run up to
a point along the outer margin of the nasals, as in the
other members of the genus, but are truncated above,
and either do not touch the nasals at all, or are in con-
tact with them at one point only. These characters we
believe to be quite constant, and they will be easily
understood by a comparison of our figures of the skulls
of the various species. In external form and markings,
it would be difficult to point out definitely any one
peculiarity by which this species could be unhesitatingly
separated from its nearest allies,

The Common Seal is strictly littoral in its habits,
frequenting the coasts of both sides of the North
Atlantic, but avoiding the ice of the open sea. It is
common in Spitzbergen, Greenland, and Davis Straits ;

WU

242 PHOCIDA.

in Greenland many are annually killed, the average
yearly capture of this and the next species in the
Danish settlements amounting, according to Dr. R.
Brown, to upwards of seven hundred thousand. It is
also abundant on the shores of Northern Russia, Scan-
dinavia, Holland, and France, but is rare in the Baltic.
It is said to occur occasionally in the Mediterranean,
but the common species in that sea is the Monk Seal
(Ph. monachus). The Seal found in the Caspian Sea was
regarded by Pallas as a variety of Ph. vitulina, but has
been separated by Nilsson as Ph. caspica, and is con-
sidered by him to be more nearly allied to the next
species; it is still very imperfectly known.

In our own islands the Common Seal is found all
round the coast in suitable places, but is much less abun-
dant than it formerly was, and has been quite banished
from many places where it was formerly well known.
It is common on many parts of the Irish coast, and is
very abundant among the Scotch islands, especially in
Shetland and Orkney. In Wales and Cornwall it is well
known, but it is now very rarely seen on the shores of
the southern and eastern counties of England.

The habits of this species are not markedly different
from those of the rest of the genus. As already
observed, it is essentially a coast-loving species, not ex-
tending its range to the ice-fields of the open sea, and it
is particularly fond of sheltered sounds and bays, where
the water is not very deep, and fish are plentiful. An
excellent account of its manners, as observed in the
Hebrides, was given by the late Mr. J. Wilson in the
first volume of the ‘‘ Magazine of Zoology and Botany.”
He observes that the Seals leave the water every tide,
usually selecting low shelving rocks for a resting-place,
and almost invariably such as are separated from the

COMMON SEAL. 243

mainland. Here they usually remain, if undisturbed,
for about six hours. ‘They lie together so close as to
appear to be almost in contact, to the number sometimes
of one, two, or three dozen. With their heads constantly
turned to the sea, and seldom more than a yard or two
from it, they seem to enjoy a pleasing repose on ¢erra
Jirma, their appetites appeased by previous fishing, and
a feeling of comfort or satisfaction produced upon their
moistened surface by the genial rays of an invigorating
sun. But evenin this their hour of rest, their customary
caution never leaves them, for one of their number is
placed a little higher up the rock than the others, and he
seems constantly awake, and ever and anon raises his
erim features, scenting the windward air.”” When undis-
turbed they frequently utter a grunting sound, like pigs.

We have already alluded, in our general account of
the family, to the peculiar way in which the true Seals
move on land. This is very well marked in the present
species, and must be familiar to most visitors to the
gardens of the Zoological Society, where its quaint and
graceful movements in the water may also be well
observed, and especially its habits of swimming on its
back and of twisting itself in cork-screw fashion in the
water. Ludicrous as is its gait on land, a Seal can get
along on the level at a good round pace, and Mr. Ball
mentions that one which escaped from captivity during
the night had passed over rough ground to a distance of
at least a mile anda half before it was recaptured. In
the water a Seal is perfectly at home, and Dr. Brown
believes that it can even sleep when afloat: “I have
frequently been assured,” he says, “ by old Seal-hunters
that Seals can sleep on their back, while floating in the
sea, and this statement corroborates that of Fabricius
and other naturalists. In 1861, in Davis Straits, the

244 PHOCID®.

steamer in which I was ran against a Seal sleeping in
this manner.”

In the quaint language of Low, in his ‘‘ Fauna Orca-
densis,” ‘Seals seem to have a great deal of curiosity:
if people are passing in boats they often come quite
close up to the boats and stare at them, following for a
long time together: if people are speaking loud, they
seem to wonder what may be the matter. The church
of Hoy, in Orkney, is situated near a small sandy bay
much frequented by these creatures; and I observed
when the bell rang for divine service all the Seals within
hearing, swam directly for the shore, and kept looking
about them as if surprised, rather than frightened, and
in this manner continued to wonder so long as the
bell rang.” The fondness of these animals for music has
been often noticed, and did not escape the attention of
Sir Walter Scott, who tells us how—

** Rude Heiskar’s Seals through surges dark
Will long pursue the minstrel’s bark.”

In the ‘* Naturalists’ Library,” it is stated that Seals may
easily be attracted by playing on a flute, and Scoresby
says that whistling will often bring them to the surface.
The promise of intelligence and docility given by the
highly developed brain and mild demeanour of the true
Seals, is not belied by their conduct in captivity. There
are many records of the extent to which they may be
rendered obedient to the commands of their master, to
whom they often exhibit a very warm attachment.
Frederic Cuvier mentions one which would rise on its
hind feet, shoulder a stick as a musket, lie down on the
right or left side, and perform many other tricks. ‘The
so-called ** Talking Fish” which were exhibited in this

country some years ago, were merely well-trained Seals.

COMMON SEAL. 245

The docility of this animal is no new discovery, the
ancients were well acquainted with this trait in its
character, and Pliny in particular has the following
passage :—‘ Accipiunt disciplinam, voceque pariter et
visu populo salutant, incondito fremitu: nomine vocati
respondent.”

The food of this species consists entirely of various
fish; Mr. Wilson observes that it is especially fond of
flounders, which indeed form its principal food in the
Hebrides. It is also a great foe of the salmon, which it
follows up rivers to a considerable distance.

The Common Seal pairs in September, and a single
young one—or sometimes two—is born about the month
of June. An account of the birth of a young Common
Seal in the Zoological Society’s Gardens is given by Mr.
Bartlett in the “ Proceedings ” for 1868 under the name
of Ph. fetida, the parents having at first been wrongly
identified (Cf. P. Z. S., 1871, p. 701). The cub was at
first clad in a loose coat of outer fur and hair, but ina
few minutes after birth it completely divested itself of
this covering, which formed a sort of mat on which it
lay for the first hour or so. It would appear that in
Ph. vitulina this woolly coat is always shed either before
birth or immediately after; in some species it is retained
much longer. Mr. Bartlett adds that this young Seal was
swimming and diving within three hours of its birth, that
it had a single call-note—a low soft ba—and that its
mother turned on her side to suckle it.

The skin and oil of the Seal are valuable, and the flesh
was formerly much appreciated, especially during the
fasts of the Roman Catholic Church, when it was regarded
as fish. In Orkney the limbs used to be cured as hams,
and in Greenland this species is especially valued as afford-
ing the best of all ‘ Seal-beef.”

246 PHOCIDA.

The body of the Common Seal is elongated, conical,
tapered from the chest to the tail; the head rounded,
flattened: the upper lip thick and mobile, furnished
with strong undulated whiskers. The muzzle is rather
short; ears marked only bya small triangular lobe at
the anterior margin of the orifice; eyes placed nearer
to the ears than to the muzzle, limbs very short, the
claws longer on the hind than on the fore paws. The
hair is stiff and shining, concealing a short soft under-
coat of woolly fur. The general colour is yellowish-grey,
with spots of black and brown, which unite on the back
and sides, so as to form a dark mottled grey ; the lower
parts are silvery.

The adult animal attains a length of from three to
five feet, of which the head occupies from six to eight
inches.

RINGED SEAL. 247

CARNIVORA. PHOCID.
PINNIPEDIA.

RINGED OR MARBLED SEAL.
Phoca hispida (Schreber).

Specific Character,—Blackish grey above, marked with oval whitish rings ;
whitish below. Hair soft, sub-erect. Ascending processes of intermaxillaries
running to a point up the sides of the nasals ; bony palate acutely notched
behind ; posterior palatine foramena opening on or behind the palato-maxil-
lary suture. Grinders placed in a straight line, not oblique. Usual length
three to four feet.

Phoca hispida, ScHreBeR, Siugethiere, III. 312 (before 1778).
» jetida, Fasricius, in Miiller’s Prod. Zool. Dan. p. VIII.
(not described) 1776.
5, annellata, Nitsson, Skand. Fauna (1820).

Calocephalus discolor, ¥F. Cuvier, Dict. Sc. Nat. XXXIX. 545 (1826),
Pagomys fetidus, J. E. Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, 31.

Neitsck of Greenlanders, Nerpa of Russians, Floe-rat of Sealers, Bodach
of Hebridians ?

Tue Ringed Seal, in its external features, comes very
near the common species, though it may be distinguished
by its constantly smaller size, and usually by the distinctly
annulated character of its markings. Better points of
distinction, however, are to be found in the skull and

248 PHOCID.

dentition. It agrees with Ph. vitulima in the deep
angular emargination of the bony palate, but differs in
the form of the ascending processes of the intermaxilla-
ries, which run to a point up the sides of the nasals; in
the posterior palatine foramena opening on or behind the
suture, instead of on the maxillary bones; and in the
grinding teeth being placed in a straight line, and not
obliquely.

This is a northern species, being especially abundant,
according to Dr. R. Brown, between 76° and 77° north
latitude. Parry met with it as far north as 82°. In
Greenland it is principally met with in the north, though
numbers are also killed in the southern settlements; in
Davis Strait it is very plentiful among icebergs and in
the great ice-fjords. Nilsson states that it is found in
Lake Saimen in Finland, and in Lake Onega, and he
regards the Seal of Lake Baikal as a variety of this
species, differing only in its more uniform grey colour, a
determination which is confirmed by Herr Radde, who
figures and describes the Baikal form in his ‘ Reise im
Siiden von Ost-Siberien.” The Ringed Seal is found on
all the Scandinavian coasts, both Atlantic and Baltic, and
was traced by Nilsson as far south as the Channel, whence
there are specimens in the Paris Museum.

The claims of this species to be admitted tothe British
Fauna rest principally on the occurrence of one speci-
men on the Norfolk coast in 1846, the skull of which
was presented to the Norwich Museum by Mr. J. H.
Gurney. This skull was-sent for examination to Prof.
Flower in 1871, and was identified by him as belonging
to this species in the “ Proceedings of the Zoological
Society” for that year. According to Mr. Southwell,
the Seal was bought in the flesh in a perfectly fresh con-
dition in the fish-market of Norwich, and was stated to

RINGED SEAL. 249

have been taken on the neighbouring coast, but Mr.
Gurney does not now remember the exact locality. The
fur was of a grey colour, and the skull is that of a very
aged animal. But although this is our only certain
record of the species having been killed in Britain, there
is reason to believe that it sometimes visits our coasts.
In Mr. Wilson’s paper on Scottish Seals in the first volume
of the ‘‘ Magazine of Zoology and Botany,” a small and
rare species is mentioned on the authority of Mr. McNeil
of Colonsay as being sometimes seen in the Hebrides,
where it is called by the natives Bodach, or “the old
man.” ‘So small is it that my informant for a long
time entertained an idea (in opposition to the prevailing
opinion of the natives) that it was the young of the
Common Seal. This view, however, he afterwards gave
up, on seeing specimens not larger than an ordinary Seal
of three months, but with grey beards and decayed teeth ;
and, moreover, when on shore on the same rock with the
other Seals, they do not lie near them, but a little way
apart. They are also few in number, and Mr. McNeil
does not happen to recollect having ever seen two of them
together. They are not at all so shy as the Common
Seal, nor do they frequent such wild and desert stations
as Tapvaist” (the Grey Seal). Mr. Lloyd has suggested
that this Bodach of the Hebridians must be the Ringed
Seal, and from both the size and the habits mentioned
this view seems more than probable. To go back to
geological times, it was probably not uncommon on the
shores of Britain during the glacial epoch, for our friend
Prof. Turner has identified the remains of Seals found in
the brick-clays of various parts of Scotland with this
species ; it has also been found in similar deposits in
Sweden by Prof. Kinberg, along with Ph. vitulina and
Ph. barbata.

K Kk

250 THOUDE.

According to Dr. Brown the “ Flos-rat,” as this species
is named by the Sealers, delights m the ice of the coasts,
seldom frequenting that of the open sea, and lives m
retired situations at some distance from the marcims of
the fives. Here it keeps open its afluk or hole for fish-
ime, beside which it passes much of Ks time m sleep.
Fabricius considered it the most imcautions of all] the
Seal aribe.

The pairing time is said to be m Jume, and a single
young one is born on the fixed ice late m winter or very
early In sprinc. Jit is at firsi clad m white or ditty grey
woolly fur, which is retaimed for nearly a month. Herr
Maimeren states that it will take to the waiter before it
loses this coverme, which is not the case with the
cubs of either the Greenland or the Grey Seal. The
mother is much attached to her offsprins, and is said to
carry iit away im her mouth m case of danger.

This Seal received the name of Ph. fetda from
Fabricius im a list of Greenland animals published m
Millers “ Prodromus Zoolozice Danice” im 1776, but
without any descmpiion. Schreber named it Ph. hispida
prior to 1778, and Fabncims subsequently withdrew his
mame in favour of Schreber’s, an example which Prof.
Flower considers should be followed. The name foiada
is derived from the strong smell of the old males.
Fabricius says “‘ Mares veteres feetidissimis ad nauseam
usgue 2tiam Greenlandis,” but Dr. Brown regards the
fiesh of all, but especially of the young, as bemg “sufi-
ciently palatable to an educated palate.” The skin affords
the common material for clothmg in North Greenland,
but 2s not so much valued for that purpose as that of the
last species.

The general appearance ismuch thatof the CommonSeal.
The upper parts are dark brownish-grey, almost black on

RINGED SEAL. 251

the back, and marked on the sides with numerous irregu-
larly oval whitish rings; the belly is whitish, with a few
dark spots, and the region round the eye is uniform in
colour. - The whiskers are thin and brown, the hair fine,
sub-erect, and rather soft. The young, after losing their
first woolly coat, are paler than the adults, and their mark-
ings are obscure.

Fabricius gives the length of the adult animal as four
feet, seldom four and a half; Nilsson says three, while
Malmeren states that they sometimes attain a still greater
size, and that he has seen one five and a half Swedish

feet in length.

252 PHOCID.

CARNIVORA. PHOCID.
PINNIPEDIA.

GREENLAND OR HARP SEAL.

Phoca grenlandica (Fabricius).

Specific Character.—Adult, tawny-grey or yellowish-white, sometimes
spotted ; male with a large blackish crescentic patch on its back and sides,
Skull with the hinder edge of the bony palate entire, nearly straight ;
branches of lower jaw sub-parallel in front.

Phoca grenlandica, Fasrictus, Miiller’s Prod. Zool. Dan. p. viii. (1776).
Calocephalus granlandica, F. Cuvier, Dict. Sc. Nat. XXXIX. 545 (1826).
Pagophilus grenlandica, J. KH. Gray, Cat. Phoc. Brit. Mus. 25.

Tue Greenland or Harp Seal is readily distinguishable,
in the case of the adult male, by its peculiar markings.
More constant characters, however, will be found in the
structure of the skull, in which the posterior edge of
the bony palate is not notched, but nearly straight, while
the branches of the lower jaw are sub-parallel in front,
instead of diverging at once, as in the other members of
the genus.

It is not without considerable doubt that we retain the

GREENLAND SEAL. 253

Greenland Seal in the list of British Mammals; but
although we are unable to point out any undoubted

3

native specimens in our Museums, the evidence in favour
of its occasional occurrence seems too strong to be disre-
garded. In the first edition of this work two skulls are
mentioned of Seals killed in the Severn, which were
exhibited at a meeting of the British Association at
Bristol in 1836 by our friend Dr. Riley, and which were
at first referred by Prof. Nilsson to Phoca annellata
(Ph. hispida), but were afterwards determined, both by
that gentleman and by the author, to belong to the present
species. Doubts have since been thrown on this identi-
fication by Mr. Ball, in his paper on Seals in the seventh
volume of the ‘‘ Transactions of the Royal Irish Aca-
demy,” in which he considers that these skulls belonged
neither to Ph. annellata nor to Ph. gronlandica, and that
their species had yet to be determined. We are not
aware where these specimens now are; but a careful
comparison of the somewhat rude figure of one of them
in Mr. Ball’s lithographic sketches of Seals in our
possession, seems to confirm our former decision; the
distinctly transverse hinder margin of the palate is very
marked, and in the meantime we must retain the belief
that the skull in question was that of a young example
of Ph. grenlandica. Our further evidence as to visits of
the Harp Seal to our coasts is not very satisfactory. <A
young Seal taken in the Firth of Forth is doubtfully
referred to this species by the late Mr. Macgillivray, as
is one caught in the Thames in 1858 by Dr. Gray, but
in neither case were the skulls observed. Mr. H. D.
Graham, in a communication printed in the first volume
of the ‘‘ Proceedings of the Natural History Society of
Glasgow,” describes three large Seals seen by him in the
Island of Jura which had all the markings characteristic

254 PHOCIDE.

of this species, and he considers that it is confounded by
the Hebridians with the Grey Seal under the name of
“« Tapvaist.” Dr. Saxby stated, in the “‘ Zoologist” for
1864, that several Harp Seals were seen in March of that
year in the Voe of Baltasound, Shetland, and observes
that the species is not very rare there, but is said only
to be seen during bad weather. Lastly, we have been
kindly informed by Mr. H. Evans of Darley Abbey,
Derbyshire, that about the year 1856 he shot what he
fully believes to have been a Greenland Seal near
Roundstone, County Galway; most unfortunately the
animal sunk and was lost, but Mr. Evans, who is well
acquainted with the Common and Grey species, is
perfectly certain that it was quite distinct from either.

This is an Arctic species, with a very wide lateral
range, extending from North America to Nova Zembla,
and probably still further to the east. It is strictly
migratory, and is in no one locality found all through
the year. It may be said to be resident on the coasts of
Greenland, but leaves them twice annually, from March
till May to breed, and again in the pairing season from
July to September. In spring it is found in great
numbers near the Island of Jan Mayen, and occasionally
it wanders much further to the southward.

The Greenland Seal frequents the margins of the
great ice-fields and the neighbouring floating masses, and
it is said never to make an atluk or breathing-hole like
the other species. Our friend Prof. Newton, who met
with this Seal at Spitzbergen, observes (P. Z. S., 1864,
p. 498) :—*‘ It is of a sociable disposition, and we saw it
in herds of not less than fifty in number. ‘These were
very fond of swimming in line, their heads only above
water, engaged in a game of ‘follow my leader,’ for on

the first Seal making a roll over or a spring into the air,

GREENLAND SEAL. 255

each Seal of the whole procession on arriving at the
same spot did the like, and exactly in the same manner.”
Mr. Newton suggests that a herd so employed may have
been the origin of some of the stories of the Great Sea-
Serpent, passing in undulating coils along the surface.
Dr. Murie has remarked that the Harp Seals living in
the Zoological Society’s Gardens used their fore limbs
occasionally in progression on dry land, employing them
alternately to drag the body forward.

The food of this Seal consists of fish, of which Fabri-
cius specially mentions Cottus scorpius and Salmo arcticus,
and also of molluscous and crustaceous animals.

The young are born on the fixed ice in March; these
are one, rarely two in number, according to Fabricius,
but Dr. R. Brown says there are often two, and the
sealers believe sometimes three. The cub retains its
white woolly coat for a fortnight or three weeks, and,
like the young Grey Seal, it refuses to enter the water
till this is lost. The changes of colour which the animal
undergoes are thus enumerated by Dr. Brown. While
it retains the woolly coat it is known to the sealers as a
‘““White-coat.” Its first covering of short fur is dark
speckled, and now it is a “ Hare.” The third stage, in
which the back is bluish and the belly dark silvery, is
distinguished by the name of “ Blue-back,” and finally
the adult colouring is gradually assumed. Dr. Brown
thinks that three years are sufficient for this cycle of
changes, but in Greenland it is believed to occupy five
years.

The annual take of this species in the Danish settle-
ments in Greenland is estimated at thirty-six thousand.

In the adult male the general colour is tawny or
yellowish-grey, sometimes nearly white. The so-called
*¢ saddle-mark” is a large crescentic patch of brown or

256 PHOCID®.

black, crossing the front part of the back and passing
backwards towards the hind limbs. The muzzle and
extremities are dark, the former sometimes nearly black.
These markings, however, are not constantly alike, the
saddle-mark being much more pronounced and regular in
some than in others. The lower parts are of ‘a dingy
or tarnished silvery hue.”

The adult female, says Dr. Brown, is of a dull whitish
or yellowish straw-colour, and tawny on the back.
Some are bluish or grey above, with oval markings, these
he believes to be younger individuals.

The adult animal attains usually a length of five feet,
and sometimes more, but rarely reaches six feet.

HOODED SEAL. 257

CARNIVORA. PHOCIDA.
PINNIPEDIA.

Genus Cystopuora (Nilsson, 1820).

Generic Character.—Male with a large hood on nose, inflatile at will ;
muzzle hairy. Skull with ossified portion of mesethmoid produced in front
of nasals. Teeth, inc. $, molars 2:3, with large roots and compressed plaited
crowns.

HOODED SEAL.
Cystophora cristata (Erxleben).

Specifie Character.—Dark grey above, spotted with an even darker shade ;
lighter beneath. Length of adult from seven to ten feet.

Phoca cristata, ERXLEBEN, Syst. Reg. An., 590 (1777).
», leonina, Fasrtictus, Fauna Groenl. (nec. Linn.) 1790.
» mitrata, Covisr, Ossem. Foss. V. 210.

Cystophora cristata, Nitsson, Skand. Fauna (1820).

Stemmatopus cristatus, F. Cuvier, Dict. Sc. Nat., XXXIX. (1826).
Neitersouk of Greenlanders, Klapmyds of Danes, Bladder-nose of Sealers.

Tus genus differs strikingly from the rest of the
family, both in its external and osteological characters.

The nasal aperture of the skull is much expanded, and
we

258 PHOCIDA,

the bony partition of the nostrils is continued forward
in front of the shortened nasal bones; while there are
four incisors in the upper jaw, and only two in the lower.
But the most remarkable peculiarity is the large tuber-
culous hood, or bladder-like appendage, on the nose of
the adult male, which is capable of being expanded
when the animal is excited, and seems designed to pro-
tect its most vulnerable point from injury.

The Hooded or Crested Seal is an inhabitant of the
polar seas, but does not appear to extend very far north.
It is migratory in its habits, being found in South
Greenland from April to June, and reappearing in
August. Dr. R. Brown gives the yearly take in the
Danish settlements at about two to three thousand; in
North Greenland, this species is only a straggler, but he
has seen it not uncommonly at Disco Bay, and killed it
at Melville Bay. It is found on the American coasts,
and is common in March and April at Jan Mayen.
Occasionally it occurs on the coasts of Iceland and
Northern Scandinavia, and it is recorded as a native of
the Spitzbergen seas by Martins and Scoresby, but Herr
Malmgren says that it has not been observed by more
recent voyagers. What appears to have been a Bladder-
nose is recorded to have been killed in the Sound so far
back as 1549, and in France a young male was taken
at PIle d’Oléron in 1848, and is figured in Gervais’s
“ Zoologie et Paléontologie Frangaises.”

Two specimens of the Hooded Seal are certainly known
to have been killed in Britain, and it seems probable
that other examples have occurred. A young example
was taken in the River Orwell on the 29th June, 1847, as
recorded by Mr. W. B. Clarke, and is preserved in the
Ipswich Museum; this specimen is described as being
only forty inches in length, of a nearly uniform grey

HOODED SEAL. 259

above, darker posteriorly, and yellowish-white beneath.
A second, also young, was found on a rock opposite St.
Andrews, on the 22nd July, 1872; it made no attempts
to escape, and was killed with stones. This example,
which measured forty-seven inches in length, is described
in detail by Mr. R. Walker in the “ Scottish Naturalist,”
vol. ii., p. 1. Messrs. Baikie and Heddle, in their “ His-
toria Naturalis Orcadensis ” (1848), state that specimens
are said to have been killed at Rousa and at Papa Westra.
Mr. Ball, in his paper on Irish Seals in vol. viii. of the
“Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy,” quotes a
letter from Mr. R. W. Mcllwray, of Co. Mayo, describing
an extraordinary Seal seen by him near Westport, which
had the forehead enlarged ‘‘ with immense bladder-like
protuberances over the eyes,’—it also seemed to have
external ears. Lastly, we may observe that, as far back
as 1577, mention is made in Hollingshed’s “Cronicle” of
‘sundry fishes of monstrous shape, with cowls over their
heads like unto Monks, and in the rest resembling the
body of Man,” whose appearance in the Firth of Forth
was followed by pestilence and murrain. Both of these
last notices seem probably to refer to this strange-
looking Seal, and it may be observed that its occasional
occurrence on the northern coasts of Norway has excited
the superstitious fears of the natives, who describe it,
according to Bishop Gunnerus, as a sort of Merman,
named Klakkekalen—a hairy man with a cap on his head,
seen standing upright among the waves.

In its native seas this species is described as being the
boldest and most fearless of the Seal tribe. “ The male
Bladder-nose,” writes Dr. R. Brown, in the paper to
which we have so often referred, “is in truth the lion
of the sea, dividing the empire of the polar waters with
his huge ally the Walrus. Instead of fiying from the

260 PHOCIDA.

hunter, he will calmly await the approach of danger,
preparing for defence by betaking himself to the centre
of the piece of ice he is on, and blowing up the air-
bladder on his forehead, while he rears his head and
snuffs the air like an enraged bull, and often gives battle
successfully, making the clubs fly from the hands of his
assailants with his flippers, his head being protected as
by a helmet by the air-bladder. He will then in turn
act on the offensive and put his opponents to flight,
pursuing them with a shuffling serpent-like motion over
the ice ; the result often proving somewhat dangerous to
the panic-struck hunter if his boat has left that piece of
ice, as the Seal will use his tusks rather ferociously when
thus enraged. However, he is not inclined to give
battle unless provoked, and looks a dull stupid sort of
epicurean, as he lolls on the surface of the ice, and gazes
about with his large black eyes with an apparently un-
meaning stare.” Fabricius compares the voice of this
species to the barking and whining of a dog.

In its food this species resembles the other larger
Seals—it is said by Fabricius to be particularly fond of
cod and flounders. Herr Malmgren describes it as more
pelagic in its habits than any other species, except Ph.
grenlandica, and as being very seldom found near land.

The Hooded Seal is polygamous, and the males fight
desperately during the pairing season. One young one
is born on the ice about the month of April ; it is at first
pure white, but soon becomes darker.

The adult male is distinguished by the large double
sac on its nose and forehead, which is divided by a carti-
laginous crest, a continuation of the nasal septum. In
a state of rest this hood is flaccid, but when the animal
is irritated it is fully inflated with air. The body is
long, but robust ; in the fore-paw, the first finger is the

HOODED SEAL. 261

longest, the rest being gradually shorter to the fifth.
The hair is rather long, and the under-wool is very soft
and thick. The upper parts are dark grey, nearly black,
with oval spots and markings of a still darker shade ; the
lower parts are lighter grey. The young, after losing
their first woolly white coat, are grey above and white
below.

The size of this species appears to vary considerably ;
Fabricius gives the length of the adult as eight feet,
Nilsson says seven to eight feet, and Scoresby ten to

twelve feet.

262 PHOCID.E.

OCARNIVORA. PHOCIDA.
PINNIPEDIA.

Genus Haticuzrvus (Nilsson, 1820).

Generic Character.—Head flattened, muzzle deep, truncated. Brain-case
of skull small, nasal opening very large. Teeth, inc. §, molars 2:2, conical,
simple, hardly tuberculated, only the last two in the upper jaw, and the last
one in the lower, with double roots.

GREY SEAL.
Halicherus gryphus (Fabricius).

Specific Character. —Yellowish-grey, lighter beneath, with dark grey spots
and blotches. Bony palate nearly transverse behind, slightly concave ; posterior
palatine foramena opening on palatines.

Phoca gryphus, Fasricius, Skrift. Naturh. Selsk. I. 167 (1790).
Halicherus griseus, Niusson, Skand. Fauna (1820),

Haaf-fish of Oreadians, Tapvaist of Hebrideans.

Tuts large Seal was first described by Fabricius as
Phoca gryphus, and was generically separated by Prof.
Nilsson under the name of Halicherus griseus. It is at
once distinguished from the true Phoce by the form of
its skull and molar teeth. The facial bones are very

GREY SEAL. 263

large in proportion to the brain-case, which is much
narrowed; the nasal opening is extremely large, the hind
margin of the bony palate is concavely rounded, and the
posterior foramena open on the palatine bones. The
grinders are conical, and very simple in form, with
hardly any tubercules, and only the last two of the
upper, and the last one of the lower jaw, have double
roots. Externally the body is elongated, the head
flattened, and the muzzle deep and obliquely truncated.

The Grey Seal inhabits the temperate northern seas
rather than the polar waters. It frequents the shores of
the North Sea and Baltic, and is well known on the
coasts of Iceland, Scandinavia, Denmark, and North
Germany. According to Blasius, it is the commonest
species in Iceland, where (as in Ireland) it is more
gregarious than in the Baltic. Dr. R. Brown cannot
claim it with certainty as a native of Greenland, though
he believes that it sometimes visits the southern parts
along with the Harp Seal, and Herr Malmgren states
that it is unknown at Spitzbergen, but considers it to
be the Grénfdlg of the Laps, occasionally seen in small
numbers on the coast of Finmark.

The existence of a very large Seal on the British
coasts has long been known, but it was always referred
to Ph. barbata, and it is to the investigations of Mr.
Ball of Dublin that we are indebted for its proper
identification. That gentleman having obtained speci-
mens in Ireland which he was unable to name, brought
the matter before the British Association in 1836, when
his specimens were recognized by Prof. Nilsson as
belonging to his Halicherus griseus. On examining
Donovan’s Orkney Seal, attributed to Ph. barbata, in the
British Museum, Mr. Ball found that it was an ill-
prepared example of the same species. Since that time

264 PHOCID®.

the Grey Seal has been recognized on many parts of our
coasts. It is undoubtedly the Haaf-fish of the Orcadians
and Shetlands, and appears certainly to be the Tapvaist
of the Hebrideans, of which the following account is
given by Mr. Wilson in the first volume of the ‘* Maga-
zine of Zoology and Botany”’:—‘‘The Tapvaist or
Great Seal is observed occasionally ashore with indivi-
duals of other kinds, but notwithstanding this it may be
characterized as being of solitary habits, and as selecting
the most remote and unfrequented situations. It is
neither so lively nor so watchful as the Common Seal,
nor is it so easily alarmed. It resembles that species in
its general colouring, but may at once be distinguished
from it by its enormous size.” Mr. Wilson adds that
the young is born above high-water mark in the end of
September or beginning of October, and is at first
covered with white hair, which is retained for many
weeks, but shed before it takes to the water; the
average weight of the adult he estimates at about thirty
stone. One of the principal stations of this species in
the Hebrides is a rock named Haskeir, near North Uist ;
here, according to Capt. H. J. Elwes (“ Ibis,” 1869,
p: 25), large numbers were formerly destroyed, but of
late years the proprietor has wisely put a stop to the
slaughter, as the Seals were in danger of total exter-
mination. Dr. Brown considers this as a very common
species in the Hebrides, so much so that his friend
Captain McDonald killed no less than seventy in a cruise
of afew weeks. On the mainland of Scotland the Grey
Seal is comparatively rare; Prof. Turner has recorded
that two young ones were taken near Montrose in 1869,
and an adult female near St. Andrews in 1870 (‘‘ Jour-
nal of Anat. and Phys.,” 1870); he learns also from
Dr. Stirling that it is well known in the Tay by the

GREY SEAL. 265

name of ‘‘ Black Seal,” where it is very destructive both
to fish and nets.

Mr. Edmonstone’s account of the Great Seals of
Shetland (“ Zetland Isles,” v. II., p. 294), agrees with
Mr. Wilson’s observations. They associate in pairs,
frequent the most exposed situations, and bring forth
their young in September, October, or November. In
our first edition, under the head of Ph. barbata, we
quoted some remarks by the late Mr. Selby on the Great
Seals of the Farne Islands; these also are to be referred
to the present species, as is proved by specimens pre-
sented by that distinguished naturalist to the British
Museum. He observes that “ this species calves in the
month of November upon several of the outer rocks,
where the young are suckled every tide for the space of
fourteen or fifteen days.” A Grey Seal has been taken
_ in the Severn, and is preserved in the Bristol Institution ;
and in 1857 a specimen was killed in the Isle of Wight,
as recorded by Capt. Hadfield in the “ Zoologist”’ for
that year (pp. 700, 787). The Zoological Society have
received living specimens from the coast of Wales.

On the southern and western coasts of Ireland, where
this species is very abundant, it is more gregarious than
in most other places. Mr. Ball has heard of as many as
thirteen being seen together, and Mr. H. Evans kindly
sends us the following note on the habits of the species
in County Galway: ‘1 have got within a short distance
of, say, ten or twelve Grey Seals, lying on scattered
though neighbouring rocks, and uttering the most dis-
mal howlings in chorus. The largest I have ever killed
weighed six hundredweight—he was a grand old bull.”

The following extracts of a letter from our friend
Mr. A. G. More, give a graphic account of his success-
ful shot at a large individual of this species :—

MM

266 PHOCIDA.

“The Halicherus whose photograph I sent to you in
1869, I had the good luck to shoot, and still more to
retrieve from deep water, close to a little rocky islet
called Eagle Rock, which hes off Connemara, between
Golam Island and the Isles of Arran. It was a full-
grown male, and had been known to frequent the loca-
lity for many years. 1 took from its skin a musket-ball,
which was embedded just between the skin and the
blubber, thus showing that the old veteran had been
under fire before. The beast sank at once on receiving
my bullet, leaving only a great patch of blood to show
the place, and we had to wait more than an hour before
the water became sufficiently clear to see him where he
was lying dead at the bottom. Then, by means of a
long pole borrowed from the gatherers of seaweed, to
which we attached a harpoon which I always carried with
me, we succeeded in raising our prize, and carried him
joyfully into Arran, where all the country people said it
was the biggest Seal they had ever seen. The weight on
scales in Dublin was 3} cwt. (near 400 lbs.). Its
extreme length, in a line from nose to end of flipper,
8 feet exactly ; girth of body at thickest, 5 ft. 3 in.;
round the fore-arm, 123 in.; spread of flipper, 21 in.
In my own experience, they are the most difficult of
all animals toapproach. During four days’ Seal-hunting
last August I never got nearer than eighty yards of a
swimming head, and I| have always found it extremely
hard to stalk them when out of water.

«© When lying on flat rocks or level sand-banks, the Seals
have a way of turning up their hind flippers and the
head at the same time, so as to form a kind of curve,
especially when they stretch themselves.”

If we turn from these home observations to the
accounts given of this species by northern naturalists,

GREY SEAL. 207

we find a curious discrepancy as to the time of breeding.
On the coast of Sweden this is stated by Nilsson and
others to be in February, whereas all British observers
concur in stating that it is in October or November.
It seems possible that the explanation may be that the
milder climate of Britain permits of pairing taking
place much earlier than in Scandinavia.

As might be expected from the comparatively small
size of the brain, the Grey Seal is very inferior in
intelligence and docility to the species we have already
treated of. Mr. Ball says it seems scarcely susceptible
of domestication, his father made several attempts to
rear and tame it, but in vain; and Mr. Bartlett informs
us that the one now in the Zoological Society’s Gardens
is both greedy and savage.

We have already pointed out the principal characters
of this species. In colour it varies so much that it is
difficult to give any definite description; to quote the
words of Mr. Ball: “ The changes of colour from age,
season, sex, &c., of our Halichewrus seem so various as to
offer no guide to a determination of species. In the
many specimens I have seen I do not recollect that any
two were precisely similar. The very young females are
generally of a dull yellowish-white, with rather long
hair, which falls off in about six weeks after birth, and
gives place to a shorter and more shining coat of a
warm dingy yellow, variously blotched with blackish-
grey, the whole gradually becoming more dull, the
blotching more indistinct, and a general dark shade
spreading over the back, as the animal advances in age.”
Owing to the flattened and recurved character of the
hair, the animal when dry appears uniform silvery-grey
when seen from before, and of a sooty brown when
viewed in an opposite direction, the blotches being only

268 PHOCIDA.

visible on a side view. Mr. More considers that only
young males have a dark muzzle.

The adult animal attains a length of from seven to
ten feet.

WALRUS. 269

CARNIVORA. . TRICHECHID A.
PINNIPEDIA.

Genus Trichecus ( Linneeus, 1766).

Generic Character.—Limbs used as organs of support on land. No

. . 2 = . .
external ear. Teeth in adult, inc. 3, can. ‘3, mol. 4:4 or 3:33; canin

developed into huge tusks, molars truncated, single rooted.

WALRUS.

Trichecus rosmarus (Linneus).

Specific Character. —Greyish-brown, becoming lighter with age. Length
of adult, twelve to fifteen feet.
Trichecus rosmarus, Linnxvs, Syst. Nat. I. 49 (1766).
Rosmarus arcticus, Patuas, Zool, Rosso-Asiat. I. 269.

Sea-horse of Sealers, Morsk of Laps ; Awuk of Greenlanders and Eskimo.

AccorpING to the arrangement here adopted, the
Walrus is regarded as the type of a distinct family, of
which it is the only known member. It may in many
respects be regarded as intermediate between those which
we have had under consideration, and the Eared Seals
(Otaride) of the Southern and Pacific Oceans, agreeing

270 TRICHECHID At.

with the former in its general anatomy, and with the
latter in the important point of the functional use of its
limbs as supports of its body when on land. Instead of
resting on its belly and progressing by the action of its
abdominal muscles, as we have seen to be the case with
the true Seals, the Walrus walks upright, though in
an awkward and shuffling manner, the fore-paws being
turned backwards, while the hind-feet are directed for-
wards and outwards. In its motions in swimming also,
it holds an equally intermediate position, for, while the
fore-feet are hardly used by the true Seals, and are the
main organs of propulsion in the O/aride, all four limbs
are employed by the Walrus; as Dr. Pettigrew remarks,
** so far as the physiology of its extremities is concerned,
it may very properly be regarded as holding an inter-
mediate position between the Seals on the one hand, and
the Sea-Bears and Sea-Lions on the other.”

The Walrus is essentially an Arctic animal, and its
geographical range has been very much circumscribed by
the persecution of man. There can be no doubt that
two or three centuries ago it was common on the northern
coasts of Scandinavia and at Bear Island, where it is now
almost unknown—in recent times Nilsson only menticns
one killed in Nordland, about 1816. It is still plentiful,
however, in the Spitzbergen and Greenland seas, and on
the coasts of Arctic America, but even there it appears
to be rapidly diminishing in numbers. On the west
coast of America it was met with by Capt. Cook in
latitude 58° 42’, and by Dr. Brown as far south as
lat. 50°.

This species can only be regarded asa rare and ac-
cidental straggler to our coasts, though it is probable
that its occurrence was formerly more frequent than it is
now. In the Museum of the University of Cambridge

WALRUS. 271

there is a very fine sub-fossil skull of a Walrus, which
was found in peat near Ely. It was mentioned as visit-
ing Scotland, by Hector Boece, whose authority is quoted
by Sir Robert Sibbald. One was killed in December,
1817, at Caolas Stocnis, on the east coast of Harris, and
was examined by the late Mr. Macgillivray, who gave an
account of itin vol. XVII. of the “‘ Naturalist’s Library ”’;
it was about ten feet in length, with tusks of eight and a
half inches. A second was shot in June, 1825, on the
island of Edday, Orkney, by one of the shepherds of
Mr. Laing of Papdale ; it was recorded by Mr. R. Scarth,
in the “ Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine” for that
year, and its head was sent to the Edinburgh College
Museum. Messrs. Baikie and Heddle state that another
Walrus made its appearance in Hoy Sound in 1827, but
it was not captured. One was killed in April, 1841, on
the East Heiskar, near Harris, by Capt. McDonald, R.N.,
as mentioned by Dr. R. Brown, in the ‘ Annals and
Magazine” for 1871; and in the ‘‘ Proceedings of the
Zoological Society ” for 1868, Dr. Brown remarks :—‘ I
know of one that was seen in Orkney in 1857, and
another, the Shetland fishermen told me, had been seen
in the Nor’ Isles about the same time.”

In its native climes the Walrus consorts in large herds,
to the number of hundreds, on the fixed and floating
ice; in the former it keeps open atluks, like the Seals.
When assailed it at once betakes itself to the water, but
if cut off from its haven of refuge, it fights fiercely, and
even in the sea a wounded Walrus will not hesitate to
attack a boat, tearing the planks asunder with its tusks,
and continuing the conflict till the hunter’s lance or bullet
finds a mortal spot.

Very various accounts have been given of the food of
this animal. It was long supposed to feed exclusively

272 TRICHECHIDA.

on sea-weed, and Sir Everard Home was informed by
Mr. Fisher that the stomachs of two which he opened
contained Fucus digitalis only. Mr. Lamond, however,
in his “Seasons with the Sea-horses,” states that all those
which he examined contained the remains of various
molluscous, radiated, and annulose animals, although he
believed that sea-weeds might occasionally be eaten.
Herr Malmgren, who in ‘f Wiegmann’s Archiv” for 1864:
has given by far the best recent account of the habits of
the Morse, tells us that it lives almost exclusively on two
species of Mollusks, Mya truncata and Sazxicava rugosa,
which burrow three to seven inches deep in the mud at
a depth of ten to fifty fathoms—the Walrus digs these
up with his tusks, cleverly denudes them of their shells
with its tongue and grinders, and swallows them whole.
He only found one other animal in the stomach, a gigantic
example of Priapulus caudatus. It is evident that this
food can only be procured after the tusks have reached
some size, and accordingly the young Walrus is suckled
by its mother for nearly two years, by which time its
canines have attained a length of three or four inches.
Dr. Brown’s observations in the Greenland seas are to a
similar effect. ‘ As to its being carnivorous,” he says, “if
further proof is necessary, | have only to add that when-
ever one was killed near where a whale’s carcase had
been set adrift, its stomach was invariably found crammed
with the krang, or flesh of the cetacean.”

According to Herr Malmgren, the pairing time is in
May and June. The female goes nearly a year with
young, and, as already mentioned, suckles her single calf
for nearly two years. As she does not pair during this
time, it follows that the increase of the species is ex-
tremely slow, only one young one being born in four
years.

WALRUS. 273

The Walrus is an animal of considerable intelligence
and docility. In Hakluyt’s ‘ Pilgrimes” (1624) an
account is given of a young one brought to England by
Master Thomas Weldon, of the ‘‘ God-speed” and ex-
hibited at court—* As the beaste in shape is very strange,
so it is of strange docilitie and apt to be taught, as by
good experience we often proued.” Dr. Brown mentions
one he saw in Greenland which was perfectly tame and
seemingly happy, answering to its name and returning to
call even when let loose in the sea. Two examples have
been exhibited of late years in the gardens of the
Zoological Society, but neither of them survived long.
The first was purchased in 1858, but only survived a few
days; the second, captured in Davis Strait in August,
1866, was brought to London in November, 1867, and
lived in the gardens about six weeks. We had the
pleasure of seeing this specimen, which was a young male
of about eight feet in length, with partially developed
tusks. In its gait and general appearance its relation-
ship to the Sea-Bears was very striking. It was fed
principally on mussels and whelks, and also on sprats and
other fish, but it steadily refused the most tempting
proffers of sea-weed. It soon came to know its keeper,
and to answer to his call, but unfortunately it died on
the 19th December. On dissection, Dr. Murie found
that its stomach was extensively ulcerated and contained
an immense quantity of intestinal worms of an unde-
scribed species, which has since been named Ascaris
bicolor by Dy. Baird.

The name Walrus is from the Norse Hval-ros, ‘‘ whale-
horse” or “ horse-whale.”’ Thus in Alfred the Great’s
Saxon version of Oronius we read that Oether, the
Norwegian voyager, “ told the King that he went to the
north chiefly on account of the horse-whales (hors-

NN

274 TRICHECHIDA.

hvalum), because they have very good bone in their teeth :
of these teeth they brought some to the King: and their
hides are very good for ship-ropes.” Rosmar, another
Norse name, means ‘ Sea-horse ;”” and Morse is from the
Russian Morss, Lap Morsk. The Greenlandic name,
Awuk, is an imitation of the animal’s cry, which Dr.
Brown describes as a guttural ‘‘a66k! 466k!”

The head of the Walrus is rounded, and the muzzle is
enormously enlarged to give room for the roots of the
great tusks. The bristles of the whiskers are very thick,
stiff, and semi-transparent; the eyes are small and bright;
the orifices of the ears very small and placed far back.
The skin is marked with numerous transverse folds on
the neck and flanks, and is covered with short close hair.
The colour is light brown, darker in the young and paler
in the aged animal.

The milk dentition of the Walrus is given by Wieg-
mann as inc. 8, can. ¢:4, mol], $:3. In the adult there are
only two small incisors in the upper jaw, and even these
are usually lost in macerated skulls. In many specimens
there are an additional pair of very small molars, which
Prof. Peters considers to be milk teeth abnormally
retained ; but Prof. Flower regards it as an open question
whether they are not rather permanent teeth in an
aborted condition. The enormous canines, which yield
a very white and dense ivory, are usually about eight to
fourteen inches long in the adult animal, but are some-
times much larger. A pair from Spitzbergen formerly
in our possession, now in the Cambridge University
Museum, are two feet long, and a single tusk in the
Oxford Museum is thirty inches in length, including the
portion contained in the socket. In these very long tusks
a slight spiral twist is often perceptible.

The adult animal attains a length of ten to fifteen feet ;

WALRUS. 275

Crantz says that it even reaches to eighteen, and Cuvier to
twenty feet.

The ordinary position of the animal on shore is shown
by our figure, which is a copy of an old engraving “ad
vivum delineatum ab Hesselo G. A.” published in
“‘L’ Histoire du Pays nommé Spitzberghe,” at Amster-
dam, in 1613. Old as it is, it is the best representation
of the adult Walrus with which we are acquainted, and
has been repeatedly copied, as by Laet, Wormius,
Jonston, Shaw, &c. Most of the figures in books have
been drawn from preserved specimens, and assign the

position of a true Seal to the animal.

276 SCIURIDA,

RODENTIA. SCIURID A.

Genus, Sciurus.

SQUIRREL.
Generic Character.—Clavicles complete ; grinding teeth 3:3, simple, the
summits tubercular, the anterior one in the upper jaw extremely small; upper
incisive teeth chisel-shaped, lower ones pointed, compressed laterally ; toes

long and free ; tail long and bushy.

COMMON SQUIRREL.

Sciurus vulgaris (Linn. ).

Specific Character.—Brownish-red above, white beneath; tail very bushy,
of the same colour as the body ; ears tufted.
OpPIAN Cyneg.

Pury. Hist. Nat. lib. VII. ¢. xxxviii.
Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 86. Mutt. Zool. Dan. Prod. p. 5,

sp. 82. Dusmar. Mammal. p. 330, sp. 527. Fuum. Brit.
An. p. 20. Jznyns, Brit. Vert. p. 29.
Sciurus alpinus, ¥. Cuv. Mam. fase. xxii. Dusm. Mam. p. 548.
Sciurus italicus, Bonap, Faun Ital.
Common Squirrel, Pann. Brit. Zool. I. p. 107.
Heureuwil commun, Burron, Hist. Nat. VII. p. 253, t. xxxil.
Mammif. livr. xxii.

/
Zxloveos,
Sciurus,

», vulgaris,

Suaw, Gen. Zool. II. p. 134.
Fr. Cuvier,

ine form and habits of this elegant and active little

COMMON SQUIRREL. 277

creature combine to render it one of the most beautiful
and entertaining of our native animals. Its movements
are agile; its conformation and colours elegant and pleas-
ing; its disposition, when early domesticated, gentle,
playful, and familiar. Dwelling principally upon trees,
and rarely descending to the ground, it leaps from bough
to bough with astonishing agility. It lives upon nuts,
acorns, beech-mast, the bark of young trees, leaf-buds,
and tender shoots. In eating nuts, it gnaws with consi-
derable rapidity through the hard shell, and then care-
fully removes every particle of the dry brown skin from
each morsel of the kernel before it is eaten. We have
also received unquestionable testimony that birds’ eggs
are occasionally eaten by it. It sits upon its haunches,
holding its food in its fore paws, which serve the office of
hands. In taking its leaps, when once thrown off by an
effort of its long and powerful hinder legs, it is in a mea-
sure sustained by the horizontal spreading of its limbs
and bushy tail; which latter organ is also extremely
useful in covering and protecting its back, over which it
is often turned, and in enveloping the whole lateral and
dorsal parts of the body when coiled up during sleep or
in its hibernation. It lays up stores of food for its
winter provision, which is not usually deposited in a
single place of safety, but distributed in several different
holes of trees, in the immediate neighbourhood of its own
retreat. It remains during the greater part of the winter
in a state of almost complete torpidity—coming abroad,
however, on the occurrence of a fine day, feeding on a
part of its treasured hoards, and then retiring again to
its slumbers. According to Pliny, the Squirrel closes
its retreat on the side from which the wind is likely
to blow, and opens it on the opposite direction.
‘‘ Praevident tempestatem et Sciuri; obturatisque, qua

278 SCIURIDE.

spiraturus est ventus, cavernis, ex alia parte aperiunt
fores.” *

A pair of Squirrels, for they are monogamous, do not
readily change their place of abode, but remain attached
for a long period to the same tree, seeking their food in
the district immediately surrounding it. The nest is con-
structed in a very intricate and beautiful manner, of moss,
leaves, and fibres, curiously interlaced; and is usually
placed either in a hole in the tree, or in the fork between
two branches, often where it can with difficulty be distin-
guished from the tree itself. The female brings forth
three or four young in the month of June, which receive
the most assiduous care from both parents, and remain
with them until the following spring, when they separate,
and choose their mates.

This pretty animal appears to be common over the
greater part of Europe, but is not found, according to
Pallas, in the Crimea. It has been met with in China, on
the Amoor River. In our own country it is pretty evenly
distributed over England and Scotland; in the north of
the latter country, in the province of Murray, as we have
learned by the kindness of the Rev. G. Gordon, it is
now common, whereas fifteen or twenty years ago it
was little known there. In Ireland, the Squirrel appears
to be rare.

The Squirrel is liable to considerable variety in point of
colour, becoming grey in the northern regions. Linnzus,
in his ‘‘ Lachesis Lapponica,” states that the inhabitants of
the Lapland Alps ‘ contrive, by means of their wooden
bows, to procure in the course of the winter a consider-
able number of Squirrels (Sciwrus vulgaris), in their grey
or winter clothing, for the sake of their skins.”+ We

* Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. VIII. c. xxxviii.
+ Lachesis Lapponica, translated by Smith, II. p. 49.

COMMON SQUIRREL. 279

possess a specimen from Archangel, in which some parts
of the body have the fur of the same peculiar and beauti-
ful grey which characterizes the American Grey Squirrel,
the remaining parts being of the usual red colour of our
English specimens. Even in this country, it appears that
a certain degree of change takes place in the colour of
the fur in spring and in autumn. Mr. Blyth was the first
to notice this fact in this country, observing that in the
summer the fur is much coarser and more uniformly red,
the pencils of the ears also are lost, as had been observed
by former naturalists; in the winter the sides of the
body assume a greyish tint, the pencils of the ears are
long and full, and the fur softer and fuller. The summer
change is not perfect till July. A further change, how-
ever, takes place, which we have not as yet seen alluded
to, excepting as a supposed accidental variety. Squirrels
with cream-coloured tails are by no means uncommon in
certain localities; and after the examination of a good
muster of examples, we found that this pale colour of the
tail always accompanied, or rather followed, the change
in the colour and quality of the fur in the summer, as
above noticed. In no instance have we observed the
cream-coloured tail until towards the end of summer, at
which time most of those we have inspected have had a
more or less faded appearance, though the greater number
have not been actually much paler than usual. At the
change which takes place at the commencement of winter,
the tail again assumes its ordinary appearance. An
Alpine variety of this animal has been described by
M. F. Cuvier, under the name of Sciurus Alpinus, having
the back of a dark brown colour, dotted with yellowish-
white, and the under parts pure white. It occurs, accord-
ing to Desmarest, in the Alps and Pyrenees.

The head is thick, rounded posteriorly, flattened at

280 SCIURIDA,

the sides and on the forehead; the nose prominent; the
eyes black, prominent, large, and placed rather high on
the sides of the head; the ears straight, large, terminated
by a pencil of long hairs; the cutting teeth of the upper
jaw broader than those of the lower, which are almost
pointed, and much flattened at the sides; the grinding
teeth are four above and below, with the addition of a
rudimentary one, consisting of a single tubercle, and
often deciduous, placed immediately before the others in
the upper jaw; the neck is short, but distinct; the body
thick ; the back arched; the tail long and very bushy,
the hairs being distichous; hinder legs very long, the
heels touching the ground; the fore feet formed for
holding food; the fingers long, furnished with promi-
nent cushions, and with long sharp curved claws. The
colour above is reddish-brown, beneath white.

Dimensions :—
Inch. Lines,
Length of the head and body. : : 78a yt
53 of the head . : ; : : ie
», Oftheears . ; 3 . ‘ , 10m SY.
;, of the tail to the end of the bone . by RO)

COMMON DORMOUSE. 28}

RODENTTA. MYOXIDA.

Genus, Myoxus. (Schreber.)

Generic Character.—Grinders 4:4, simple, the summits marked with trans-
verse ridges of enamel; fore feet formed for grasping, their claws short,
thumb rudimentary ; hind feet also formed for grasping, fifth toe short ; tail
long, somewhat bushy ; general form somewhat thick and compact.

COMMON DORMOUSE.
SLEEPER.

Myoxus avellanarius. (Linneus.)

Specific Character.—Fur light tawny above, paler and yellowish beneath;
an elongated patch of white on the throat and fore part of the breast; tail
somewhat shorter than the head and body.

Mus avellanarius minor, Ray, Syn. Quad. 220.

Mus avellanarius, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 83, No. 14. Pauuas, Glir.
p. 89.
Sciurus avellanarius, Erx.ep, Syst. p. 433, 15.

Myoxus muscardinus, Scureser, Siugth. p. 835, 4, t. eevii.
», wellanarius, DesMAR. Mammal. p. 295, sp. 466. Fie. Brit.
; Anim, p. 22. Junywns, Brit. Vert. p. 30.
Le Muscardin, Burron, Hist. Nat. VIII. p. 193, t. xxvi. FR.

Cuv. Mammif. fase. XX XVIII.
Dormouse, Pennant, Brit. Zool. I. p. 110. Suaw, Gen. Zool.

II. p. 167, t. cliv.

282 MYOXID&,

THE situation of the genus Myoxus in the natural
arrangement of the Rodentia is one of some interest, as
occupying a position between the Sciuride, or Squirrels,
and the Muride, or true Mice. We do not deem it
desirable, in a work like this, to enter at length into
the somewhat ample system of classification at present
made use of in this great order, but at the same time we
are anxious to warn our readers against an opinion on
the subject of classification, which we think is much too
commonly entertained. We allude to the frequent belief
that one animal, or group of animals, often forms a direct
link or passage between two other groups; and the little
animal which we have now under consideration has been
supposed to constitute one of these links. It does, indeed,
connect the Squirrels with the Mice, but it does so only
by holding an intermediate position, and not by forming
an even gradation from the one to the other; for the
Dormouse, which, partaking of climbing characters on the
one hand, has not these peculiarities developed in the
same manner as in the Squirrels, but rather to enable it
to creep amongst underwood than to climb trees; and on
the other hand, although obviously having a certain rela-
tionship with the true Mice, it differs, nevertheless, in some
important respects. It is a matter of frequent occurrence
in intermediate groups, to find that they possess impor-
tant characteristics which are quite peculiar to them.
Thus, while the number of molar teeth in Mus is three
in each jaw, in Sciurus five, and in Myozxus the interme-
diate number, yet in the structure of the teeth themselves,
the latter differs very materially from both the others,
and, indeed, from other Rodentia. This, with some other
peculiarities, has induced us, with other zoologists, to
recognize as a family the group to which the Dormouse
belongs, under the name of Myoxide, coming after the

COMMON DORMOUSE. 283

Sciuride, which may be regarded as the most highly organ-
ized group of the whole order. In the general appearance
and habits of the Dormouse there is much to remind us
of the Squirrels. Inhabiting dense shrubs and thickets—
building its nest amidst the foliage of the underwood of
coppices, or in the tangled vegetation of hedgerows—feed-
ing upon corn, haws, young hazel-nuts, and fallen acorns
—laying up a hoard of provision for the winter, and assum-
ing an almost total torpidity during that ungenial season
—its habits appear to be intermediate between the two
families alluded to. The tail in the Myozus glis, a common
species in the south of Europe, is nearly allied to that of
Squirrels; but that of our native species is farther re-
moved from it, although still somewhat bushy, and having
the same distichous arrangement of the hairs.

The toes, although prehensile, are destitute of the
strong claws which enable the Squirrel to ascend the
naked boles of trees with such astonishing rapidity, but
have these parts weak and short, and are formed instead
to perform pretty much the office of hands, enabling the
creature to climb from sprig to sprig in the branches of
trees or amongst underwood. Both fore and hind feet
are well padded internally with fleshy broadish tubercles,
thus converting them, as we have already intimated, into
hands, in the use of which the creature, when creeping
about in a bush of whitethorn, as we have seen it, ex-
hibits an adroitness which is quite unequalled by the
little agile Harvest Mouse, and scarcely surpassed by
the Squirrel.

Although extremely gentle and inoffensive, and easily
rendered familiar when in confinement, it chooses its
habitation far from the haunts of man, and, from its
retiring and nocturnal habits, is not easily observed and
taken. It is found in the localities indicated above,

284 MYOXIDA.

where little colonies are sometimes seen inhabiting a
space of no considerable extent. Our late friend, Mr.
Yarrell, has informed us that he has seen not less than
ten or a dozen—or even more—of their nests built in the
shrubs of a thicket. It takes its food holding it in its
hands, and sitting on its haunches like a Squirrel, and
often suspending itself by its hinder feet, in which posi-
tion it feeds as easily and comfortably as in the more
ordinary position. ‘Towards the winter it becomes ex-
ceedingly fat; and having laid up a store of food, retires
to its little nest, and coiling itself up into a ball, with the
tail over the head and back, becomes completely torpid.
A mild day calls it into transient life: it then takes a fresh
supply of food, and relapses into its former slumber; and
finally awaking in the spring, at which time it has lost
much of its fat, it enters upon its usual habits, and the
enjoyment of the conjugal and parental affections. The
g, which are generally about four in number, are
born blind; but in a few days the eyes are opened, and
in a short time they are able to seek their food indepen-

youn

dently of the parents’ care. We have reason to believe
that, in some cases at least, the Dormouse has a second
brood early in the autumn, as we have received from one
locality, in the month of September, an adult, one about
half grown, evidently of the spring brood, and three very
young ones, apparently not more than a fortnight or three
weeks old. ‘The young Dormouse is at first of a mouse-
grey colour, the head and flanks alone having a reddish
tinge: by degrees the grey disappears, and gives place to
the delicate reddish-brown of the adult garb; but it is
not until the following spring that this change is com-
pleted. The young ones enter into their hibernation
much more tardily than the old ones. In one instance
an adult became torpid about the middle of October ;

COMMON’ DORMOUSE. 285

one of the spring brood about six weeks afterwards; and
those born in autumn died early in the winter, without
having ever attempted hibernation,—and although they
had continued to feed, they died extremely thin. The
name avellanarius is due to the supposition that the prin-
cipal food of the Dormouse consists of the hazel-nut, the
shell of which they readily gnaw with their small but
strong incisors. ~

The Dormouse appears to have been found in most
parts of Europe, though it is in some countries less
common than the larger species. In the south of France,
according to M. Crespon, it is not so often met with as
Myoxus glis or M. nitela. It occurs in Switzerland, and
is accordingly included in the Fauna Helvetica of Prof.
Schinz, and is mentioned as an inhabitant of Scandinavia
by M. Nilsson, but we do not find any record of it either
in ‘‘ Zoologica Russo-Asiatica,” of Pallas, or in the re-
cently published work of Dr. L. Von Schrenck, on the
Mammals of the region of the Amoor river.

The head of the Dormouse is rather large for the size
of the animal; the eyes black, large, and prominent; the
forehead raised; the muzzle rather pointed; the ears
rather more than one-third the length of the head; the
body rounded and full; the tail flattened, nearly linear,
furnished with rather long hairs, which stand out on each
side; the fore feet with four toes and the rudiment of a

thumb, the hinder with five toes.

Dimensions :—

Inch. Lines.
Length of the head and body . 4 : oe eS 0
,, of the head. : : , : a Qowlat
5, of the ears . ; : : ; : Q- 4
», of the tail . : , : fe. iO
,, of the fore foot . : , ; , 0. 5
of the hind foot . : p Oued

286 MURIDA.

RODENTIA. MURID.

Genus, Mus.

MOUSE, RAT.

Generic Character.—Grinders 3:3, simple, with tubercular summits ; supe-
rior incisive teeth wedge-shaped, inferior ones compressed and pointed ; tail
nearly naked, annulated with scales.

HARVEST MOUSE.
Mus minutus. ( Pallas.)

Specific Character.—Fur light orange-brown on the upper parts, white
beneath, the two colours distinctly circumscribed ; ears one-third the length
of the head.

Pauuas, Glir. p. 96,45. Erxixs.
Syst. p. 401, 11. Gmet. Linn.
Syst. Nat. I. 130. Drsmar.
Mammal. p. 304, sp. 485.

SHaw, Gen. Zool. II. p. 62, fig.
in titul. Montagu in Linn.
Trans. VII. p. 274. DEsmar.
Mammal. p. 302, sp. 479.
Frem. Brit. An. p. 19. Junyns,
Brit. Vert. p. 31.

5, pendulinus, soricinus, and parvulus, Herm. Obs. Zool. I. p. 57, 62.
Fr. Cuvier, Mammal. II.
TW.

bdr. 9?
Penn. Brit. Zool. I. p. 120, No. 29.
Suaw, Gen. Zool. II. p. 64, t.
CXXX1.

Mus minutus,

5, mMmessorius,

Mulot nain

Rat des Moissons,
Harvest Mouse,
Minute Mouse,

HARVEST MOUSE. 287

ALTHOUGH it is certainly to Gilbert White that we owe
the first published account of this elegant little animal as
indigenous to this country, it appears to have been seen,
though without exciting due attention, by Montagu, who,
in the seventh volume of the Linnean Transactions, records
his having seen it in Wiltshire before the discovery of it
in Hampshire by the former naturalist. White communi-
cated his discovery to Pennant, who immediately published
it, with the acknowledgment of his authority, in the second
edition of his British Quadrupeds ; and again in the subse-
quent editions, without that acknowledgment. From this
source it has been copied into almost every subsequent
work on British mammalia, and with but little addition
to our knowledge as to its habits, with the exception of
Montagu in the place alluded to, Bingley in his Animal
Biography, and Dr. Gloger in the Transactions of the
German Academy, who have thrown much light upon
many interesting points in their economy, both in a state
of nature and in confinement. The most complete epitome
of the information thus scattered, is to be found in a note
to the recent edition of White’s Selborne, by our lamented
friend, Mr. E. T. Bennett, whose loss at the moment of
its completion shed a gloom over the appearance of that
delightful book which he so much enriched with his varied
and extensive information.

The Harvest Mouse has now been found in most parts
of England, amongst others in Hampshire, Wiltshire,
Gloucestershire, Devonshire, and Cambridgeshire—in the
latter of which counties it was often seen by the father
of the author of the former edition probably not less
than ninety years ago, and described by him as a third
species of Field Mouse. It is commonly carried in
sheaves of corn into wheat-ricks or into barns, and lives
and multiplies in such situations with great rapidity.

288 MURIDA.

Although common, we have observed that it is somewhat
local, appearing in considerable numbers in certain fields,
or farms, but not occurring in others, although near. It
feeds principally on corn; but from the observations of
Mr. Bingley, it would appear that it occasionally feeds,
nothing loath, upon insects also. ‘‘One evening,”
says this agreeable writer, speaking of an individual of

“as I was

this species which he had in confinement,
sitting at my writing-desk, and the animal was playing
about in the open part of its cage, a large blue fly hap-
pened to buzz against the wires. The little creature,
although at twice or thrice the distance of her own length
from it, sprang along the wires with the greatest agility,
and would certainly have seized it, had the space between
the wires been sufficiently wide to have admitted her
teeth or paws to reach it. I was surprised at this occur-
rence, as I had been led to believe that the Harvest Mouse
was merely a granivorous animal. I caught the fly and
made it buzz in my fingers against the wires. The Mouse,
though usually shy and timid, immediately came out of
her hiding-place, and running to the spot, seized and de-
voured it. From this time I fed her with insects, when-
ever I could get them; and she always preferred them to
every other kind of food that I offered her.”

It is not only one of the prettiest, but, with the excep-
tion of the Sorex pygmeus, the smallest of all the British
mammialia; and its habits are at least as interesting as
those of any more conspicuous and important species.
Although very gentle in disposition, seldom attempting
to bite when taken hold of, it is not very easily rendered
familiar, being in this respect much inferior to the com-
mon Field Mouse, but it may be kept in confinement for
along time in good health, by allowing it the optional use
of a sort of little tread-wheel, in which it will often exer-

HARVEST MOUSE. 289

cise itself, apparently to its amusement and satisfaction ;
and it was probably from the absence of this healthful
exercise that Montagu failed to keep it in confinement.
It was observed by the Rev. Wm. Bingley, that the tail
of this species is prehensile—a fact which has subsequently
been alluded to by Mr. Broderip, in the fifth volume of
the Zoological Journal.

It appears to retire, like other Mice, to little burrows
during the winter months: but it also remains the whole
of this season in ricks of corn, in which situations, accord-
ing to the testimony of more than one writer, it does not
become torpid as it does when hibernating under ground.
Its beautiful little round nest, of which a representation
is given in the vignette at the foot of this description,
was first described by White as being ‘‘ most artificially
platted, and composed of the blades of wheat; perfectly
round, and about the size of a cricket-ball, with the aper-
ture so ingeniously closed, that there was no discovering
to what part it belonged. It was so compact and well
filled that it would roll across the table without being
discomposed, though it contained eight little Mice that
were naked and blind. As this nest was perfectly full,
how could the dam come at her litter respectively, so as
to administer a teat to each? Perhaps she opens diffe-
rent places for that purpose, adjusting them again when
the business is over: but she could not possibly be con-
tained in the ball with her young, which, moreover, would
be daily increasing in bulk. This wonderful ‘ procreant
cradle,’ an elegant instance of the efforts of instinct, was
found in a wheat-field suspended in the head of a thistle.”
Dr. Gloger describes its nest still more particularly ; and
as we have not seen his paper, we extract the following
account from Mr. Bennett’s quotation of that naturalist’s

observations :—
P P

290 MURIDA.

“Tt was beautifully and elaborately constructed of the
panicles and leaves of three stems of the common reed
interwoven together, and forming a roundish ball, sus-
pended on the living plants at a height of about five
inches from the ground. On the side opposite to the
stems, rather below the middle, was a small aperture,
which appeared to be closed during the absence of the
parent, and was scarcely observable even after one of the
young had made its escape through it. The inside, when
examined with the little finger, was found to be soft and
warm, smooth, and neatly rounded, but very confined.
This nest contained but five young: but one less elabo-
rately formed, previously examined by Dr. Gloger, was
found to afford shelter to no less than nine. The panicles
and leaves of the grass were very artificially woven toge-
ther, the latter being first slit by the action of the little
animal’s teeth into more or less minute bands or strings.
No other substance was used in the construction of the
nest, which was altogether without cement, or any
means of cohesion, save the interweaving of its com-
ponent parts: it consequently suffered considerable
disturbance even from the most careful handling,
losing in neatness of form as much as it gained in
its increasing size.” * We have often seen the nest
in the neighbourhood of Stratford-on-Avon, and can
testify to the accuracy of Dr. Gloger’s descrip-
tion.

This little animal probably breeds during a consider-
able portion of the year in favourable situations; and as
it brings forth from five to eight, or even nine young at
a time, its increase would be immense did it not prove
an easy victim to every beast and bird of prey. In those
instances in which it has brought forth its young in con-

* White’s Selborne, by Bennett, p. 58, note.

HARVEST MOUSE. 291

finement, it appears that the mother has speedily killed
and partly eaten her offspring.

The propriety of considering the Mus minutus of Pallas
as identical with White’s species was apparent to Shaw,
and is also urged by Montagu. Fischer, too, in his
Synopsis, has this note :—‘‘ An revera a M. minuto dis-

99

tinctus?” In the description there is not a single cha-
racter that does not appertain to both, and there can no
longer be any doubt of their identity ;—an opinion in
which Mr. Bennett appears to have fully agreed. It is
certainly also the Mulot nain of M. Fr. Cuvier, described
in the second volume of his Histoire Naturelle des Mam-
miferes.

The Harvest Mouse is spread over nearly the whole of
Europe, extending as far north as Russia and Siberia ;
and as a southern locality, it may be mentioned, that
although not included in the Fauna Italica of the late
Prince Buonaparte, it has been found in the north of Italy
by Prof. Blasius. The late Professor Macgillivray, in his
work on British Quadrupeds, forming one of the volumes
of the Naturalist’s Library, mentions three localities in
Scotland in which it has been known to occur, viz.,
Aberdeenshire, Fifeshire, and near to Edinburgh. In
Ireland it would seem to be very rare, but through the
kindness of Dr. Kinahan, we are enabled to record it as
an inhabitant of that country.

The general form is rather more elongated and slender
than that of most of the genus: the head rather narrow ;
the eyes are less prominent than in the Common Field
Mouse, black; ears about one-third the length of the
head, rounded; tail rather shorter than the body. Fur
above of a reddish-brown colour, rather brighter than
that of the Dormouse; the hair being dusky at the

base,.and red towards the point: the under parts pure

292 MURIDA.

white; the two colours being separated by an abrupt
line.

We have met with one of these Mice in Warwickshire,
which had all the upper parts of a dirty sulphur yellow,
the under parts being, as usual, pure white. One which
we kept for a considerable time in confinement, and fed
principally upon hempseed, although at first of the ordi-
nary colour, became after a time very much mottled with
dark brown on the back. ‘Thinking that it would even-
tually become black by a continuance of the same food,
as Bullfinches are said to do, it was fed for several months
almost exclusively on hempseed, but no further change

in colour took place.

Dimensions :—

~ Inch. Lines.

Length of the head and body . ‘ ; 4 BY
», of the head. . : : : £4 (OME 98

», of the ears - ibis : F 5 OY 8

of the tail . : é z : sh oS

LONG-TAILED FIELD MOUSE. 293

RODENTIA. MURID.

LONG-TAILED FIELD MOUSE.

WOOD MOUSE.

Mus sylvaticus. (Linn.)

Specific Character,—Reddish-brown above, whitish beneath, with a light
brownish spot on the breast; ears more than half the length of the head ; tail
nearly as long as the head and body.

Mus sylvaticus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p.84,17. Erxuzs. Syst. p. 388,
4. Dersmar. Mammal. p. 301, sp. 477. Fem.
Brit. An, p. 19. Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 30.

,, domesticus medius, Ray, Syn. p. 218.

Le Mulot, Burron, Hist. Nat. VII. p. 325, t. xli.
Long-tailed Field Mouse, Penn. Brit. Zool. p. 120, No. 28.
Wood Mouse, Suaw, Gen. Zool. II. p. 58, t. exxxii.

THIs common species, which is scattered over almost
the whole of the temperate regions of Europe, is in every
part considered as one of the most destructive of all the
minor pests of the corn-field, the nursery-ground, and
the kitchen-garden. Multiplying in hosts, and each one
laying up a winter store in its subterranean retreat, the
devastations committed by it are almost incalculable. It
is, however, a gentle and timid little creature; easily

294 MURIDA.

tamed, and rendered perfectly familiar. We have seen
several of them running out upon the breakfast-table of
our late most valued friend, Dr. Leach, of whose kind
and affectionate disposition they appeared to have an
almost instinctive perception, as they would feed from
his hand, or from his plate, without the least fear, and
allow him to handle and play with them as freely as the
Dormouse. It frequently comes into houses on the
approach of winter; and the largest we ever saw was
taken in a mouse-trap in the larder at the Wakes, in
Selborne. Its retreat is formed under ground, either in
holes formed by its own labour, or more frequently in
small natural excavations under the trunks or roots of
trees, enlarged by themselves, or in the deserted runs of
the Mole. The quantity of food which is here hoarded
is astonishing: it consists of acorns, nuts, corn, and
various seeds, or even roots; and, in addition to this
immediate injury, “the great damage,” says Pennant,
‘done to our fields by the Hogs rooting up the ground,
is chiefly owing to their search after the concealed hoards
of the Field Mice.” Their depredations amongst early
planted peas are often so considerable as to become a
matter of serious consideration to the gardener, and
several traps have been devised for their destruction.
One of the most effective, and at the same time so simple
in construction as to be easily within the reach of any one,
is the following :—Two pegs are thrust firmly into the
ground, and standing a few inches high, at such a dis-
tance apart as to admit of a brick being placed between
them. A piece of twine is then taken, anda bean, which
has been softened by soaking, is threaded upon it like a
bead, and it is then extended between the two pegs, and
firmly secured at either end to them, the bean being

about the middle of the twine. The brick is then placed

LONG-TAILED FIRFLD MOUSE. 295

between the pegs, in such a position that one end is sup-
ported by the twine, whilst the other remains upon the
ground. The Mice, in eating the bean, which they will
not fail to do, severs the string, and the brick falls upon
them. Tiles or slates may advantageously be substituted
for bricks, but they require that one be also placed upon
the ground for-a floor, as their weight would not be sufli-
cient to destroy the Mice, if loose soil only were beneath.
We have sometimes known nearly a dozen of these Mice
taken in a garden by the above trap, in a single night.

When driven by hunger, they do not strictly confine
themselves to vegetable food: they will eat various
animal matters—young birds, or mice, or even each
other, the smaller and weaker falling victims to the
stronger. .

It is very prolific, breeding in many instances more
than once in the year, and bringing from seven to ten
young ata time. “Un homme de ma campagne,” says
Buffon, ‘‘ en prit un jour vingt-deux dans un seul trou:
il y avoit deux méres et vingt petits.”

There is no doubt that this species is the Mus domesticus
medius of Ray, as is clearly shown by the following quota-
tion:—‘‘ Caput longius quam in mure domestico minore
vulgari, oculorum orbite ut et oculi majores et prominen-
tiores ; auricule latiores et rotundiores.” *

The Long-tailed Field Mouse is too common in Europe
to render necessary an enumeration of the countries
which it inhabits. The following remarks by the Rev.
Leonard Jenyns, would seem to point out a variety of
this species which’ is found on the tops of the Irish
mountains. He says: ‘‘One of these was taken in the
county of Kerry, at an elevation of 2,500 feet above the
sea-level. The only respects in which they differ from

* Raii Syn. Quad. p. 218.

296 MURID&.

the Mus sylvaticus are in being of a darker colour, smaller,
and with some of the relative proportions rather less.” *
As we have ourselves observed considerable variation in
size and colour, we can only regard these Lrish examples
as varieties of Mus sylvaticus.

The Field Mouse is larger than the Common Field Vole,
but varies considerably in size ; the head is long and raised;
the muzzle tapering; the whiskers very long; the eyes
remarkably large and prominent; the ears large, oblong,
oval, with the anterior margin turned in at the base, and
a projecting lobe arising within the ear near the base of
the posterior margin; the tail nearly as long as the body,
slender and tapering; the legs long. The upper part
and sides of the head, neck, and body, and the outer
surface of the legs of a yellowish colour, mingled with
blackish, or of a yellowish brown, darker on the back;
each hair being grey or ash colour at the base, then
yellow, and the tips of some of them black; under parts
whitish, with a very slight greyish tint in some parts, and
a yellowish-grey patch on the breast. Tail brown above, |
white beneath.

Dimensions :—
Inch. lines.
Length of the head and body . : : Bee ak 7

», of the head Din 2S
», of the ears On aa
», of the tail. 7 Ree,
», of the fore foot and claws Oveend
of the hind foot and claws . OF et

* Notes on some of the Smaller British Mammalia, &c., by the Rev.
Leonard Jenyns, M.A., F.Z.S., &c. Annals of Natural History, Vol. VII.
No, 44. June, 1841.

COMMON MOUSE. 297

RODENTIA, MURIDA,

COMMON MOUSE.

Mus musculus. (Linn.)

Specific Character.—Fur brownish ash colour above, light ash colour
beneath ; tail rather shorter than the body; ears about half the length
of the head.

Mus musculus, Linn. Syst. Nat. Edit. XII. p. 83, sp. 13. Pauu. Giir.
p. 95. Muuusr, Zool. Dan. Prod. p. 5, sp. 28. Erxu.
Syst. p. 891, 5. Desmar. Mammal. p. 301, sp. 478.
Frem. Brit. An. p. 19. Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 31.

5, domesticus vulgaris s. minor, Ray, Syn. p. 218.

Souris, Borron, Hist. Nat. VII. p. 309, t. xxxix.

Common Mouse, Penn. Brit. Zool. I. p. 122, t. xi. Swaw, Gen. Zool. II.
pi) 63/6. exact.

THERE are few animals more generally associated with
mankind, or whose very existence appears to be more
essentially dependent upon human arts and human civili-
zation, than this pretty but annoying little pest. Domestic
in its habits, nourished by almost every article of human
food, and obtaining effectual shelter in the secret recesses
of the habitations which human art has raised, it has
accompanied man in all his adventures for colonization,
and identified itself with every new territorial occupation
of our race. It is not in our houses, however, that the

QQ

298 MURIDA.

devastations of the Mouse are most extensively felt.
Multiplying in hosts, and safe from injury, they drill the
whole interior of the wheat-rick, forming a labyrinth of
its runs, and occasionally, perhaps assisted by the Harvest
Mouse and the Field Mouse, make incalculable havoc
amongst the grain. In the demolition of a single rick,
several bushels of Mice have been destroyed, besides the
numbers which must have escaped.

Their rate of increase will be evident from the fact
that hundreds of Mice are sometimes found in a single
rick, varying in some respects from ordinary examples.
We remember on one occasion seeing great numbers
killed in a wheat-rick at Welford-on-Avon, which were
of a light grey colour, without the least mixture of
brown. This rick, as far as our memory will serve us,
had been standing for two years, and we entertained but
little doubt that during that period one pair of Mice had
produced the whole number, since, had the rick been
frequented in the first instance by a greater number, some
of them would doubtless have been ordinary brown Mice,
and their progeny of the same colour. We have met
with a similar instance in a wheat-stack at Welford Hill,
but in this case all the Mice were of an unusually dark
colour, especially along the dorsal line, which was nearly
black.

But its astonishing multiplication may be more fully
imagined from the following experiment of the great father
of natural history :—‘“‘ Having,” says Aristotle, “ placed
a pregnant female of the Common Mouse in a closed
vessel filled with grain, I found, after a short period, no
less than a hundred and twenty Mice, all sprung from
that single parent.” This astonishing increase is easily
accounted for. The Mouse breeds indifferently at all

seasons, and several times in the course of the year, pro-

COMMON MOUSE, 299

ducing ordinarily five or six young ones. Ina fortnight
the young are able to leave the mother, and assume an
independent existence ; and at a very early age they also
reproduce.

In addition to the usual means employed for their ex-
termination, such as traps of various kinds, and the
carnivorous instinct of the Cat, the Ferret, and the
Weasel, there still exists in Wales a custom so disgust-
ingly cruel, that the very mention of it would be scarcely
pardonable but for the possibility of thus producing
some degree of shame in the perpetrators of it, and con-
sequently saving some poor little Mice from being the
victims of such barbarity. It is customary in some parts
of Wales to roast a Mouse alive, hanging it before the
fire by its tail tied to a string, that its sereams may scare
the rest from the house.

It would be a useless expenditure of time and space to
give in detail the localities which this well-known and
widely diffused species is known to inhabit, but it may
not be uninteresting to mention some of those which are
most remote from its supposed native habitat. Dr. L.
Von Schrenck includes it in his Mammals of the Amoor
river. Mr. Darwin found it “living in short grass near
the summit of the Island of Ascension,” and again ‘on
a small stony and arid island near Porto Praya, the
capital of St. Iago, in the Cape de Verde Islands,” also
“on a grassy cliff on East Falkland Island.” Mr.
Waterhouse, speaking of specimens from the above
localities, in his beautiful work on the Mammalia of the
voyage of the Beagle, says: “ These specimens are all of
them rather less than full-grown individuals of the same

species procured in England.”
I P g

We possess specimens col-
lected by Mr. Fraser in the Republic of Ecuador, which,

like the above-mentioned, are somewhat small in size.

300 MURIDA.

There are several varieties of the Common Mouse.
One of the most common, and which is perpetuated by
breeding, is the albino, which is frequently kept as a pet.
It becomes exceedingly tame, running about the table,
and allowing itself to be taken in the hand without
manifesting any alarm. Another variety, which is said
to be common in India, is the Pied Mouse, the colours
of which are dark brown and white. The Rick Mouse,
or, as it is called in Scotland, the Barn Mouse, is larger
and darker than the House Mouse; and we have speci-
mens of the ordinary size, which are nearly black above,
and very dark grey beneath, taken in Hertfordshire and
Warwickshire.

Besides these, there is the pale grey variety, to which
we have already alluded, and another which has the
ordinary colour, more or less patched with white. Both
of these, with a pale buff variety, which is not rare,
have the black eyes of the Common Mouse, and are not
therefore albinoes. Their peculiarity in colour is not,
however, due to age, as examples may be found of all
SIZeSs.

The English word Mouse, the Anglo-Saxon Mus, the
German Maus, the Danish Muys, the Latin Mus, are all
evidently modified from the Greek Mus, which is proba-
bly derived from mde, to hide. The Italian Sortce, and
the French Souris, are as obviously from the Latin Sorez,
now employed in our systematic catalogues to designate
the genus of the Shrews.

The head of the Mouse is taper, the muzzle rather
acute ; the ears and the eyes smaller than in MM. sylvaticus,
the former rounded, but shorter and narrower than in
that species ; the whiskers also are shorter, the tail less
slender and flexible, and the legs rather shorter. The

fur is greyish-brown above, grey beneath; ears, feet,

COMMON MOUSE. 301

and tail, clothed with a small quantity of fine, soft, and
short hair.

Dimensions :—

Inch. Lines.
Length of the head and body — . 5 : ye Sea6
», of the head : ; : ~ Oat
», of theears . ‘ : ‘ : > oO
» of the tail 3. 4

302 MURIDA&.

RODENTIA. MOURIDA.

BoA RACE.

Scoticé, RATTON.

Mus rattus. (Linn.)

Specific Character.—Greyish-black above, ash colour beneath ; ears half the
length of the head ; tail a little longer than the body.

Mus rattus, Linn. Syst. Nat. Edit. xii. I. p. 88, 12. MULL.
Zool. Dan. Prod. p. 5, sp. 31. Erxies. Syst.
p. 382, 2. Drsmar. Mam. p. 300, sp. 476. FLEM.
Brit. An. p. 20. Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 32. Bras.
Faun. Deutsch, 1, 317.

,, domesticus major, Ray, Syn. Quad. p. 217.

Rat, Burron, Hist. Nat. VII. p. 238, t. xxxvi.
Black Rat, Prnn. Brit. Zool. I. p. 113. SHaw, Gen. Zool. p. 32,
bs CX.

Tue old English or Black Rat, which has now become
a rare animal in this country, was, previously to the
introduction of its more powerful congener and persecu-
tor, the Brown Rat, as numerous and as extensively dis-
tributed as that species has since become. It does not,

_-

BLACK RAT. 303

however, appear that even the former was known here
before the middle of the sixteenth century ;—at least
no author more ancient than that period has described or
even alluded to it, Gesner being the first who described
and figured it. Its smaller size renders it an unequal
match for the Brown Rat, which, in the combats which
famine occasions to take place between them, most
usually comes off victorious ; and to this circumstance,
rather than to any real antipathy between them, may
probably be ascribed the gradual diminution in their
numbers, and the usurpation by the Brown Rat of the
former haunts of the present species, which is indeed
now rarely found, excepting in old houses of large cities,
asin London, in Edinburgh, and in a few other places,
where it still exists, but in very reduced numbers.
Fifteen or twenty years ago this animal was not rare in
several localities in Warwickshire, but we now doubt the
possibility of obtaining a single example. To Colonel
Drummond-Hay we are indebted for the following inte-
resting notice of its occurrence in Scotland: “The year
before last (1860), while staying in the Highlands in the
vicinity of Pitlochry, a small colony of Black Rats made
their appearance, occupying a drain which had been
covered in about two years before. There were five or
six pairs; they were very shy, and, I regret to say, all
decamped as suddenly as they came, and they have never,
as I learn, been observed since. My impression was that
they were the old native Black Rat; and if so, the first
I have ever heard of within the memory of any living
person in the county.” In Ireland, as we learn from
Dr. Kinahan, it is now very rare, although he informs
us that he has formerly seen specimens from all the
provinces, and remembers, not more than thirteen
years since, seeing them at play in the areas in Dublin.

304 MURIDA.

Although apparently verging towards extinction, it is
probable, however, that it will continue to be occasionally
met with, as, from its abundance in some countries, it is
very likely to be conveyed in ships to our shores. It is
equally destructive of every kind of food, whether con-
sisting of animal or vegetable matters; and, not satisfied
with the ordinary articles of human food, falls upon every
organized substance within its reach, devouring even
woollen cloths, leather, and other articles of domestic
use. It forms its runs between the walls of houses, and
under the stone and brick flooring of cellars, coming
forth in the night in search of food. Its habits are, in
fact, similar to those of the Brown Rat, of which most
people have some idea.

In warmer climates, where there is no winter to inter-
rupt their breeding, or to cut off their supply of nourish-
ment, the multiplication of this species, as well as of
the Brown Rat, is enormous; and they become in some
seasons a most severe infliction upon the cultivators of
the land.

Although its disposition appears to be naturally exceed-
ingly ferocious, there are instances on record of its evinc-
ing considerable attachment, not only to each other, but
tomankind. Mr. Jesse, in his usual amusing and pleasant
style, gives us an anecdote, which the respectable authority
from which he derived it would forbid us to doubt, exhi-
biting a degree of tenderness and care towards the disabled
and aged members of their community, which, were it
imitated by Christian men, would either render our poor
laws unnecessary, or remove the disgrace and opprobrium
which their maladministration too often causes to attach
to them. His informant, the Rev. Mr. Ferryman, walk-
ing out in some meadows one evening, “ observed a great
number of Rats in the act of migrating from one place to

BLACK RAT. 305

another, which it is known they are in the habit of doing
occasionally. He stood perfectly still, and the whole
assemblage passed close to him. His astonishment, how-
ever, was great, when he saw an old blind Rat, which held
a piece of stick at one end in its mouth, while another
Rat had hold of the other end of it, and thus conducted
his blind companion.” It appears also from several in-
stances that this animal is not insensible of kindness, and
that it may be powerfully attached to those who feed and
caress it. Its motions are active and animated; it runs
with great quickness, and leaps with agility and force.
Like most of the genus, it can hold its food in the hands
whilst eating, and it drinks by lapping. Its habits are
cleanly ; and its skin is ordinarily kept in beautiful order
by the care with which it is cleaned,—an employment
which occupies the greater part of its time, excepting
when sleeping or eating. It breeds several times in the
year, and the female brings ordinarily from seven to nine
young. The nest is composed of grass, straw, and dried
leaves, or of any other suitable material which they can
obtain.

It is probable, from the proximity of the two countries,
that it was introduced into England from France: indeed
the Welsh name for it, which signifies ‘‘ French Mouse,”
appears to favour this opinion. From Europe it has
been sent with the Brown Rat to America, the islands
of the Pacific, and to many other places, in some of
which it has now become a serious inconvenience.

Of the Mus Hibernicus of Thompson, we can say but
little, not having examined the types; the white spot on
the breast, which has been thought distinctive, is certainly,
however, of little value as a specific character, since we
have seen two undoubted examples of Mus rattus in
which it occurred. A considerable number of the latter

RR

306 MURID&.

species were sent home by Mr. Fraser from Ecuador,
which had the end of the tail and all the feet white. It
will be evident, therefore, that the markings of white
must be regarded as accidental, and not as indicative of
specific differences.

The larger species of this genus, which are usually
denominated Rats, differ in some trifling particulars from
the Mice, and have by some naturalists been considered
as constituting a distinct genus, of which opinion is our
friend Mr. Hogg, who proposes for the former the generic
term Rattus: there does not, however, appear to be a
sufficient ground for such a separation. The present
species is smaller than the Brown Rat; the head is
more elongated; the muzzle taper and divided, and
garnished with numerous long black hairs; the upper
Jaw projects far beyond the lower, which is remarkably
short; the tongue is smooth; the nostrils open and
crescent-shaped ; the ears rounded, simple, naked, half
as long as the head; the eyes large, not particularly
prominent. The feet are decidedly plantigrade, with
five toes on each; but the thumb on the anterior pair
is concealed within the skin, excepting the terminal
joint, with its claw. The soles of all the feet are tuber-
culated. ‘The tail longer than the body, almost without
hair, and covered with numerous rings of scales. Colour
of the upper parts greyish-black, sometimes brownish-
black, and we have seen a few specimens in which the
back has been of a dark brownish-grey, and their resem-
blance to the Mus alexandrinus* has been very remark-

* An interesting paper was published by M. A. de l’Isle in the ‘‘ Annales
des Sciences Naturelles” for 1865, detailing the results of a long series of
experiments on the inter-breeding of M. rattus with the M. alexandrinus
of Southern Europe. M. de I’Isle arrived at the conclusion that these two

forms must be regarded merely as geographical races of one species, and con-
sidered M. alexandrinus to be the oldest, or parent breed.

BLACK RAT. 307

able: the lower parts are dark ash colour: feet and tail

dusky.

Dimensions :—

Inch. Lines.

Length of the head and body . : : amit 0

», of the head. . 1 9

», of the ears . F ; : - @ io

33) Of the tail. ‘ ; ‘ : = wal 6
of the fore foot and claws 0
of the hind foot and claws 1

9

”

In conclusion, we may remark that the black variety
of the Water Vole, to be described hereafter, is not
unfrequently mistaken for the true Black Rat, for which
we have seen it doing duty in several local museums.

308 MURIDA’.

RODENTIA. MURIDA,

BROWN RAT.

NORWAY RAT.

Mus decumanus. (Pall.)

Specific Character. —Greyish-brown above, whitish beneath ; ears one-third
the length of the head; tail shorter than the body.

Mus decumanus, Pauuas, Glir. p. 91. Gen. Syst. Nat. Linn. I. p. 127.
Dusmar. Mammal. p. 473, sp. 473. Firm. Brit. An.
p- 20. Junyns, Brit. Vert. p. 82. Bias. Wirbelt. Deutsch.

epsoliss
», norvegicus, Brisson, Reg. An. p. 173. Erxurs. Syst. p. 381, 1.
Surmulot, Burron, Hist. Nat. VIII. p. 206, t. xxvii. FR. Cuvier,
Mammal. I.
Norway Rat, Penn. Brit. Zool. I. p. 115. Suaw, Gen. Zool. II. p. 51,
t. CXXx,

THE geographical distribution of animals, although a
subject of great interest, and one which has of late years
occupied the attention of many eminent zoologists, is
not yet sufficiently understood to furnish any very well-
defined laws, either with reference on the one hand to

BROWN RAT. 309

organization and habits, or, on the other, to zoological
classification. There are, it is true, certain groups which
are strictly confined within the boundaries of a particular
tract of country ; there are some, the habitations of which
are evidently regulated by climate, by soil, or by the
necessity of a particular kind of food; whilst others
appear to be located with very little regard to any ob-
vious object. Some individual species, again, are found
but in one small corner of the globe, where they exist,
perhaps, in inconsiderable numbers; whilst others, capable
of procuring their nourishment from the products of every
region, and readily transplanted by means of the com-
mercial intercourse of various nations, become naturalized
in every new colony to which they have been accidentally
transported, and at length identified with the original
natives of their adopted country. Of those which fall
within the scope of the latter observation, there are none
to which it applies with more force than to the common
Brown Rat, which is now so generally distributed wher-
ever man has planted his foot, that its original country
can no longer be ascertained, although there is reason to
believe that it comes from a warmer climate than our
own. It was doubtless brought hither by means of
merchant vessels from some southern or south-eastern
country—Pennant imagines from the East Indies. It
certainly was known in Asia long before we have any
account of its existence in any part of Europe; and its
transit from the Asiatic borders into European Russia
was well ascertained. In Paris it made its appearance
about the middle of the eighteenth century, and in Eng-
land not very many years earlier. It is by a strange
mistake called by many the Norway Rat, as if it were
aboriginal in that country; whereas in fact, at the time
when the name was first applied to it, it was not known

310 MURID&.

even to exist there. Its astonishing fecundity, its omni-
vorous habits, the secrecy of its retreats, and the ingenious
devices to which it has recourse, either to retain its
existing place of abode, or to migrate to a more favour-
able situation, all conduce to keep up its almost over-
whelming numbers. It digs with great facility and
vigour, making its way with rapidity beneath the floors
of our houses, between the stones and bricks of walls,
and often excavating the foundations of a dwelling to a
dangerous extent. There are many instances of their
fatally undermining the most. solid mason-work, or bur-
rowing through dams which had for ages served to confine
the waters of rivers and canals. The most remarkable
instance, however, which we have met with of the extent
of their subterranean ravages, their multitudinous num-
bers, and their almost incredible consumption of food,
is contained in the following narration :—

It is not very long since an official report was made to
the French Government, with reference to a ‘‘ proposition
made for the removal of the Horse slaughter-house at
Monfaucon to a greater distance from Paris; when one
of the chief obstacles urged against such a removal, was
the fear entertained of the dangerous consequences that
might result to the neighbourhood from suddenly depriv-
ing these voracious vermin of their accustomed suste-
nance, The report goes on to state that the carcases of
the Horses killed in the course of a day (and sometimes
these amounted to thirty-five) are found the next morn-
ing picked bare to the bone. Dusaussois has, however,
made a still more conclusive experiment. A part of his
establishment is enclosed by solid walls, at the foot of
which are several holes made for the ingress and egress of
the Rats. Into this enclosure he put the carcases of two
or three Horses; and, towards the middle of the night,

BROWN RAT. ole

having first cautiously, and with as little noise as possible,
stopped up all the holes, he got together several of his
workmen, each having a torch in one hand and a stick
in the other. Having entered the yard and closed the
door behind them, they commenced a general massacre.
It was not necessary to take any aim, for no matter how
the blow was directed, it was sure to immolate a Rat;
and those which endeavoured to escape by climbing up
the walls were quickly knocked down. By a recurrence
of this experiment at intervals of a few days, he killed in
the space of a month 16,050 Rats. After one night’s
massacre the dead amounted to 2,650; and the result of
four hunts was 9,101. Even this can give but an imper-
fect idea of the number of these vermin; for the enclosure
in which they were thus killed contains not above the
twentieth part of the space over which the dead bodies of
Horses are spread, and which, it is but fair to suppose,
must equally attract the Rats upon all points. These
animals have made burrows for themselves, like Rabbits,
in the adjoining fields, and hollowed out into catacombs
all the surrounding eminences—and that to such an extent,
that it is not unusual to see the latter crumble away at
the base, and leave these subterraneous works exposed.
So great is the number of these animals, that they have
not all been able to lodge themselves in the immediate
vicinity of the slaughter-houses; for paths may be dis-
tinctly traced leading across the fields from the enclosures
in which the Horses are killed, to a burrow about 500
paces distant.” *

The following remarkable instance of the ferocity of
this animal, when driven by hunger, was related to us

by the late Robert Stephenson, Esq., M.P., the distin-

* See Jesse’s Gleanings, Second Series, p. 311.

312 MURID”.

euished engineer: In a coal-pit (Walker Colliery, near
Killingworth), in which many horses were employed,
the Rats, which fed upon the fodder provided for the
Horses, had accumulated in great multitudes. It was
customary in holiday times to bring to the surface the
Horses and the fodder, and to close the pit for the time.
On one occasion when the holiday had extended to ten
days or a fortnight, during which the Rats had been
deprived of food, on reopening the pit, the first man
who descended was attacked by the starving multitude,
and speedily killed and devoured.

When they determine to leave a particular building, to
which they are generally instigated either by the cessation
of a sufficient supply of food, or, as it is proverbially
stated, when any ruinous injury is found to exist in its
masonry, they emigrate in a body, and by night; and woe
to the devoted structure to which they attach themselves!
They speedily commence their excavations, and in a short
time become so completely established, that nothing short —
of famine can again dispossess them. They are bold and
ferocious when attacked, or when confined in a room with
either a human being or a Dog; flying with the most
reckless fury at the object of their fear or anger. If
several be enclosed in a box together, they fight furi-
ously, and the weaker is not only killed, but devoured by
the stronger. The Rat swims with great ease. The
gardens of the Zoological Society of London, in the
Regent’s Park, are greatly infested by them; but as
they are too cunning to risk the danger of being caught
during the daytime, or alarmed, perhaps, at the con-
course of persons by whom the gardens are frequented,
they are often seen towards evening crossing the canal
in a body from the opposite shore, in order to land

BROWN RAT. Bil

in the gardens, and enjoy their night’s depredations,
returning in the morning in the same manner to their
daily retreat.

We are indebted to Mr. Stephenson also for the fol-
lowing remarkable illustration of the habits of these
animals and their prodigious fecundity :—In the year
1816 or 1817 a Prussian vessel was wrecked on the S.W.
side of Puffin Island on the coast of Wales. The island
takes its name from the multitudes of Puffins which fre-
quented it, and it was also colonized by vast numbers of
Rabbits. No annoyance had ever been experienced from
Rats until the occurrence above mentioned took place ;
but after that, in consequence of the migration of these
animals from the wreck to the shore, and their subsequent
rapid increase, the Rabbits were almost, if not wholly,
exterminated, the Puffins were ejected by the destruction
of their eggs by the Rats, and the parties who rented the
island gave up: their holdings. A similar instance has
come within the knowledge of Mr. Pattisson, who has
kindly supplied us with the following, which we give in
his words:—‘* When visiting the Copeland Islands, in
Belfast Bay, in August, 1860, Captain Nesbitt, one of the
elder brethren of the Trinity House, related the following
fact. In 1845, when the Trinity House bought up all the
private lighthouses round the coast, the Skerries, near
Holyhead, had immense numbers of Rabbits, which were
extensively used by the lighthouse keepers. A few years
ago an American vessel was wrecked there, on board of
which were a number of Rats. These swam to the shore.
They have now increased prodigiously in numbers, have
destroyed the wild Rabbits, and are obliged to live in a
ereat degree on the shell-fish of the shore. ‘The light-
house men not only have lost the wild Rabbits, but find

ss

314 MURIDA.

a difficulty in rearing any tame ones, because of the
attacks of the Rats.”

The habits of the Brown Rat are thus generally similar
to those of the Black Rat. They are even more prolific,
breeding several times in the year, and producing as many
as ten, twelve, or fourteen at a birth. It would be easy
to multiply facts and anecdotes of this curious animal;
but enough has been said to exhibit it as a sagacious,
bold, and annoying plague, whose extirpation is provided
against by these qualities, as well as by its astonishing
fecundity.

The best mode of destroying the Rat is by means of
the traps first employed by Mr. Board, whose plan is
detailed in a little work written for the purpose. This
plan has been adopted in the Zoological Gardens with
great success.

Rats feed on every article of household consumption ;
and they also make great havoc in the fields with corn,
beans, and other grain and pulse, of which, after eating
their fill, they carry off a large quantity, and deposit it in
their runs. They are also sad depredators in the poultry-
yard and game-preserves, devouring numbers of eggs
and young, both of domestic poultry and of game.

The Brown Rat considerably resembles the old English
or Black Rat; it is, however, somewhat larger: the head
is less elongated ; the muzzle less acute; the ears smaller ;
the tail comparatively much shorter. The ears and muz-
zle are nearly naked; the tail with about one hundred
and eighty scaly rings, each scale having a small hair or
two growing from beneath it. Colour of the upper parts
greyish-brown with a tawny tint, resulting from each
hair being dusky grey at the roots, and yellowish-brown
at the extremity ; a few stiffer blackish hairs are also

BROWN RAT.

315

scattered amongst the others: the under parts are a dirty

white.

Dimensions :—

Length of the head and body

”

of the head .

of the ears

of the tail ‘
of the fore foot and claws

of the hind foot and claws

Inch. Lines.
9 0
2 4
i) 8
tf 5
0 9
iperce

316

RODENTTA.

ARVICOLIDA.

ARVICOLIDA.

Genus Arvicola. (Lacép.)

VOLE.

Generic Character. —Grinding-teeth 2:3, deeply suleated externally ; muzzle
abtuse; toes separate; tail round and hairy, shorter than the body.

WATER VOLE.

WATER RAT.

Arvicola amplibius. (Desmar.)

Specific Character.—Greyish-brown, with a reddish or yellowish tinge ;
paler beneath ; sometimes of a uniform black all over. Tail

the length of the body, or even less.

about one-half

The second upper grinder has four

cemental spaces and five angles ; the third has five spaces, imperfectly separated,

and seven angles.

Mus amphibius,

5, aquaticus,

», terrestris,
Lemmus aquaticus,
Arvicola amphibius,

AG amphibia,
50 aquatica,

Lry. Syst. Nat. edit. xii. I. p. 82.

Dan. Prod. p. 5, sp. 30. Erx Les
Brisson, Reg. Anim. p. 175.
Linn. Syst. Nat. Edit. xii. p. 82.
Fr. Cuvimr, Dict. des. Se. Nat. VI
Drsmar. Mammal. p. 280, sp. 435.
Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 33.
Firm, Brit. An. p. 23.

Mott. Zool.
. Syst. p. 86, 3.

. p. 306,

WATER VOLE. ol?

Arvicola musignam, Du Setys, Rey. Zool. 1839.
33 monticola, De Setys, Rey. Zool. 1838.
Rat Peau, Burron, Hist. Nat. VII. p. 368, t. xliii.
Water Rat, Penn. Brit. Zool. I. p. 118. Swaw, Gen. Zool. Il.

p. 73, t. Cxxix,
Var. 8, deep black above and beneath.
Arvicola ater, MacGuuiivray, Trans. Wern. Soc. VI. p. 424.

In the former edition of this work we conformed to
the prevailing opinion that the Arvicole could not with
propriety be placed with the Mice, but that they con-
stituted an aberrant group of the Beavers, and acting
under this impression, the patronymic name of Arvicolide
was made to give way to that of Castoride. But the able
researches of our friend Mr. Waterhouse have shown us
that this conclusion, although sanctioned by the opinion
of former writers, as well as by a certain general external
resemblance between the animals of the two groups, is
directly at variance with their osteological characters, and
these, as clearly made out by Mr. Waterhouse, constitute
the only sure basis for the classification of this difficult
order of Mammals. The views which that gentleman
entertains respecting the position of the Arvicole will be
best given in his own words. Alluding to the genera
Ondatra, Arvicola, and Lemmus, represented respectively
by the American Muskwash, the Voles, and the Lem-
mings, he says: ‘The animals comprising these groups
have all the essential characters of the Muride, but differ
in having rootless molars, and in the form of the lower
jaw. They have, moreover, some peculiarities in the
structure of the cranium, which have been pointed out.
Here all the characters alluded to are combined with
three true molars, the normal number in the Muride,
and may be conveniently used to define the Arvicolide
as a sub-family of that group. In my paper on the
Arvicolide I had placed in that section, besides the

318 ARVICOLIDA.

three genera above mentioned, two others, Ascomys and
Castor.”’

In the opinion here expressed by our talented friend
we fully concur, but as confirmation we may bring before
the notice of our readers the existence of a genus of
Rodents peculiar to America, in which a Rat-like form
and long tail is combined with rootless molars, as in the
Voles. It is the genus Neotoma, and is found in the
Southern States of North America, and in Central
America. But there is one British Rodent even, which
may be properly instanced as indicating a passage from
the Voles to the true Rats. We allude to the Bank Vole,
in which, on reference to the figure, the tail will be seen
to be of greater relative length than in the other two
species, and with this is associated a somewhat narrower
cranium, and molars which become rooted with age,
though the roots are never so well developed as in the
true Rats or Mice.

The Water Vole, or, as it is more frequently called, the
Water Rat, is found in most parts of Europe, and is too
common to require further comment, excepting to men-
tion that in certain localities it varies sufficiently from its
usual appearance to have led to the belief that it was a
distinct species. Thus a small variety from the Alps has
been described as A. terrestris, and a pale one from the
Pyrenees has been called A. monticola, whilst in our own
country, a black variety has received the name of A. ater.
In its geographical range, however, the Water Vole is not
wholly confined to Europe, but has been met with in
China ; in the vicinity of the River Amoor it was found
by Dr. Von Schrenck, as we learn from his work on the
Mammalia of that district. In this country it is very com-
mon ; frequenting the banks of rivers, excavating its habi-
tations to a considerable distance, and breeding in these

WATER VOLE. 319

subterranean caverns. It dives and swims with great
facility, instantly seeking the water upon every alarm,
and plunging at once to the bottom; from whence, how-
ever, it is obliged to return to the surface for respiration
about every minute. It has often been asserted that the
Water Vole lives upon small fish, earthworms, and insects,
and it has even been accused of destroying young ducks.
There is not, however, the slightest foundation for this
opinion; and there can be no doubt that the belief of its
carnivorous habits has arisen from its being confounded
with the common Brown Rat, Mus decumanus, which is
well known to frequent the banks of ditches, and to feed
readily on almost all animal substances, attacking even
the smaller animals alive, when driven by hunger: and it
is, in fact, in the organization essentially connected with
these different habits and propensities, that the characters
of the two families principally consist.

We have often watched with great interest the move-
ments of the Water Vole when in search of food, which,
we have every reason to believe, consists exclusively of
vegetable substances. A decided preference is shewn
during the summer months for the inner or concealed
parts of some species of sword-flags, which is very succu-
lent and sweet-tasted. As this portion is usually below
water, the animal gnaws the plant in two near its root,
when it rises to the surface, and being conveyed to some
sound footing, is consumed at leisure. In default of its
more favourite food, it will make a satisfactory meal on
the common duckweed, the verdant summer mantle of
our stagnant ponds and moats. Only the green and
fleshy leaf is eaten, the roots and other fibrous parts
being rejected. While feeding on this plant, the creature
sits, like a squirrel, on its haunches, near the water’s
edge, and taking up a lump of the soft and slimy-looking

320 ARVICOLIDA.

mass in its fore-paws, eats a small part only, and letting
the remainder fall, takes up some more in the same man-
ner, which is similarly treated and rejected. But it is
not at all seasons that food can be cbtained in such abun-
dance, and, unlike the crafty inhabitants of our houses
and granaries, the Water Vole suffers great privations
during severe winters, when the streams are frozen up or
continuously flooded, At these times, we have known
turnips and mangold-wurzel to take the place of aquatic
plants, and the bark of willow-trees and osiers is not
rejected. As considerable damage is sometimes sustained
by the owners of osier beds, owing to the depredations of
the Water Vole in times of scarcity, a war of extermina-

tion is carried on, and great numbers are destroyed during

protracted floods. Their holes, usually so secure, are

then inaccessible, and they are compelled to take shelter

in covert, which is only sufficient to conceal them, and

from which they are readily dislodged by dogs. Old

willow-trees, at these times surrounded by water, afford

a favourite and comparatively safe retreat, but a volley of
stones is generally found sufficient to frighten the animal
into the water, and on its reappearance at the surface,—

for it almost invariably dives when alarmed,—it is either

shot or hunted by dogs. Notwithstanding that great

numbers are in this manner destroyed, so secure are they

in their summer retreats, when the business of propagation

is going on, that their numbers appear to be again made

up, and we do not perceive that they become rarer from

year to year.

The female produces five or six young in the month of
May or June; sometimes as early as April, in which case
it is probable they will have another brood in the course
of the summer.

The head of this animal is thick, short, and blunt;

WATER VOLE. ool

the eyes small, and not very prominent; the ears short,
scarcely conspicuous beyond the fur ; the cutting teeth of
a deep yellow colour in front, very strong, chisel-shaped,
considerably resembling those of the Beaver; the surface
of the grinding teeth formed of alternate triangles ar-
ranged on each side of the longitudinal axis. In all
the Voles the flat crowns of the grinders are divided by
the folding of the enamel into a number of triangular
cemental spaces or hollows, and the number and form of
these have been shown by Blasius and others to afford
good specific characters. In the present species the
second upper grinder has four spaces and five external
and internal angles; the third has five spaces, of which
the two last are sometimes joined, and seven angles;
the first lower grinder has seven spaces and nine angles.
Fore feet with four complete toes, the last phalanx only
of the thumb being conspicuous beyond the skin; hinder
feet with: five toes, not webbed, though connected to a
short distance from the base ; tail more than half the
length of the body, covered with hairs, of which those on
the inferior surface are rather long, and probably assist
the animal in swimming by forming a sort of rudder of
the tail. Fur thick and shining ; of a rich reddish-brown
mixed with grey above, yellowish grey beneath.

Dimensions :—
Inch. Lines.
Length of the head and body . : . hate 4
,, of the head. : : le
», of the ears . ‘ : ‘ : pat) 5
ne of the tail . 4 8

A black variety of this species has long been known,
and has been described by Pallas, and by several other
Continental zoologists. Itis identical with the animal
described by Mr. Macgillivray in the sixth volume of the

dv ae

aoe ARVICOLIDA.

Transactions of the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh,
under the name of Arvicola ater. According to that
gentleman’s account, it is exceedingly common in the
counties of Banff and Aberdeen; and it is said that the
common Water Vole is not found where this one abounds.
Its habits are similar to those of the former. It is of a
deep black colour above, and black with a greyish tinge
beneath, and it is smaller than the brown one; but the
proportions are not conspicuously, if at all, different.
This black variety is common in many parts of Scotland,

‘““is not uncommon in the

and Mr. Jenyns states that it
fens of Cambridgeshire, and differs in no respect from
the other but in colour.” We are informed by our friend
Professor Newton, that it is common in the neighbour-
hood of Thetford in Norfolk, and it has been met with in

several other parts of England.

COMMON FIELD-VOLE. 323

RODENTTA. ARVICOLID.

COMMON FIELD-VOLE.

Arvicola agrestis. (Linn.)

Specific Character.—Greyish-brown, beneath pale grey, feet dusky. Tail
only one-third the length of the body. The second upper grinder has five
spaces and six angles; the third six spaces and eight angles; the first lower
grinder nine spaces and eleven angles.

Mus agrestis, Linnmus, Faun. Suec., II. 11, No. 30.
» gregarius, 50 Syst. Nat. L., 84, No. 16.
Arvicola agrestis, Dn Sxuys, Bul. Acad. Brux., 1840.

Tuls species was first described by Linnzeus, but was
afterwards generally confounded with the common Vole
of the continent, and thus A. agrestis and A. arvalis are
constantly given as synonymous, although the animals are
very distinct in nature. A. agrestis may always be dis-
tinguished by the character of its second upper molar,
which has five cemental spaces, whereas the same tooth in
A. arvalis, as in all the other European Voles, has only four
spaces. It seems not a little strange that the last-named

324 ARVICOLIDA.

species, which is so abundant throughout all Central
Europe, should never yet have been found in Britain,
and the fact is rendered still more curious by the dis-
covery of its teeth in a semi-fossil condition in fissures
of the limestone rocks near Bath, whence we have had
the pleasure of examining specimens, thanks to the kind-
ness of our friend Dr. H. Blackmore of Salisbury.
That gentleman has paid much attention to the Arvicolide
of the drift formations of Wiltshire and Somerset, and
has distinguished several interesting species, including
the Alpine A. nivalis and the Northern A. ratticeps.

The Common Field-Vole is a native of Northern and
Central Europe from Scandinavia, where it extends to
about 66° north latitude, to the Alps and Pyrenees ; but
it is more plentiful in the northern countries than in the
more southern, where it is much exceeded in numbers
by A. arvalis. Blasius received it from Finmark, North
Russia and Denmark, as well as from various parts of
Germany, and M. Fatio finds it in Switzerland up to a
height of 4,000 feet. In our own islands it is very abun-
dant from the Orkneys to the Isle of Wight, but, like
the rest of the genus, it is unknown in Ireland.

It is usually but not exclusively found in damp places,
whence its local names of “ Meadow-mouse’’ and “ Water-
mouse”; in autumn Blasius has found it established in an
old nest of the Coot (Fulica atra) in company with the
Water Shrew. It forms burrows of considerable extent,
as well as more superficial runs among the roots of the
grass and herbage, and it may be seen abroad at all
seasons of the year and at all hours of the day,
though it is most active towards nightfall. -We have
repeatedly kept it in confinement, and have found
that it soon becomes tame, without exhibiting much
familiarity or attachment. It climbs with ease, an

COMMON FIELD-VOLE. 325

accomplishment which enables it in winter to feed on
the bark of various trees and shrubs, especially on that
of apple and pear trees. In winter we have occasionally
taken it in cellarsand out-houses. An interesting account
of its habits as observed in Switzerland will be found in
M. Fatio’s valuable monograph of ‘* Les Campagnols du
Léman.”

The ordinary food of this species consists of all sorts of
roots and herbage; in case of hunger it will eat flesh, and
even prey on its own species. In captivity we have
found it to be partial to insects, but not in such amarked
degree as the Red Field-Vole.

The nest isa rounded structure of moss and leaves,
usually placed amongst the roots of grass in a hollow on
the surface of the ground. The young are four to six
in number, and there are three or four broods in the year,
so that the rate of increase of the species is very rapid.
This is counteracted by many opposing checks, chief
amongst which are the great numbers which fall victims
to the smaller beasts and birds of prey, notably to the
Weasel, the Kestrel, and the Owls, which thus prove
themselves the best friends of the farmer. Many, too,
are drowned in their burrows during floods, and on the
other hand a great mortality takes place in very dry
seasons. Occasionally they increase to a wonderful ex-
tent, and prove most destructive enemies to the farmer
and the forester. Such an abnormal multiplication took
place many years ago in the New and Dean Forests,
when great numbers of young trees were destroyed. Mr.
Jesse estimated that not less than two hundred thousand
Voles were killed in the two forests, but some of these
probably belonged to the next species.

The Common Field-Vole has the head large, the muzzle
very blunt, and the eyes small. The ears just appear

326 ARVICOLIDA,

above the fur, and are lined with fine hairs, whereas in
A. arvalis the inside of the conch is naked. The colour
is greyish-brown, the flanks being more or less tinged
with reddish or yellowish ; the under parts are pale grey
or dirty white, and the feet are dusky. ‘The young are
darker in colour than the adults. The tail measures
about one-third the length of the body, is sparingly clad
with hair, and is obscurely bi-coloured, being brown
above and greyish beneath.

In the skull the frontal portion is much narrowed in
the adult animal. The second upper molar has five
cemental spaces and six angles, a character which, as
already stated, separates this species from all the other
European Voles; the third has six spaces and eight
angles, and the first lower molar has nine spaces and
eleven angles. Slight variations occur in the pattern of
these teeth, but they are not constant, and are not even
always the same on both sides of the same skull.

Dimensions :—
Inch. Lines.

Length of the head and body . : ; A
>, of the head . ; : i ct pl ean?
SOLeLMChoalseat : p ‘ : 0 ean
», Of the tail 1 383

Two Voles described as British have been referred to
this species by Blasius and other recent writers. These
are the A. neglecta of Thompson (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.
1841), and the A. britannicus of De Selys Longchamps
(Revue Zool., 1847) ; the characters on which their distinc-
tion was founded were merely external differences of tint
and proportions, which cannot in the least be depended
on in so variable and difficult a family as the Voles.

RED FIELD-VOLE. 327

RODENTTA. ARVICOLIDA.

RED FIELD-VOLE, OR BANK-VOLE.

Arvicola glareolus (Schreber).

Specific Character.—Back rich reddish-chestnut, flanks grey, lower parts
and feet nearly pure white. Tail about one-half the length of the body,
hairy, dark brown above and white below. Upper grinders with double roots
in the adult. The first upper grinder has four spaces and five angles, the
second six spaces and eight angles ; the first lower grinder has seven spaces
and nine angles.

Mus glareolus, Scureser, Siiugeth, III. 680.
Arvicola pratensis, Barton in F, Cuv. Mamm. IV.
*,, reparia, YARRELL, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1832, 109.
5, vufescens, De Setys, Campag. de Liége, 13.
33 O2zcolon, Farto, Rev. et Mag. Zool. 1862.

Tur Bank-Vole, or as it may be better named, the
Red Field-Vole, was first noticed by Pallas (Nov. Spee.
Glires, p. 247) as a variety of his Mus rutilus, and was
first separated as a distinct species in Schreber’s great
work on the Mammalia. It has since received various
other names, owing to its variability in colour and pro-
portions. It may be readily distinguished from the other

smaller European Voles by the red colour of its back,

328 ARVICOLIDA.

the length of its tail and the pattern of its teeth. The
fact of its upper grinders having double roots in the adult
has led Blasius and others to separate it as a subgenus
under the name of Hypudeus. .
The Red Field-Vole is widely spread throughout
Kurope north of the Appenines, extending northwards
to the Arctic Circle and eastwards to the Ural Mountains.
In Britain it was first discovered in Essex by the late
Mr. Yarrell, who described it as a new species, under the
name of A. riparia, in the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoo-
logical Society” for 1832. It appears to be very generally
but somewhat locally distributed over the whole island.
We have not yet seen specimens from the extreme north
of Scotland, but it extends at least as far north as Moray-
shire, whence it has been sent us by our friend the Rev.
G. Gordon, and south of this it seems to occur in every
county of Scotland and England, being perhaps more
plentiful in the northern than in the southern districts.
In its habits this species much resembles the Common
Field-Vole, but it may be described as being more bold
and active, more omnivorous in its diet, and less fossorial
in its habits. It frequents drier and more wooded
localities, and appears to be especially fond of gardens,
where it is often very destructive to fruits and roots. It
does not burrow so extensively as A. agrestis, often con-
tenting itself with runs or galleries through the matted
grass or herbage, or with crevices among stones or rocks.
We have repeatedly kept it in captivity, and had one
which lived for several months. They soon became
tolerably fearless, but could never be said to be really
tame or familiar. They were even more frequently
abroad during the day than the common species, but still
were most active at dusk. Upon being supplied with
fresh branches of trees they showed great agility in

RED FIELD-VOLE. 329

climbing, biting off the leaves and young shoots for
food.

This Vole, like the other species, feeds on various vege-
table substances, but it is much more partial than its
congeners to animal food, as might be expected from its
more murine character. In captivity it prefers roots and

fruits to herbage; gooseberries are a special delicacy and

8g
are very neatly emptied of their contents, the skins being
always rejected. In Morayshire Mr. Gordon says that
these Voles are very destructive to young larch-trees,
climbing the branches to feed on the young buds, and
also barking the stems in winter. They do not reject
carrion, and feed freely on insects, worms, snails, &c. ;
the wings of the former being always cut off before
the body is eaten. They even attack young birds, for
M. Fatio has often known them to plunder the nests of
Hedge-sparrows and Robins; and we have known one
kill and devour a Common Shrew which was confined in
its company.

The nest, like that of the Common Field-Vole, is
placed in a hollow on the surface amongst thick herbage.
It is built of grass and moss, and M. Fatio has sometimes
found it lined with feathers. The young vary in number
from four to eight, and there are said to be three or four
litters in the year.

This isa much prettier species than the Common Field-
Vole, its proportions being more elegant, its colours
brighter, and its fur more smooth and glossy. The head
is narrower and less flattened, the eyes larger and more
conspicuous, and the ears longer, so as to show distinctly
above the fur. The head and back are rich chestnut,
which passes on the flanks into a more or less clear grey,
while the breast, belly, and feet are almost pure white.
The young are much darker in colour than the adults.
UU

330 ARVICOLID A.

The tail is about one-half the length of the body, and is
thickly clad with rather long hairs which form a tuft or
pencil at the end; it is dark brown above and white
below, the two colours being clearly separated.

In the dentition the most remarkable peculiarity, to
which we have already alluded, is the development in
the adult of distinct roots to the molar teeth. The
first upper grinder has four cemental spaces and five
angles, the second has six spaces and eight angles, and
the first lower grinder has seven spaces and nine angles.

The following measurements in inches and decimals
are an average taken from a number of specimens of

both sexes :—
Males. Females.

Length of head and body ‘ : é a ets) 3394!)
op OLnead. = = : : : : + lO ROS

re) Okmear C : : 6 : ; “40 “40

ae Of sbaal : ; : : : > L540
of hind foot : : : é : 362 58

This species is liable to considerable variation in colour
not only in individuals, but in the races which inhabit
different districts. Thus the Alpine form, in which the
grey tint predominates over the red, has been separated
as Hypudeus nageri of Schintz, and the opposite extreme
in which the grey is almost absent as Myodes bicolor of
Fatio. But these forms are not constant and pass one
into the other, as has been shown by Blasius and by
M. Fatio’s later researches.

COMMON HARE. ool

RODENTIA, LEPORID.

Genus, Lepus (Linnzeus).

Generic Character.—Hind-legs and ears long; tail short, turned up.
Grinding-teeth &:$, with flat crowns, the folds of enamel transverse; incisors
grooved, four in upper jaw, two in front, and two small immediately behind
them.

COMMON HARE.

Lepus timidus. (Linn.)

Specific Character. —Upper parts and flanks tawny grey, more or less mixed
with reddish, purer grey in winter; belly white; tail nearly as long as the
head, black above, white beneath; ears longer than the head, black at the
tips. First upper grinder with a single internal angle.

Lepus timidus, Lixnmus, Syst. Nat. I. 77.

», europeus, Pauias, Noy. Spec. Glir. 30.

THE genus to which this animal belongs is one of the
most natural in the whole of the Rodentia. It is charac-
terized by numerous striking and well-marked peculiar-
ities. The incisive teeth are numerically different from
those of all the rest of the order; in addition to the two
long, curved, chisel-shaped teeth above and below, there

are added in the upper jaw two smaller ones, placed im-

ooo LEPORID.

mediately behind the normal pair and concealed by them ;
the upper incisors are flat and longitudinally grooved in
front, while those of the lower jaw are somewhat wedge-
shaped. The grinders are formed for the mastication of
vegetable food only, being constantly worn down, and as
constantly growing from beneath, as in the Beavers
(Castoride) and the Porcupines (Hystricide); the worn
surfaces are uneven and the projecting lamine of the
enamel transverse. The ears are long in all the species ;
the eyes large, prominent, and placed laterally ; the hind
legs, especially in the typical Hares, much longer than
the fore legs ; the feet hairy, and the tail short and turned
up. The teats are both pectoral and inguinal. The usual
colour is a mixture of grey and reddish-brown; in some
the prevailing colour is fulvous, while in others the grey
predominates. The admirable wisdom which has assigned
such colours to a group of defenceless animals which con-
ceal themselves amidst the brown sombre vegetation of
woods and heaths, will appear more striking when it is
recollected that certain species, inhabiting the snowy
regions of the north, become wholly white in winter.
All the members of the genus are remarkable for their
timidity, and their whole structure is such as at once to
announce to them the presence of danger, and to enable
them to escape from it; the ears and eyes are so formed
and situated as to become instantly cognizant of even
distant warnings of peril, and the limbs are admirably
adapted for the most rapid flight.

With all these similarities, however, there are great
diversities in the habits of the different species. Whilst
the Rabbit excavates a burrow to a considerable depth,
whither it instantly betakes itself on the approach of
danger, the Hare makes but a superficial depression,
called its form, which it uses as a resting-place, and

COMMON HARE. ga

trusts for its safety to the rapidity and duration of its
course.

The Common Hare, the type of the family, is widely
distributed throughout the continent of Europe, reaching
from the south of Sweden and the north of Russia to the
Mediterranean and the Caucasus; according to Pallas it
is not found in Siberia. Within the above limits it is
subject to considerable variation, and has consequently
been separated into several distinct species. But although
the extreme forms appear sufficiently distinct, yet they
are connected by so many intermediate links, that Prof.
Blasius, after examining a great number of specimens
from different countries, regarded them merely as climatic
or geographical forms, and divided them into three prin-
cipal races. These are—the north-eastern (including the
so-called species L. caspicus of Ehrenberg, L. medius of
Nilsson, and L. aquilonius of Blasius himself), distin-
guished by its thick fur and its inclination towards turn-
ing white in winter; the central, with moderate fur and a
considerable increase of grey in winter; and the southern
(including L. mediterranius of Wagner, L. meridionalis of
Géné, and L. granatensis of Schimper) with thin fur,
scantily-clad ears, and a maximum of red in its coloura-
tion. An examination of specimens of each of these
forms leads us fully to agree in the conclusions of the
great German zoologist.

In Britain the Common Hare is found throughout the
whole island, and owing to its preservation as game it is
extremely abundant in many parts; it is not found, how-
ever, in any part of Ireland, where its place is taken by
the next species. It is comparatively rare in the extreme
north of Scotland, but is found in the low grounds and
valleys even in Sutherlandshire and Caithnesshire. Messrs.
Baikie and Heddle inform us that it was introduced into

334 LEPORIDA.

the Mainland of Orkney in 1832, and has become very
numerous there and in Hoy; it is also found in the Inner
Hebrides and in the Isle of Wight.

The Hare is an evening feeder; having made its form it
remains in it during the day, leaving it only towards
nightfall, and constantly returning to it, after the most
extensive travels; hence it is proverbially said that the
wounded Hare returns home to die. It changes its situa-
. tion, however, according to the season, selecting in the
summer a shady spot, and in the winter an aspect where
it may receive the benefit of the sun’s rays. Hares are
usually to be found in cover during rain, and in the open
in fine weather; on some days they must be sought for
among long grass and herbage, on others on almost naked
fallows and ploughed fields. Sometimes they remain in
their forms till one almost tramps on them, whilst at other
times, especially in bad weather, they take to flight long
before the sportsman gets within gunshot; they are
usually much wilder in the afternoon than in the morn-
ing. The Hare swims well and takes to the water readily
—not merely when pursued, but to obtain a more plen-
tiful supply of food, and the male will often cross a river
in search of a mate; an account of a Hare swimming
across an arm of the sea about a mile in breadth was
given by the late Mr. Yarrell in the fifth volume of
“Loudon’s Magazine.” On hearing an unusual sound
the first impulse of a Hare is to sit upright with erected
ears to reconnoitre; then it either endeavours to conceal

> close to the ground, or at once

itself by “ clapping’
takes to flight. It is a cunning animal, and the sharp
turns or ‘‘ wrenches” by which it strives to baffle the
fleeter but less agile greyhound constitutes one of the
principal beauties of the sport of coursing. Owing to

the length of its hind legs the Hare is much fleeter up

COMMON HARE. 335

hill than down—in fact, in descending a steep bank, it is
obliged to run diagonally to avoid over-balancing itself.

The Hare is as exclusively a vegetable feeder as perhaps
any known mammal. The structure of the teeth has been
already alluded to, and that of the whole of the digestive
organs is not less adapted to such a diet. Its food con-
sists of various kinds of herbage, and it becomes at times
a very annoying and destructive invader, not only of the
field and garden, but also of young plantations, gnawing
off the bark and thus destroying great numbers of young
trees. It also does great damage in fields of young wheat
and other grain, and it is especially fond of aromatic
herbs, such as thyme, parsley, &c. Mr. S. Mawson has
recorded in the “ Zoologist ” for 1867, that the stomach
of a Hare killed in winter contained a quantity of haw-
thorn-berries.

This animal pairs when a year old, or even sooner, and the
female, after thirty days’ gestation, brings forth from two
to five young ones, which are born covered with hair and
with the eyes open. There are several broods in the year;
in mild winters young Hares have been found in January,
and we have known breeding to continue till the middle
of November, so that the Hare may almost be said to
propagate its species all the year round. The ‘leverets,”’
as the young are called, are suckled for about a month,
after which they leave their mother and seek their own
subsistence. The long-mooted question of the possibility
of superfoetation has been supposed by some to be decided
in the affirmative by circumstances which have for ages
been known to take place in this animal. Pliny distinctly
states that the Hare and the Rabbit are the only animals

in which it does occur.* Sir Thomas Brown devoted a

* “TLepus omnium preede nascens, solus proeter dasypoden superfctat, aliud
educans, aliud in utero pilis vestitum, aliud implume, aliud inchoatum gerens
pariter.? —Hist. Nat., lib, viii. cap. lv.

336 LEPORIDA.

chapter of his work on ‘ Vulgar Errors” to the Hare, in
which he refers to the same subject, and M. Frédéric-
Cuvier has also alluded to it. The solution of the diffi-
culty will at once strike any one who is acquainted with
the anatomy of this group of animals.

The Hare has been the subject of various superstitions.
Of the medicinal qualities of its flesh frequent mention
is made by Pliny ; and various omens were derived from its
appearance both in ancient and medizeval times. Izaak
Walton observes that ‘‘ there are many country people
that believe that Hares change sexes every year, and there
be very many learned men think so too, for in their dis-
secting them they find many reasons to incline them to
that belief.” In some parts of Sweden a Hare’s head is
always cut off as soon as it is shot, lest a pregnant woman
should happen to see it, in which case her child would be
born with a “ hare-lip’?; and in Scotland it is believed
that the same effect will be produced if the mother
should step over a Hare’s form.

This appears to have been a well-known animal from
remote antiquity. It was the Awywe of the Greeks and
the Lepus of the Romans; and from the latter name are
derived the Italian Lepre and Lievora, Spanish Liebre and
Lebratillo, Portuguese Lebrimho, French Liévre and our
own Leveret. The English name Hare, Anglo-Saxon Hara,
German Hase, Danish Haas, and Swedish Hara, are evi-
dently all from one root, but their derivation has been
disputed. Some have derived them from the Saxon her,
“hair,” from the hairy coat of the animal, others from
hergian, ‘‘ to harry.”” More probably they may be traced
to an Ayrian root, represented by the Sanscrit ¢a¢, gaca,
“to jump.” The derivation of the Scotch name maukin
is still more obscure.

The head of this animal is thick, the inside of the

COMMON HARR. ray 7)

cheeks hairy, the nostrils circular and connected by a fold
with the cleft upper lip. The eyes are large and promi-
nent, the pupil eliptical, and the ears elongated, being
about an inch longer than the head. The limbs are
slender ; the fore legs are much shorter than the hinder,
and have five toes, whereas the latter have but four; the
soles of the feet are completely covered with long coarse
hair. The tail is short and recurved. The general colour
is a mixture of grey with yellowish and reddish brown,
each hair on the back being ringed with grey, black and
reddish-yellow, except some of the longer hairs, which
are wholly black. The neck, shoulders and limbs are
nearly pure yellowish-fawn, the lower breast and belly
white. The ears are externally yellowish-grey in front,
whitish behind, and terminate in a black tip ; internally
they are nearly naked. ‘The tail is black above and
white below.

Young Hares are more ruddy than adults. As already
noticed, this animal in northern climates shows a decided
tendency to become white in winter, and even in this
country a considerable difference may be observed in its
winter coat, especially in aged individuals and in severe
seasons. Accidental varieties of an unusually pale colour
are sometimes met with, and black Hares have been
recorded, but are very rare.

The average weight of a Hare may be taken at seven
to eight pounds, but occasionally they are much heavier.
We have known one of eleven pounds, and an instance is
recorded in ‘‘ Loudon’s Magazine” of a female which
weighed no less than thirteen pounds one ounce and a half.

Dimensions :—

Inch. Lines.
Length of the head and body i ‘ 21 8
», of the head : 9 3 10
oe or theears) . : : : 4 10
,, of the tail A 3 8

X X

338 LEPORIDE.
RODENTIA. LEPORID®.

SRR N SHERRI ;
Ze : =
=> XY R e 3
—e - Fe ey, =
i >> ==
SLOSS Ee eee
SSS

=

>
SW DANADNY YS s=

MOUNTAIN HARE.
Lepus variabilis (Pallas).

Specific Character.—-Light fulvous-grey, becoming pure white in winter
in severe climates ; ears shorter than the head, permanently tipped with black;
tail little more than half the length of the head. First upper grinder notched
at its interior angle.

Lepus variabilis, Pauuas, Nov. Spec. Glir. p. 1.
», borealis, Ninssoy, Skand. Fauna, vol. III. t. 19.
»» canescens, 5 Hn 5 yy UD ite
3, hibernicus, YARRELL, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1833, p. 88.

Tne Mountain Hare is extensively distributed through-
out the countries which lie round the Arctic Circle, and
on such higher mountain ranges as present a suitable cli-
mate in more southern latitudes, where it appears to have
been left with the other alpine animals at the close of the
glacial epoch. It is spread all over the north of Europe
and Asia, and is represented in North America by a closely
allied species, the L. glacialis of Leach, which some natu-
ralists regard as identical. On the plains it finds its
southern boundary in Scotland and Ireland, in Russia

MOUNTAIN HARE, 339

about 55° north latitude, and in Eastern Prussia. South
of this it inhabits the whole chain of the Alps and their
dependant ranges, the Pyrenees, and, according to Méné-
tries, the higher peaks of the Caucasus. In the Feroes
Herr Miiller states that two pairs were introduced into
Stromé in 1854, and their descendants may already be
counted by thousands. Like the common Hare, it has
been divided into several species, which we believe must
be regarded merely as climatic races. Of these Blasius
has distinguished three forms; first, that inhabiting the
warmer low-grounds, as in southern Sweden and Ireland,
and not changing colour in winter ; secondly, the ordinary
type of the Alps and of North Europe generally, grey in
summer and pure white in winter; and, lastly, the polar
form, said to be found in the extreme north of Scandinavia
and Russia, which is white all the year round. The first
of these varieties is the ZL. canescens of Nilsson and the
L. hibernicus of Yarrell, while the last is Nilsson’s
L. borealis.

In Britain the Mountain Hare is found throughout
the greater part of Scotland and the whole of Ireland ;
in the former country it is usually known as the “ Blue
Hare.” It is extremely plentiful in most parts of the
Highlands north of the Forth, and of late years it
has been introduced into some of the hilly districts of
Peebleshire, Lanarkshire and Ayrshire, where it is worthy
of remark that the annual change of colour is much less
regular and complete than in the north. It appears to
have been formerly a native of the Orkneys, as noticed
by Sir Robert Sibbald and in a manuscript of the seven-
teenth century quoted by Messrs, Baikie and Heddle ; but
it is now quite extinct in these islands, although found in
many of the Hebrides.

We have already stated that this species does not change

340 LEPORIDA.

colour in Ireland. The Hare of that country was de-
scribed by our late friend Mr. Yarrell in the ‘‘ Proceedings
of the Zoological Society ” for 1833, under the name of
L. hibernicus, and was treated of under that name in our
first edition ; our original illustration of the head of this
form is repeated beneath. Its identity with ZL. variabils,
which was first pointed out by Blasius in 1841, is now
fully established, and the comparative uniformity of its
summer and winter tints must be attributed solely to the
mildness of the Irish climate.

Intermediate in size between the Common Hare and
the Rabbit, this species differs from them both in its
habits. It makes no burrows like the latter, but hides in
clefts of rocks or among large stones. It has not the
swiftness of the Common Hare, nor does it associate in
warrens like the Rabbit. Its ordinary food is similar to
that of the other species, but it also feeds in winter on
various kinds of lichens, and on the seeds of different sorts
of pines. As that season approaches it usually leaves its
high summer residence, and descends in search of a more

MOUNTAIN HARE. 341

genial climate, though seldom so low as to be out of the
reach of severe frost. In the north of Europe it is more
a frequenter of woods than in Scotland. At the begin-
ning of winter the fur undergoes a change of colour
similar to that which we have described in the case of the
Ermine; it becomes gradually more and more flecked and
grizzled until at length it is wholly white, with the
exception of the tips of the ears, which remain perma-
nently black. We believe that this change takes place,
as in all other mammals which become white in winter, by
an alteration of colour in the existing fur itself, though
some naturalists have stated the contrary to be the case.
The white coat is retained during the whole winter; in
spring it is cast, and is replaced by a grey summer coat.
In Scotland the autumnal change has been said to begin
about the middle of September and to be completed by
the middle of November (Edin. Phil. Mag. v. I1.), but it
depends so entirely on the climate that no trustworthy
dates can be assigned to it; in Switzerland Von Tschudi
observes that it keeps pace with the same alteration of
colour in the Ermine and the Ptarmigan.

The young of the Mountain Hare, like those of the
last species, are born with a complete coat of fur and with
open eyes, and they are very soon able to follow their
mother. The period of gestation and the number of
young in a litter is the same in both species, but the
Mountain Hare is said to have only two broods in the
year. F. Von Tschudi, in his excellent work ‘ ‘Thierle-
ben der Alpenwelt,” asserts that mules between L. timidus
and L. variabilis are often met with in Switzerland, a
statement which seems to require further confirmation.

The Mountain Hare is less in size than the common
species ; the head is smaller and more rounded, and the ears
are considerably shorter in proportion, not equalling the

342 LEPORID ©.

length of the head. The hind legs are much shorter, as is
also the tail, which is usually pressed closely to the rump,
so as to be scarcely visible. The fur is full, soft, and
woolly. Insummer it is of a grey colour, with more or less
admixture of yellowish-brown silky hairs on the upper
parts ; the ears are grey, tipped with black ; the tail, pale
erey above, white below; the under parts light grey,
becoming dirty white on the belly. In winter, in cold
climates, the whole animal is pure white, except the tips

of the ears, which remain jet-black.

Dimensions :—
Inch. Lines.
Length of the head and body : : 21 6

», of the head 4 6
», of the ear 3 3
», of the tail 2 6

The figure at the beginning of this article was drawn
from a living specimen formerly in our possession, but
the colour is that of one near the completion of the

autumnal change.

RABBIT. 343

RODENTIA. LEPORID&.

RABBIT.

Lepus cuniculus (Linn.).

Specific Character.—Colour brownish-grey mixed with tawny; belly, white ;
tail blackish above, white below ; ears about as long as the head.
Cuniculus, Puiny, Hist. Nat. VIII.
Lepus cuniculus, Linyzxus, Syst. Nat. I. 72.

THE Rabbit, so well known in England as one of the
worst pests of the farmer, is believed to be only a natural-
ized inhabitant of Western and Central Europe, its native
land being the cis-alpine countries of the Mediterranean
basin. It is plentiful in Spain, in parts of Italy and
Greece, and in the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily,
and it is said to inhabit the Barbary coast. North of the
Alps it is very locally distributed, being unknown in a
wild state in many parts of Western Europe and very
abundant in others, while it is not found in the eastern
and northern countries.

In our own country the Rabbit is abundant in almost

344 LEPORID®.

every district of Great Britain and Ireland, and in most
of their dependant isles. In many places it has become .
extremely abundant, owing to its preservation for the
purpose of sport and the destruction of its natural enemies
—indeed we may say, without entering on argument, that
it is to this animal that the preservation of game in Britain
owes the most of its present unpopularity. In some parts
of Scotland the species has increased enormously of late
years, even where it has not been purposely encouraged,
a result which may probably be attributed to the persecu-
tion by man of all beasts and birds of prey, and especially
of the Weasel tribe.

The Rabbit differs from the Hare in its smaller size, its
more plump and rounded body, and its much shorter ears,
and hind legs, as well as in its more uniform grey colour.
Its habits differ no less than its form. Unfitted by its
organization for that long-continued and rapid course by
which the Hare is distinguished, it seeks at once its safety
and its shelter in deep holes of its own digging, and
associates in large societies in places suitable for the easy
excavations of its burrows. Sandy heaths covered with
furze are a favourite resort of Rabbits, and in such places
they often multiply to a great extent; the soil being
easily penetrated, and the furze affording at once a secure
cover to their retreat, and a wholesome and _ never-failing
supply of food ; the young tops of the plants are constantly
eaten down and the bushes present the appearance of a
solid mass, with the surface even and rounded as high as
the rabbits can reach when standing on their hind legs.
Where undisturbed they may be seen abroad at all hours,
but generally they remain in their burrows during the day,
coming out towards twilight to feed. On moors, where
the soil is very wet, Rabbits often refrain from burrowing,
and content themselves with runs and galleries formed in

RABBIT. 345

the long and matted heather and herbage. In more than
one instance we have known a family to take possession
of a hollow tree and ascend its inclined and decayed trunk
for some distance.

A Rabbit-warren presents towards evening a curious
and not uninteresting spectacle. The ground everywhere
pierced with deep and tortuous holes, the absence of all
esculent vegetation around it, and the playful gambols
and rapid retreat of the inhabitants, as they either sport
in security or fly from the approach of danger, are cir-
cumstances which at once indicate the peculiar habits of
the species and present a lively and amusing scene.

The Rabbit begins to breed at the age of six months,
and has several litters in the year, during winter as well
asin summer. From five to seven or eight young are
brought forth at a time, and we have known an instance in
which the number amounted to eleven. They are born
blind and nearly naked, whereas we have seen that those
of the Hare are covered with fur and have the eyes open
at birth—an admirable provision for the comparatively
unprotected situation in which the latter little creatures
are brought forth. When the female Rabbit is about to
give birth to her young, she forms a separate burrow, at
the bottom of which she makes a warm nest of fur plucked
from her own body; this breeding-burrow has seldom
more than one entrance, whereas the ordinary residence
has always a postern gate for escape. The mother covers
over this single entrance with earth, and visits her offspring
only under cover of the night. It is evident from the
above facts that the multiplication of this species is ex-
tremely rapid ; so much so that it would soon become an
intolerable scourge to the agriculturist if its numbers
were not kept down by its natural enemies. Now that
our native beasts and birds ot prey are so greatly reduced

YO-VE

346 LEPORIDA.

in numbers, its most dreaded foe is man, who pursues it
with guns, traps, nets, dogs, and ferrets.

The Rabbit is well known in a domesticated state. It
then varies much in colour, being brown, fawn, reddish-
brown, or black, more or less mixed with white, and it is
very subject to albinism, which is perpetuated as a fixed
race. The fur is sometimes much lengthened, as in the
so-called Angora” breed; while in what are known as
‘‘ Fancy-Rabbits ” the ears are enormously elongated and
droop so much as to touch the ground. ‘This last deve-
lopment is associated with a very curious change in the
bones of the skull, of which an interesting account will
be found in Mr. Darwin’s work on the ‘ Variation of
Animals and Plants under Domestication.” The flesh of
the tame Rabbit is very inferior in flavour to that of the
wild, but the former is more esteemed in London on
account of its greater tenderness.

Besides the changes produced by domestication, this
species presents us with a very curious instance of varia-
tion in a wild state, of which Mr. Darwin has given a full
account in the work just alluded to. In the island of
Porto Santo, near Madeira, there is a feral breed which is
known to have descended from some tame Rabbits which
were turned down in 1418 or 1419 by J. Gonzales Zarco.
These Rabbits are now much smaller than their European
relatives, being nearly one-third less in weight ; the upper
parts are much redder, and the lower surface is more grey,
while the tail is reddish-brown above. ‘Two which were
brought to England would not breed or even associate
with other Rabbits, and if their history had not been
known they would certainly have been regarded as belong-
ing to a perfectly distinct species.

Our English word Rabbit is allied to the Dutch Robée,
Robbeken ; the origin of both is very doubtful, though

RABBIT, 347

Skinner has derived the latter from the Latin rapidus.
The old English name of Coney has its analogue in most
European languages; as the Italian Coniglio, Spanish
Conejo, Portuguese Coelho, German Kaninchen, Danish
and Swedish Kaning, Belgic Konin, and Welsh Cwningen ;
these are evidently allied to the Latin Cuniculus, of which
no very satisfactory derivation has been suggested. It is
perhaps hardly necessary to add that the animal mentioned
in the Bible to which the name Coney is applied in our
version, is not the Rabbit, but the Syrian Hyrax (Hyrax
syriacus).

The general form of this species is fuller and rounder
than that of the Hare, and the flanks are less contracted ;
the head and ears are much shorter (especially the latter),
as are also the hind legs. The general colour is a greyish-
brown, the neck reddish-fawn, the throat and belly white,
the ears are brownish-grey throughout their whole length,
with a narrow black margin at the extreme tips, and the
tail is blackish-grey above, white beneath. Pied, black,
and fawn-coloured varieties not unfrequently occur in a
wild state, even where there can have been no admixture

of tame blood.

Dimensions :—
Inch. Lines,
Length of the head and body . : : eG 6
,, of the head . : : ; . 5 8 6
», of theears . ‘ : ; ‘ > oO 8
>, of thetail . : : é : i 3 2

348 CERVIDA.

RUMINANTIA. CERVIDA.

Genus Cervus (Linneus).

Generic Character —Antlers rounded or palmated, with two or more basal
tines directed forward. Canine teeth developed in some species. Muzzle
bare and moist ; tear-pits well developed ; tail moderate.

RED. DEBR. on. SkAG-

Cervus elaphus (Linn.).

Specific Character.—Antlers rounded, with three tines directed forwards
crown.” Canines present. ‘Tail short. Reddish-brown in summer,

and a ‘‘

greyish-brown in winter : the rump pale.

Cervus elaphus, Linn xus, Syst. Nat. I. 93.

», nobilis, Kuxrn, Quadr, 23.

Tue genus Cervus of Linneeus, constituting the family
Cervide of modern authors, is as well marked and natural

RED DEER. 349

a group as is to be found in the whole of the mammi-
liferous class. The single character of the possession of
branching bony antlers, without any horny covering, and
shed annually, is at once so tangible and important as to
leave no doubt of the relationship of any one species of
the whole group. The only approach to a connecting
link in this respect is found in the Prong-horn Antelope
of America (Antilocapra americana, Ord), in which the
horny sheaths of the horns are now known to be deciduous,
but as the bony cores remain persistent it can only be
considered as a very distant approach to the peculiar
organization of the present family.

That the horns, or as they should rather be named the
antlers, of Deer are intimately connected with sex, is
proved by every circumstance of their growth and
economy. With the exception of the Reindeer (Rangi-
fer tarandus, Linn.) of the northern regions, the female
possesses no antlers, the annual shedding takes place
shortly after the pairing season, and horns are either
absent or very rudimentarily developed in the castrated
‘male. The antlers of the Deer rise from the frontal
bone, and consist of the burr or rough protuberant ring
at the base, the beam or main stem, and the branches or
antlers, which have various names according to their
position, as the brow-antler, bez-antler, and royal. The
growth of such a mass of bony matter, amounting in
some of the larger species to many pounds weight, is an
astonishing instance of the rapidity of the production of
bone under particular circumstances, the antlers of a full-
erown Stag being produced in about ten weeks. The
new weapon is at first soft and extremely vascular, it is
covered with skin and clad with a soft hairy coat termed
the velvet, and is provided throughout with blood-vessels,
which transmit the necessary nourishment from the

350 CERVIDA.

external carotid arteries, which are temporarily much
enlarged. When the antler has assumed the size and
form characteristic of the species and of the age of the
individual, the burr is developed, and by compressing the
bases of the larger vessels it cuts off the supply of
blood. The substance of the antler then assumes its
proper density and hardness, and the velvet dries and peels
off in shreds, a process which is hastened by the animal
rubbing his horns against trees or rocks. The perfect
antler thus produced is a most effectual weapon of
defence in many species, and they are often used in the
pairing season in the violent and sometimes fatal combats
between the males. Soon after that season the Deer
instinctively seeks seclusion, the union of the burr with
the frontal bone becomes loosened, and the antlers fall off,
to be again renewed in the same manner. Such is a brief
and general description of this remarkable process, the
details of which vary in the different species, as will be
noticed hereafter.

The Red Deer or Stag is a native of the more temperate
regions of Europe and Northern Asia, but in the former
continent its limits have been much reduced by the
advance of civilization and agriculture. In Scandinavia
it is confined to a few forests in Sweden, principally in
the province of Scania, and to some of the Norwegian
islands, notably that of Hittern, near Bergen, where it is
carefully preserved. In Russia it is said to be only
found in the Caucasus, but it is a native of a consider-
able part of Siberia from the Ural to the Lena, and is
stated by Middendorf to extend as far south as the
Mandshuri Mountains. The Stag was formerly very
generally distributed throughout Central Europe, and
although it has been exterminated in many places, it still

holds its ground in some parts of Britain, in the larger

RED DEER. 35l

forests of France and Germany, and more abundantly in
the more Eastern States, as Hungary, Servia, Transyl-
vania, Poland, the Danubian Principalities, &c. South
of these countries it is found, though more rarely, in
parts of Greece, Italy, and Spain, and it inhabits the
islands of Corsica and Sardinia. Within these limits the
Red Deer varies not a little in its size and in the compara-
tive development of its antlers; thus the Eastern form
is unusually large and carries a fine head, whereas the
Stag of the Norwegian, Scotch, and Mediterranean islands
is small in size and has only a stunted growth of antlers.
It has accordingly been endeavoured to divide the Euro-
pean Red Deer into various species, but there appears
to be no ground whatever for such a step. Its nearest
allies or representatives in other countries appear to be
the Cervus wallichi of the Himalayas, the C. barbarus
of North Africa, and the C. canadensis, or Wapiti,
of America.

In ancient times, when the British Islands were clad
with almost uninterrupted forests, the Stag undoubtedly
ranged throughout the whole country. But as civiliza-
tion and population increased, it was driven to find shelter
in the chases and preserved forests of the Kings and of
the great feudal lords, many of which were purposely
laid waste for its benefit, and where it was protected by
forest laws of the most savage severity—it was better to
have been a homicide in those days than to have killed
one of the King’s Deer. These retreats gradually
diminished in number, one after another was disaffor-
ested, and others were sacked by the peasantry in times
of civil war. In England Red Deer were abundant in
Woolmer Forest in Hampshire as late as the reign of
Queen Anne, as is mentioned by White of Selborne; a
few lingered down to the present century in Epping

352 CERVID”.

Forest, and we have ourselves seen some in the New Forest
many years ago. But exclusive of those kept in regu-
larly enclosed parks, the species must now be regarded as
being confined in England to the moorlands of Devon-
shire and Somersetshire ; in Ireland to certain districts
in Erris, Connemara, and Killarney ; and Scotland to the
Highlands north of the Forth and Clyde, and to the
adjacent islands. It is not now found in Shetland or
Orkney, though it was anciently a native of the latter
islands, but it is plentiful in both the Outer and Inner
Hebrides, where the breed has been much improved of
late years by the judicious introduction of fresh blood.

It is in the Highlands of Scotland only that the Red
Deer is now found in large numbers in Britain, and great
tracts of country have there been devoted to its exclusive
use, a policy of which the national advantages have been
the subject of not a little discussion of late years. The
old Highland mode of hunting by surrounding a great
extent of country by a huge circle or ‘‘ Tinchal”’ has
been long abandoned, the orthodox manner of killing a
Stag now being by stalking it—a task of no little diffi-
culty—till the sportsman comes within rifle-range. Deer
are also sometimes driven through the mountain passes
where the guns have been placed in ambush, or are run
down with rough deerhounds, but the latter are more
often used to secure a Stag which has already been
wounded. Several excellent accounts of these sports
have been written, of which the best will be found in St.
John’s “ Wild Sports of the Highlands” and in Scrope’s
‘Days of Deer-stalking,” and many incidents of the
chase have been immortalized in the pictures of Sir Edwin
Landseer. In Ireland and in Devonshire wild Red Deer
are still pursued with Hound and Horse and horn in
orthodox fashion, but those which afford sport to Her

RED DEER. 353

Majesty’s Buckhounds and other packs are tame Deer
whose antlers have been sawn off, and which are brought
to the meet in a cart, in which they return in ignoble
safety to their paddock after the chase is concluded.

The Red Deer, like most of the family, is a gregarious
animal, [xcept in the rutting season, the sexes remain
separate, the Hinds, Calves, and young males consorting
together, and usually preferring lower ground than that
frequented by the full-grown Stags. In its choice of
ground this species varies much in different countries.
On the Continent it is almost exclusively known as an
inhabitant of the largest forests, where it hides itself by
day in the densest thickets, and comes out to feed by
night in the open glades and meadows, or invades the
nearest cultivated grounds. In Scotland, on the other
hand, it ranges over the barren and exposed hills, shel-
tering itself in the glens and corries, and living as
thoroughly a mountain life as the Reindeer of the Nor-
wegian fjelds.

The pairing season begins in the end of September,
or beginning of October, and lasts about three weeks.
The full-grown Stags then wander about in search of
the Hinds, and make the rocks and mountains resound
with their ‘ belling”’ or roaring on moonlight nights,
and in the early morning. When two Stags of similar
size and strength fix their affections on the same female a
desperate fight ensues, which not unfrequently proves fatal
to one or even to both—for not a few cases have been
recorded in which the combatants have interlocked their
antlers so firmly as to be unable to separate, and so have
perished miserably. During these duels the Hinds never
interfere, but look on or graze in serenity till the rival
suitors have settled their pretensions. The female goes
with young eight months and a few days, and has usually

ZZ

354 CERVIDE.

only one calf. She retires from the herd to bring forth,
and continues to attend to her young with the greatest
assiduity and tenderness ; in winter the females and calves
again reassemble in a herd. About February, the old
Stags drop their antlers, the young ones retaining theirs
somewhat longer, and soon after they begin to be replaced
in the manner above described. At this time they seek
the most solitary places, and remain quite apart from the
rest of the herd.

A very ancient popular belief, traced by Sir Thomas
Browne back to the ancient Egyptians, attributes an
extraordinary longevity to the Stag. This is fully be-
lieved by the Highlanders of Scotland, and several
curious and circumstantial traditions of Stags living for
a hundred years and upwards will be found in Mr.
Scrope’s interesting work. In parks, however, Red
Deer are found to have reached their full prime at twelve,
and seldom to live for twenty years, and it does not
appear probable that this limit is very much exceeded in
a wild state.

The derivation of the English names applied to the
Deer tribe is interesting, showing how completely the
simple Saxon words of the stout yeomen and outlaws
ousted the Norman-French terms used by Princes and
Barons. Thus Deer is the Anglo-Saxon Deor, its primary
meaning signifying simply a beast (German Thier, Greek
Ther, Latin Ferus). Stag originally meant a male animal
of any species, as in the Icelandic Steggr, a male, and the
Scotch Staig, a young horse. Heort and Hind are also
Saxon. Venison, however, is from the French venaison
(perhaps allied to the Latin venor, to hunt), and anéler
is from the old French antowler, but beam and tine are
from the Saxon words beam, a tree, and tind, a tooth or
spike. Many of the quaint old terms of wood-craft have

RED DEER. 355

now become obsolete, and most modern deer-stalkers
would be puzzled to distinguish a Spayard from a
Staggard, or a Knobber from a Brocket. Guillim, in his
‘Display of Heraldrie,” thus explains some of these
terms :—‘* Whereas some men are of opinion that a Stagge,
of what age so ever he be, shall not be called a Hart until
the King or Queene have hunted him; that is not so: for
after the fift yeare of his age, you shall no more call him
a Stagge, but a Hart. So then at sixe yeares old he is
called a Hart. Now if the King or Queene doe chase or
hunt him, and hee escape away alive, then after such
hunting or chasing he is called a Hart Royall.” In
Scotland the term Royal is generally applied to a Stag
which carries twelve regular points.

A fine Stag stands four feet, or even more, at the
shoulders. The head is beautifully formed, and is car-
ried aloft with a very proud and noble carriage. The
tear-pits or lachrymal furrows are moderately developed,
the muzzle naked, and the ears about half the length of
the head. The antlers are long, finely curved, and rough,
their section being an irregular oval with a tendency to _
approach to a sub-triangular form ; their normal develop-
ment in the adult may be considered as including three
tines directed forwards, which are sometimes named the
brow, bez, and royal antlers, and the cup, crown, or surroyal
of three or more branches at the end. But these divisions
are subject to considerable variation, to which we shall
allude presently. The neck is somewhat long and thick,
and is heavily bearded on the throat with long coarse hair,
especially in the rutting season. The body is compact,
the legs long and muscular, and the tail short, being
about one-half as long as the ear. In summer the
general colour is bright reddish-brown ;- the head and

legs being somewhat greyer, the throat pale grey, and the

356 CERVIDA.

buttock marked by a large yellowish-white patch. In
winter, the coat is longer and softer, and the colour is
more of a brownish-grey. White varieties are not uncom-
mon in parks, and are occasionally met with in a state of
nature. The Calves are beautifully spotted with white
during their first summer.

The number of tines of a Stag’s antlers varies very
much, and it is scarcely necessary to observe that the
popular idea, that one is added for every year of the
animal’s life, is quite without foundation. It is true that
this is the case during youth, but when a Stag has reached
its maximum of strength and vitality the size of its
weapons increases no longer, or even decreases as the
creature becomes old and decrepid. We have already
observed that in a normal antler the three anterior
branches are always present, the variation in number
lying in the crown or cup, the branches of which may be
more or less numerous, and still remain quite regular.
But some of the most famous heads can only be considered
as abnormal.

There can be no doubt that the size and development
of the antlers depend very much on the food which the
animal consumes, and that as the Red Deer has been gra-
dually driven back from the best pastures by civilization,
it has degenerated in consequence. The antlers found in
the alluvial deposits of this country present a calibre and
development which has been even considered to point out
a specific distinction, and both here and abroad the heads
of Stags killed two or three centuries ago are much larger
and finer than those of the present day. In Scotland,
where breeding in-and-in has probably also had its effect,
fine heads are now rare. In Kastern Europe the average
is considerably better, but nowhere could antlers now be
found which could compare with some of the old heads

RED DEER. SOF

preserved in various collections, especially in Germany.
In Lord Powerscourt’s collection is a very fine pair of
antlers, believed to have belonged to a Stag killed in
Transylvania about two hundred years ago, which weigh
seventy-four pounds, and have forty-five points. This,
however, is surpassed by some in the German Castles, one
especially at the Moritzburg, in Saxony, boasts sixty-six
tines. These collections are also rich in ‘‘ abnormitiaten,”’
or deformed antlers, often of most strange and fantastic
growth, whose variations are to be attributed to various
causes, but especially to breeding in-and-in, and injuries
to the organs of the Deer during the production of
the antlers. Such deformed heads, called in Gaelic
‘“‘chromeh,” are particularly common in some of the Scotch
Islands, especially in Mull.

The average weight of good Stags in Scotland may be
taken as ranging from fifteen to twenty imperial stone,
but much heavier animals are sometimes killed. Mr.
Scrope mentions several which have exceeded thirty stone,
and considered that the Sutherlandshire Deer offer the
highest average weight. An outlying Stag killed at
Woburn, in 1836, weighed thirty-four stone live weight.

358 CERVID.

RUMINANTIA. CERVID.

FALLOW DEER.

Cervus dama (Linn.).

Specific Character.—Antlers with the beam rounded at the base, palmate
towards the extremity ; two basal tines directed forwards. No canine teeth.
Tail longer than the ear. Yellowish-brown with whitish spots, sometimes

uniform dark brown.

Cervus dama, Linnzus, Syst. Nat. I. 93.
», platyceros, Ray, Syn. Quad. 85.

Dama vulgaris, GeESNER, Quadr, 335.

Tue Fallow Deer, so well known asa half-domesticated
denizen of parks, chases, and preserved forests, appears to
have been originally an inhabitant of the countries lying
around the Mediterranean Sea. Prince Buonaparte states
it is still plentiful in the island of Sardinia, and it is also

FALLOW DEER. 359

a native of Spain, of some of the Grecian Islands, and of
parts of North Africa. From these regions it has been
introduced into Central Europe, and with some artificial
protection it supports the cold of winter as far north as
the southern provinces of Scandinavia. The date of its
introduction into this country is quite uncertain, but it
ismentioned by Fitz-Stephen and other ancient chroniclers,
and it seems not improbable that it was first brought over
by the Roman colonists. The dark-coloured variety is
said to have been introduced from Norway by James L.,
on account of its superior hardiness of constitution.

Fallow Deer are gregarious to a great extent, asso-
ciating in large herds, the Bucks apart from the Does,
except in the pairing season and early winter, when the
sexes consort in company. Most persons must be familiar
with their boldness and the confident manner in which they
will approach mankind, where they are well accustomed
to his presence ; importuning the stranger who pic-nics in
Greenwich Park for a biscuit or an apple, which is seldom
refused. The fondness of the Deer tribe for musical
sounds is well illustrated in the following extract from
Playford’s ‘Introduction to Music” :—“ Travelling
some years since, I met on the road near Royston a
herd of about twenty [Bucks] following a bagpipe and
violin, which, while the music played, went forward ;
when it ceased, they all stood still: and in this manner
they were brought out of Yorkshire to Hampton Court.”
A love of music is not confined to this family; there
is more than poetic truth in the story of the power of
Orpheus’s lyre over the beasts of the field, and Shak-
speare avails himself of this predilection in cattle to form
one of his exquisite illustrations.

Like the other species, the Fallow Deer feeds on herb-
age; it has been noted that it is especially fond of horse-

360 CERVIDA.

chestnuts, which the Bucks knock down from the branches
with their antlers, and the tree is consequently frequently
planted in Deer-parks.

The pairing season begins in September and the Doe
goes eight months with young ; she brings forth generally
one Fawn, not unfrequently two, and sometimes three, at
a birth, and conceals them as does the Hind, but some-
what less carefully. The young male exhibits the first
signs of his antlers in his second year, when they make
their appearance as simple snags, and the animal is called
a Pricket. In the third year the two anterior tines are
produced, and the extremity of the beam becomes
flattened or palmate. The fourth finds them further
developed in size, and the palmate portion is deeply
indented or incised. In the fifth year, when he attains to
the title of a Buck of the first head, the antlers have ac-
quired nearly their full development, but in the sixth the
snags of the flattened part of the beam, called spzllers or
advancers, become more numerous, and the palmation has
attained a great breadth. ‘The processes of shedding and
reproduction of the antlers is precisely similar to those
described in the Stag, but not only is their form quite
different, but the excrescences and furrows are much less
distinctly marked; they are shed in spring, somewhat
later than in the last species.

Fallow Deer venison is usually considered superior to
that of the Red Deer, being generally much fatter, but
the latter is considered by some to have the finest flavour.
The skin of both the Buck and Doe is well known as
affording a soft and durable leather. The antlers, like
those of other species, are manufactured into the handles of
knives and other cutler’s instruments, and the shavings and
refuse have always been employed in the manufacture of
ammonia, whence the common name of hartshorn.

——

FALLOW DEER. 361

The word fallow describes the prevailing colour of the
animal, being the Anglo-Saxon fealo, allied to the Ger-
man falb, the Sclavonic plav, yellow, the Latin palidus,
pale, and the Sanscrit palita, grey. Thus in the early
English writers “‘ to falow”” means to grow pale, to fade.
** Buck” is probably from the Teutonic bocken, to strike,
and is therefore an animal which strikes or butts with its

head; hence it has become the general name of the male
of the beasts of chase, even including those which have
no horns, as the Hare and Rabbit. ‘“ Doe” is the Anglo-
Saxon da, probably from the same root as the Latin dama,
a deer, and the Sanscrit dam, to tame; thus the Doe
would mean the tame or harmless animal. ‘ Fawn” is
from the French faon, feon, which, say some, is derived
from the Latin infans, or, more probably, through the old
form fedon, from fwtus, an offspring.

The Buck usually stands about three feet, or rather
less, at the shoulder, and measures about five feet in total
length, of which the tail occupies nearly seven and a half
inches. The head is small, the tear-pits well developed,
the muzzle tapered, and the eye large and lustrous. The
ears are long and pointed, exceeding half the length of
the head. The antlers have only two anterior tines, the
presence of a third being a very rare abnormity, but the
hinder margin of the flattened portion of the beam is
notched out, so as to form an indefinite number of points.
The tail is longer than the ear.

In colour the Fallow Deer of our parks vary much.
The normal tint is a fawn or yellowish red-brown, spotted
with white, and becoming more grey in winter. ‘The
dark brown variety has already been mentioned, and Deer
may be seen of every shade from pure white to almost
coal black.

362 CERVIDA.

RUMINANTIA. CERVID.

Genus Capreotus (H. Smith).

Generic Character.—Antlers small, uptight, rounded, with no basal tine.
Tear-pits only slightly developed. No canines.* No external tail.

ROE DEER.
Capreolus caprea (Gray).

Specific Character.—Antlers with two tines, one directed forwards, the
other backwards. Colour reddish-brown in summer, yellowish-grey in winter ;
a large white patch on the rump.

Cervus capreolus, Linnmus, Syst. Nat. 1. 94.
» pygargus, Pauuas, It. I. 97.
Capreolus caprea, J. E. Gray, Mamm. Brit. Mus. 176.
Tuis Deer differs from the species already described
in several important particulars, which, coupled with the

* Abnormal skulls with canine teeth have, however, been described by Prof.
Kolliker (Wérzb. nat. Zeitschrift, vol. vi. p. 82).

ROE DEER. 363

remarkable peculiarity in its reproduction, appear to us
to entitle it to generic distinction.

The Roe is a native of Europe and Northern Asia
south of 58° north latitude. The Siberian form, how-
ever, has been separated as a distinct species, under the
name of C. pygargus (Pallas), principally on account of
its larger size, lighter colour, and longer antlers. But
these hardly seem sufficient characters to afford grounds
for specific distinction in so variable a family as the Deer
tribe, and we are therefore inclined to follow Prof.
Blasius in regarding the Roe Deer of Europe and Asia
as belonging to one species—the only one of the genus
yet known. In Europe it reaches its northern limit in
the south of Sweden, and it extends as far south as Italy
and Spain; it is not found in northern and central
Russia, but occurs in the more southern provinces, in
the Ukraine and the Caucasus. In Asia the larger
variety is common in Persia and Tartary, and throughout
Siberia from the Ural Mountains to the River Lena.

In Britain the Roe Deer was certainly very widely
distributed in olden times, when the greater part of the
country was covered with forests, but it gradually gave
way before the advances. of cultivation, and when Pen-
nant wrote he regarded it as being restricted to the
Scottish Highlands north of Perthshire. Owing to the
stricter preservation of game and to the great increase
of plantations, it has again enlarged its bounds, and it
is now found in many of the more wooded districts of
the south of Scotland and north of England, in some of
which it is so numerous as to cause considerable damage
to young plantations.

The favourite resorts of Roe Deer are large woods
with a thick undergrowth, bordering on meadows or
cultivated lands, to which they issue towards evening in

364 CERVID.

search of food. Usually they consort in small family
parties, and they have regular paths and passes through
the woods, returning to the same feeding-grounds day by
day at the same hour. The paces of the Roe are a gentle
trot and a high bounding gallop; its speed is not great,
but it is a wonderful leaper—we have repeatedly seen
one clear a fence much higher than itself apparently with
the greatest ease. It is also an excellent swimmer, taking
to the water even when unpursued, and in Scotland it is
often known to cross lochs of more than half a mile in
breadth. Its voice is a harsh bleat, though some have
rather compared it to the yelp of a small dog,

Its usual food consists of grass, herbage, and the
young shoots of bushes and trees. Ivy leaves are a
special favourite, and on more than one occasion we have
found its stomach filled with fungi of various species.

The breeding of the Roe Deer presents us with the
most interesting points in its history, and was long a
puzzle to sportsmen and naturalists, especially in Ger-
many, where the species is abundant. Most writers have
stated that the Roe is strictly monogamous, that it pairs
in November or December, and that the Doe goes five
months with young. This account seems confirmed by
the fact that the fatus was never found before January, and
then only in a very undeveloped condition; but on the
other hand it was well known that the sexes seek each
other’s company in July and August, and the investigations
of the late Dr. Ziegler, published in 1843, proved con-
clusively that this was the true pairing season. The
mystery was not cleared up till 1854, when Prof. Bischoff
of Giessen, the well-known embryologist, published an
elaborate treatise, entitled ‘‘ Entwicklungsgeschichte des
Rehes,” in which he gave the results of ten years’ careful
investigation. We must refer our readers to the original

ROE DEER. 365

work for the technical details, which would here be out
of place, but the results at which he arrived are briefly
as follows. The pairing season is, as already stated, in
July and August; but the germ or ovum remains dormant
and of very minute size for four months and a half (until
December), after which it suddenly begins to develop at
the usual rate, the whole period of gestation being forty
weeks. As far as we are aware no similar phenomena
have been observed in any other quadruped, and it is
difficult to conceive why this species should differ so
markedly from others which are nearly allied to it both
in organization and habits. Either one or two Fawns are
produced at a birth, usually early in May. These are
at first carefully concealed by the Doe, which sometimes
shows great boldness in their defence—we have known
a small terrier which attacked a Fawn to be pursued for
a considerable distance by the irate mother.

The Fawns, which like those of the other species are
beautifully marked with white spots, follow their parent
till winter. The young Buck then puts up his first
antlers in the form of simple snags; the second pair have
a single tine directed forwards, and the third winter a
second branch directed backwards is added. The normal
development of the antlers is then complete, although

they continue to increase in size and weight for some
time longer. The adult Bucks drop their antlers about
Christmas, and the new ones are usually fully developed

366 CERVIDA.

by the end of February. The engraving shows the
annual change of the antlers from the second to about
the sixth year.

Both in Scotland and Germany Roe Deer are generally
killed by driving the woods with beaters, the sportsmen
having previously been posted so as to command their
favourite passes. The venison is considered to be inferior
to that of both the Red and Fallow Deer; it is in best
condition in winter, whereas the Stag is only in season
during the summer months.

Roe is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Rah, Raeh, which
is preserved in the Scottish Rae. The derivation of
the words Buck, Doe, and Fawn have already been
considered. .

A fine Roe Buck will stand twenty-six inches or rather
more, at the shoulder, and often weighs upwards of sixty
pounds. The head is short and abruptly tapered, the eye
rather large, the tear-pit very slightly developed, and the
ear about two-thirds as long as the head. The antlers are
short, upright, very rough and longitudinally furrowed ;
the first tine is distant about two-thirds from the base
and is directed forwards, the second, higher up, has the
contrary direction; very rarely each of the terminal
points is again subdivided. The neck is slender, the
body short, plump, and compact, the limbs long and
slender. The colour is reddish-brown in summer, which
is exchanged in autumn for a much thicker and finer
winter coat of yellowish-grey; the lips are marked with
black and white, and the rump with a large patch of
pure white; the belly and the inside of the limbs are
pale yellowish-fawn. Albinos are sometimes met with
both in Scotland and in Germany.

The Roe is even more liable to malformations of the
antlers than the Red Deer. In normal horns the length

ROE DEER. 367

is seldom more than ten or eleven inches, but in the Feld
of 2nd March, 1872, Mr. R. Winsloe mentions a pair
from Austria in his collection which measured 15} inches
in length and 14} from tip to tip. In the same news-
paper, in 1866, a correspondent stated that a Doe bearing
horns was shot that year near Kippenheim in the Black

Forest.

368 BOVIDA.

RUMINANTIA. BOVID A,

il

Uy
(LSS
Wy S \)
\\ (2s ~\)
WY

=

Yay
OY
ws

Genus Bos (Linneus).

Generic Character.—Horns hollow, persistent, growing on a bony core,
conical and curved. Body thick and heavy. ‘Tail long, terminated by a
tuft of long hair. Teats four.

WILD WHITE CATTLE.

Bos taurus (Linn.). Var. Scoticus.

Character of Variety.—Colour white, the ears tipped either with red or
black ; forehead flat, occipital ridge straight; horns moderate, lyrate, white
with black tips.

Bos taurus, Lrnnazus, Syst. Nat. I. 98.
Urus scoticus, Ham. Smrtu, in Griffith’s An. Kingd. IV. 411.
Bos scoticus, Swainson, Quad. 285.

Tuat the White Cattle, preserved in a half-wild state
in a few parks in Scotland and England, are identical

in species with our domestic Oxen is now universally

WILD WHITE CATTLE. 369

admitted, but their claim to be regarded as unsubdued
descendants of the once mighty Urus is still a matter
of dispute. Space fails us here to enter fully into the
question, and we must confine our remarks to a short
abstract of the arguments which have been put forward.
According to Prof. Nilsson, Prof. Riitimeyer, and
others of our best authorities on this family, the domestic
Oxen of Europe are derived from three or four distinct
races, known to geologists under the names of Bos primi-
genius, B. longifrons, B. frontosus, and B. trochoceros. From
the first of these, which was undoubtedly the Urus of
Ceesar and other ancient writers, the large long-horned
Cattle of Northern Europe and of the Mediterranean
countries appear to have descended, and of these the
British Wild Cattle approach most closely to the original
type, especially in their flat forehead, level occipital ridge,
and the peculiar curves of their lyrate horns. But it is
more doubtful whether they have always remained in a
wild state, or are the representatives of domestic Cattle
run wild, which have reverted in some degree to the
characters of their progenitors. Several facts appear to
be in favour of the latter supposition. Wild Cattle are
certainly mentioned by various ancient writers as inhabit-
ing the forests of Britain, as in the forest-code of King
Canute (1017-36), and by Fitz-Stephen (circa 1174). They
are also spoken of by Boéthius (1526), Leslie (1575), and
other Scottish writers, but only as having previously
existed in a free state, and as being already confined to a
few parks and chases. But it seems at least possible that
these medizval ‘‘ Tauri sylvestres’’ may have been de-
scended from escaped Cattle, like the wild herds of South
America and Australia, and surely more frequent mention
would have been made of them had they resembled the
large Urus of antiquity. The colour of the Wild Cattle
3B

370 BOVIDA.

of our parks, and their tendency to vary in that respect,
along with their small size as compared with the Urus, are
all points in favour of the belief that they are the repre-
sentatives of a breed of Cattle escaped from captivity,
which in the course of generations of a wild forest life
reverted to a considerable extent to the characters of their
distant ancestors.

This breed of White Cattle has been recorded as
having been kept at the following parks :—Kincardine
(Kincardineshire), Stirling (Stirlingshire), Cumbernauld
(Dumbartonshire), Cadzow (Lanarkshire), Drumlanrig
(Dumfriesshire), Chillingham (Northumberland), Bishop
Auckland (Durham), Burton Constable and Gisburn
(Yorkshire), Lyme (Cheshire), Chartley (Staffordshire),
and Wollerton (Nottingham). They now exist only at
Cadzow, Chillingham, Lyme Park, and Chartley.

Of these the Chillingham herd appears to be the purest
bred. The best account of it which we have met with is
given in the second volume of the ‘‘ Annals of Natural
History,” by Mr. J. Hindmarsh, who derived much of
his information from the Earl of Tankerville himself.
Nothing can now be learned of the ancient history of the
cattle, but the park is known to have existed early in the
thirteenth century. The Chillingham Cattle ‘‘ have pre-
eminently all the characteristics of wild animals, with
some peculiarities which are sometimes very curious and
amusing. They hide their young, feed in the night,
basking or sleeping during the day ; they are fierce when
pressed, but generally speaking very timorous, moving off
on the appearance of any one, even at a great distance.”
The Bulls fight fiercely for the command of the herd, and
when one becomes old or feeble it is gored to death by
the rest of the herd. The number of these Cattle in 1858
amounted to about eighty head; they have the muzzle

WILD WHITE CATTLE. 371

brown, and the inside and tips of the ears red. As in all
the other parks, the uniformity of colour is only preserved
by weeding out the badly-marked Calves which make their
appearance from time to time.

The Cattle at Cadzow, the ancient seat of the Dukes of
Hamilton, resemble the Chillingham breed both in appear-
ance and habits, but are less timid, owing perhaps to
being confined to a smaller range. Lord Tankerville in
the paper quoted above stated that the Hamilton Cattle
“have no beauty, no marks of high breeding, no wild
habits,” but this is certainly an error, for their manners
almost exactly agree with what is recorded of the North-
umberland herd. Like them they hide their Calves in
thickets, and if any one approaches the place the whole
herd rushes to the rescue. The Bulls seldom attain any
great age, owing to their fierce and frequent battles for
the mastership of the herd, for whenever one of them is
wounded it is at once destroyed by the rest of the Cattle,
who hasten to take the side of the victor. When any of
them are shot the remainder become very timid, and it is
difficult to get near them for some time afterwards ; if
one is wounded by a ball, it is at once driven from the
herd and must be very cautiously dealt with, as it will
charge with the greatest fury at any one who approaches.
Their number is estimated at between sixty and seventy.
They have the muzzle and ears of a deep black, and there
are usually some flecks of the same colour about the head
and fore-quarters.

The Cattle at Lyme Park, the property of the Legh
family, have red ears; Lord Tankerville states that they
« differ in every respect” from those at Chillingham, and
Prof. Riitimeyer observes that a skull sent to him showed
distinct marks of crossing or culture.

The breed at Chartley, the seat of Lord Ferrars, have

ore BOVIDA.

black ears. They are said to have become much tamer
since the introduction among them of some tame white
heifers, but were formerly very wild and even dangerous.
A skull in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons
presents the general character of the primigenius race, but
the long, low, spreading horns differ widely from the
lyrate form of those of the Chillingham and Cadzow
Cattle. A very ancient tradition regards the birth of a
parti-coloured or black Calf in this herd as an omen of
the approaching death of some member of the proprietor’s
family, and several curious coincidences have fully con-
firmed the country people in the belief.

The Wild Cattle of our parks, when pure bred, are
characterized especially by the form of their horns, which
may be described as curving first backward and upward
and then sweeping forward and downward, while the
points turn upward. In the skull the forehead is flat, or
slightly concave, and the occipital ridge between the horns
is straight and level. In form these Cattle are beautifully
shaped, with small heads, straight backs, and short legs.
Their colour is white except the ears and muzzle, which
are either red or black, according to the breed. ‘The
horns are white with black tips.

WHALES—DOLPHINS, ano

ORDER CETACEA.
Whales—Dolphins.

THERE is not, in the whole range of natural science, a
study more variously and deeply interesting than the
investigation of the laws by which those variations of
structure are governed which have for their object the
adaptation of the same organs to different functions in
animals of various forms and habits.

The outward appearance of the Cetaceans, organized as
they are for a permanent residence in the ocean, resembles
so nearly that of the Fishes that they have been arranged
together by the ancients and by the ignorant. Ray him-
self was not prepared to separate them, and even the
example of the great Linnzus, who with his wonted
correctness and judgment placed the Whales in their true
position, was not sufficient to counterbalance the pre-
judices of Pennant, who regarded the Cetacea as forming
a division of the class of Fishes, although he was well
aware that they bring forth their young alive, and nourish
them by means of mammary organs, similarly constructed
to those of the whole class of Mammalia. ‘Their true posi-
tion, however; being established, it becomes a matter of
great interest to ascertain what relation the other organs of
the body bear to the corresponding ones in the other groups
of this class, and by what modifications of structure they
are rendered subservient to a mode of life so different
from that of the more typical forms. <A brief notice of
the principal points of their organization, so far as they

374 CETACEA.

bear on these apparent anomalies, will show that the im-
portant variation in form and habits are provided for by
the modification of the structures which are essentially
the type of the class, rather than by their abolition, and
the production of new organs. We will first mention
the peculiarities common to the whole order, and then
those characteristic of the divisions into which it may be
divided.

The skull of the Cetacea is remarkable for the great
development of the jaws, which are extended far in front
of the nasal passages, which, consequently, are directed
upwards towards the top of the skull, instead of directly
forwards as in most mammals. The proportions and
relations of the various bones of which the cranium is
built up are also much modified, and in most members of
the order the whole skull is asymmetrical or distorted, to an
extent unknown in any other vertebrate animals. The
vertebral column is so formed as to be rigid in front, and
flexible behind, for as the Whale has no distinct neck or
external division of the head from the trunk, it is obvious
that mobility is not here needful; whereas great flexibility
is required further back, to allow of the action of the
caudal-fin or tail in swimming and diving. Accordingly
we find that the seven cervical vertebra are very short,
and are frequently more or less united by ankylosis,
while the succeeding ones are separated by thick cushions
of fibro-cartilage, none of them being united to form a
sacrum, and the more posterior being but loosely articu-
lated with one another. The ribs are, in some groups,
very slightly connected with the vertebrz, and the breast-
bone or sternum consists either of a single bone, or of
several segments. The “ flipper’? of the Cetacean,
although exhibiting externally no divisions or fingers,
is supported by the very same arrangement of bones as

WHALES—DOLPHINS. 375

the hand and arm of man, as is well shown in the wood-
cut here given of the anterior limb of the Porpoise.

The bones of the arm are much shortened, those of the
wrist or carpus are closely united, and the fingers, which
are four or five in number, are remarkable for the number
of their joints, which sometimes, as in the second digit
of the Pilot-Whale, amounts to fourteen, whereas no
known mammal of any other order has ever more than
three. The hind limb may be said to be entirely wanting,
the pelvis being only represented by two slender bones
floating in the flesh and unconnected with the vertebral
column, while it is only in one group, the Balanoid
Whales, that even a rudiment has been found of the bones
of the limb itself; in these some small bones and carti-
lages have been detected by Prof. Reinhardt, and subse-
quently by Prof. Flower, which are believed to be the
representatives of the. femur and tibia.

In respect to their dentition the members of this order
varies greatly, as will be presently noticed, but there are
never ‘‘milk-teeth”’ succeeded by a permanent set. The
breathing apparatus is very peculiar, and is difficult to
explain without the use of the technical language of ana-
are placed on the

?

tomy. The nostrils or ‘‘ blow-holes ’

376 CETACEA.

top of the head, so that the animal can respire when only
that portion is above water. It is evident, however, that
it could not breathe thus when its mouth was full of water
unless a peculiar arrangement was provided for the pur-
pose. This is effected by the upper extremity of the
wind-pipe being prolonged into a sort of cone or funnel,
which reaches up into the posterior part of the nares,
where it is firmly clasped by the surrounding soft parts.
Thus there is a completely closed passage from the blow-
hole to the lungs, and even when the animal is dashing
open-mouthed through the water in pursuit of its prey,
it can breathe whenever the top of its head is above the
surface.

The outer skin of the Cetaceans is smooth and shining,
and is totally devoid of hair, only a few bristles being
sometimes present about the lips. On the back a com-
pressed adipose ‘“‘ dorsal-fin” is very often developed,
while the extremity of the tail is expanded into an
extremely broad and powerful “ caudal-fin,’ which is
invariably horizontal, and not vertical as in Fishes. It
is the principal organ of locomotion, and in the larger
species is of enormous extent, so as to command sufficient
power to drive their huge bulk through the water at a
great velocity.

Under the skin lies a thick coating of fat or “ blubber”
of a peculiarly dense and elastic texture, and adhering
closely to the integument, of which, indeed, it was
formerly believed to be a modification. This blubber,
which yields the oil for which the larger Whales are so
relentlessly pursued by man, is not less useful to the
animal itself, serving not only to preserve the heat of the
body, but also to reduce the weight of its mighty bulk
and to bring it nearer to the specific gravity of the water
in which it exists.

WHALES—DOLPHINS. VA

One of the most famous phenomena in the life of the
Whales is what is known as their ‘‘ blowing ” or ‘‘ spout-
ing,” about which many contradictory statements have
been made. It has constantly been said that when a
Cetacean comes to the surface to breathe, it throws up
from its blow-holes a great jet of water, which in the
larger species reaches to an extraordinary height. The
theory by which this was explained was that the water was
taken into the mouth, and then, the gullet being closed, was
forced by the movements of the tongue and jaws through
the nasal passages, and thence through the valvular opening
of the blow-holes. But the results of more recent and
careful observations—amongst which we may notice those
of Bennett, Von Baer, Sars, and Burmeister—are directly
opposed to the statement that water is thus ejected, and
there can now be no doubt that the appearance which
has given rise to the idea is caused by the moisture with
which the expelled breath is supercharged, which con-
denses at once in the cold outer air and forms a cloud or
column of white vapour. It is possible, indeed, that if
the animal begins to “blow” before its head is actually
at the surface, the force of the rushing air may drive up
some little spray along with it, but this is quite different
from the notion that water is really expelled through the
nasal passages. We may add that on the only occasion
when we have ourselves witnessed the “spouting” of a
large Whale we were much struck with its resemblance
to the column of white spray which is dashed up by a
‘« ricochetting” ball fired from one of the great guns of a
man-of-war.

There does not appear to be any remarkable peculiarity
in the reproduction and lactation of the Cetaceans. The
placenta is diffuse, and the teats, which are two in number,
are inguinal in position. It has been supposed that the

o G

378 CETACEA.

milk is expressed into the mouth of the animal by a
muscular action of the mammary organs, but there does
not seem to be any evidence in support of the theory.
The mother shows the greatest affection for her offspring,
as will be shown in several instances in our account of
the species, and constantly refuses to leave it if it falls
a victim to the harpoon of the whaler.

The order Cetacea naturally divides itself into two very
distinct groups, which are regarded by our friend Prof.
Flower as deserving the rank of sub-orders, under the
names of Mystacoceti, bearded or ‘* Whale-bone’’ Whales,
and Odontoceti, or toothed Whales. These differ in many
very important points of structure, of which we can only
point out a few of the more obvious, referring our readers
for more minute particulars to that gentleman’s memoir
“On Inia and Pontoporia,” in the Zoological Society’s
‘* Transactions ” for 1867.

The most striking peculiarity of the Mystacoceti is the
absence of teeth, which are replaced by great plates of a
horny fibrous nature, which depend from the palate, and
constitute the baleen—the ‘‘ Whale-bone”’ of commerce.
During foetal life true teeth do exist, as was long ago
shown by LEschricht, but they are never developed, and
soon become absorbed. The baleen plates are smooth
on the external edge, but are frayed out, as it were, on
the inner side into a loose fringe. They spring from
transverse ridges on the side of the palate, and blood-
vessels pass into the cavities of their substance. The
whole structure of the skull is wonderfully modified in
connection with this peculiarity. It is of enormous size,
and is not laterally distorted, but the narrow rostrum
formed of the elongated maxillary and premaxillary bones
is greatly arched, while the branches of the lower jaw are
much bent outwards, and are only united in front by

WHALES—DOLPHINS. 379

fibrous tissue. The result of this arrangement, which
will be better understood by a reference to the figure of
the skull of the Greenland Right-Whale at p. 386, is
that the cavity of the mouth is of extraordinary capacity,
and in the live animal it is entirely filled by the great
ranges of baleen-plates, which are covered when the
mouth is closed by the wide and deep lower lip. These
Whales feed principally on minute Mollusks and Crus-
taceans as well as on smaller Fishes, and this structure
of the mouth is admirably adapted for their capture.
“Opening its huge mouth,” says Prof. Huxley, ‘and
allowing the sea-water with its multitudinous tenants to
fill the oral cavity, the Whale shuts the lower jaw upon
the baleen-plates, and straining out the water through
them, swallows the prey stranded upon its vast tongue.”
The Balzenoid Whales are further distinguished by the
presence of olfactory organs, though in a comparatively
undeveloped condition, by the double orifice of the blow-
hole, by the very slight manner in which the ribs are
articulated to the vertebre, and by the form of the breast-
bone or sternum, which consists of only a single piece,
and is attached to the first pair of ribs only. The verte-
bre of the neck may either be united into a solid mass,
as in the Right-Whales, or may be all free, as is usually
the case in the Rorquals. Two well-marked families,
Balenide and Balenopteride, are represented in our fauna.
In the second sub-order, the Odontoceti, baleen is never
found, and there are originally always true teeth, though
they are sometimes lost early in life; often they are very
numerous, and they are always single-rooted and similiar
to one another. The skull is usually very asymmetrical,
or laterally distorted; sometimes, as in Physeter and
Hyperoodon, it is wonderfully modified by the develop-
ment of raised ridges and crests on the maxillary bones.

380 CETACEA.

The blow-hole is externally single, and no trace of an
olfactory nerve can be distinguished. The anterior ribs
are more closely united to the vertebre than in the
Mystacoceti ; the sternum (in the young animal at least) is
composed of several distinct segments, and it is attached
to several of the ribs. The cervical vertebrz are, usually,
nearly or quite free, but are sometimes completely united.

The Odontoceti have been divided by Prof. Flower into
three great families; namely, Physeteridw, consisting of
the Cachelots and Ziphioid Whales; Platanistide, the
long-snouted fresh-water Dolphins of India and South
America; and Delphinide, comprising the remaining
Dolphins, Porpoises, &c., along with the Narwhal and
the Beluga. Of these groups the first and third are
well represented in our fauna, while the second consists
exclusively of tropical forms.

The Dugongs and Manatees of the tropics were formerly
placed in this order, under the name of Herbivorous
Cetaceans, but a better acquaintance with their organiza-
tion has led to their separation as a distinct order, Szrenia,
holding a close relation to the hoofed animals or Ungulata.

One or two specimens of the Manatee of the West
Indies (Manatus australis) have been cast ashore on our
islands, and the species has therefore been claimed as
British, but as the animals were dead and even putrid,
and had probably been drifted by the Gulf Stream from
a great distance, it can have no claim to be regarded asa
member of our fauna.

GREENLAND RIGHT-WHALRE. 381

OETACEA
| BALA)
(MYSTACOCETI). LENIDA.

Genus Batana (Linnzus, 1766).

Generic Character.—Baleen long ; no dorsal fin; skin of throat and belly
smooth; flippers short. Rostrum of skull much compressed and rounded;
rami of lower jaw strongly arched outwards ; cervical vertebra ankylosed.

GREENLAND RIGHT-WHALE.

Balena mysticetus (Linn. ).

Specific Character. —Dark grey, the lower jaw and throat white. Head of
adult one-third of the entire length; baleen long and narrow. Number of
vertebrae 54, of ribs 13 pairs, rarely 14. Length of adult, 50 to 60 feet.

Balena mysticetus, Linnxus, Syst. Nat. I. 105 (1766).
Arbek of Greenlander. Akbek of Western Esquimo.

Tue term ‘ Right-Whale” has been applied to the mem-
bers of the restricted genus Balena, these being the only
animals which fully reward the whaler by a full supply of
oil and whalebone of the best quality. From the next
family, that of the Rorquals or Fin-Whales, the Right-
Whales are at once distinguished by the absence of a
dorsal-fin, and of folds or plicee on the throat or belly.
Their heads are also much larger—amounting to a fourth
or even a third of their entire length, their baleen is longer
and more valuable, their cervical vertebra are ankylosed
into a solid mass, and their flippers have five fingers.

382 BALAENIDA,

It is only of late years that more than one species
of Right-Whale has been established as inhabiting the
northern seas, and as not one animal of this genus has
been recorded as having recently occurred on our coasts,
it is left a very doubtful question, which of the two
recognized species of Northern Right-Whale is to be
recognized as British? In this difficulty we have thought
it best to include both in the present work, but must
express the strong conviction that the animals which have
occurred in Britain were of the more southern species,
B. biscayensis. Still there is nothing more improbable
in the idea that the truly glacial B. mysticetus may have
accidentally wandered to our shores, than in the occasional
appearance here of such arctic forms as the Narwhal and
Beluga.

The notices of Right-Whales taken in British waters
are unsatisfactory in the extreme. Sibbald records what
was probably such an animal, and the Tynemouth specimen
mentioned by Willughby may have been a true Balena.
In the ‘ Natural History of Yarmouth,” by Messrs. C. J.
and J. Paget (1834), it is stated of “‘ Balena mysticetus,
the Common Whale,” that a small one was taken near
that town on the 8th July, 1784, but no remains of this
individual have been preserved, nor can any further parti-
culars be now ascertained. The Rev. Mr. Barclay says of
the same species, in a communication printed in the first
edition of our work :—‘“‘ It is occasionally seen on the
coast of Zetland, and several of this species have run
aground, or have been found dead at sea. These, however,
were very lean, either from injury or disease or from want
of food.” There is no proof, however, that these refer-
ences do not rather apply to some species of Balenoptera.

The labours of HH. Eschricht and Reinhardt have
fully established the strictly arctic distribution of the

GREENLAND RIGHT-WHAILR. 383

Greenland Right-Whale, which is almost invariably found
close to the polar ice-fields, although it occasionally goes
as far south in winter as north lat. 46°*. Not a single
example is known with certainty to have wandered to the
European coasts. This species was formerly very plentiful
in the seas east of Greenland, but has been there nearly
extirpated by the whalers; Herr Malmgren did not see
one during his recent voyage to Spitzbergen. The
principal fishing-ground is now in Baflin’s Bay, and
according to Dr. R. Brown the Whales are found in the
greatest numbers in the vicinity of Eclipse Sound between
the months of June and September, returning southwards
to winter and produce their young in the southern parts
of Davis Strait, Hudson Strait, and off the coast of
Labrador (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1868).

One of the best accounts of the habits and chase of the
Greenland Right-Whale is that given by the late Mr.
Scoresby in his ‘* Arctic Regions.” According to his
description this species is usually met with either solitary
or in pairs, and he reckons its usual pace at about four
miles an hour, although it is capable of a much greater
speed when alarmed or wounded. At intervals of from
five to fifteen or even twenty minutes it comes to the
surface to breathe, and remains there for about two
minutes. Of late years the introduction of steam and
the invention of the gun-harpoon have revolutionized the
chase of the Whale, but in its general character and
incidents it remains much the same as in the days of
Scoresby. When a Right-Whale is observed the boats
are at once lowered and harpoon after harpoon is fixed in
its body till it becomes exhausted and incapable of further
diving, when it is attacked with lances. Then succeeds
thé awful scene of the “ flurry ”’ or dying convulsions,

* <¢ Recent Memoirs on the Cetaceans,” published by the Ray Society, 1866.

384 BALENIDA.

and then the mighty prey turns on its back in death,
amidst the cheers of the successful whalers. No time is
lost in towing it alongside the vessel, and the process of
** flensing”’ or removing the blubber is at once proceeded
with. The baleen having been removed, the lower jaw-
bones, which are very rich in oil, are secured, and the
remaining carcase, called by the whalers the krang, is set
adrift, a prey to the beasts, birds, and fishes, which flock
to an unwonted feast.

The food of the Greenland Right-Whale seems to con-
sist exclusively of certain small species of Mollusks and
Crustaceans which inhabit what is known to the whalers
as the ‘‘ green water” between the latitudes of 74° and
80°, and which feed in their turn on the minute Diota-
macee from which these seas derive their peculiar tint.
Among the favourite prey of the Whale, Dr. Brown
particularizes three species of Entomostraca, namely,
Cetochilus arcticus, C. septrionales, and Arpactes knoxit.
There is no good evidence that these Whales ever feed on
vertebrate animals.

The female is said to’ go with young for nine or ten
months, and to produce one young one, rarely two, early
in spring, which she suckles for a whole year. Like all
the other animals of this order she shows the warmest
attachment to her offspring, and if it is harpooned she
refuses to leave it, allowing herself to be killed almost
without an effort to escape. Consequently, the whaler
always strikes a ‘sucker’? when he has the chance,
making sure of afterwards securing the mother without
difficulty.

The head of the Greenland Whale is extremely large,
occupying one-third of the animal’s entire length, and is
narrow above, but very broad, flat, and rounded beneath.
The eyes are remarkably small, and are placed near the

GREENLAND RIGHT-WHALE. 385

angles of the mouth; the upper lip dips down in front to
meet the lower, which is enlarged at the sides to a depth
of five or six feet, so as to cover the baleen when the
mouth is closed. The blow-holes are in the form of two
curved lines with their convexity towards one another, and
the external openings of the ear are hardly perceptible.
The body is bulky in front, largest about the middle, and
tapers rather suddenly towards the tail; its front part
is almost cylindrical, but the posterior portion is com-
pressed, with a sharp angle or ridge above. The flippers
are oval and somewhat short, the tail is of great breadth,
semilunate, and deeply divided in the middle. The
general colour of the adult is almost black, of the young
bluish-grey, the lower jaw and throat are cream-colour or
white, and there are sometimes irregular white markings
on other parts of the body.

The longer blades of baleen usually attain a length of
about twelve feet in the adult animal, but are sometimes
considerably longer ; their general colour is blackish-grey,
occasionally varied with stripes of a paler tint.

The form of the skull, as seen from above, is shown
in the vignette. The number of vertebrz is fifty-four,
and there are thirteen pairs of ribs.

- The length of the Greenland Right-Whale has doubt-
less often been exaggerated, but its bulk, so much greater
than that of the Rorquals, probably entitles it to its old
reputation of being biggest of all live creatures.” The
females have been said to be larger than the males, but
this view is not borne out by facts collected by Prof.
Flower, who considers that fifty feet may be taken as the
average length in both sexes. The following are some of
the measurements of a very large female killed in Davis
Strait, as given by Dr. R. Brown on the authority of
Dr. R. Goodsir :—

3D

386 BALENIDA.

Length (along curve of belly) . ; : : . 65 feet
Greatest girth : : : : : : 5 ll) 55
Length of head F : : ; ; : a ie
», of flipper (from head of humerus) : Born ie) 65
Breadth of tail . 5 : : : : at easter

For a full account of the structure and geographical
distribution of this species we may refer our readers to
the paper “Om Nordhvalen,” by Professors Eschricht
and Reinhardt, of which there is a translation in ‘‘ Recent
Memoirs on the Cetacea,” published by the Ray Society.
A fine adult skeleton—that of a Whale -taken near Hol-
steinborg in Greenland in the winter of 1861-2, is now
mounted in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons
of London.

ATLANTIC RIGHT-WHALE. 387

CETACEA. BALANIDE.
(MYSTACOCETI.)

ATLANTIC RIGHT-WHALE.

Balena biscayensis (Eschricht). -

Specific Character.—Uniform black. Head not more than one-fourth of
the entire length. Angle of mouth depressed below the eyes; baleen short.

Balena biscayensis, Escurtcut.

Sarde of the French, Nordkaper of the Dutch, Sletbag of the Icelanders.

In our last article we have pointed out the difficulties
which have arisen from the confusion of the two northern
species of Right-Whale, and have expressed the opinion
that the specimens which have occurred in British waters
probably belonged to this—the more southern species.
Be this as it may, there can be no doubt that the Atlantic
Right-Whale was at one time a visitor to our coasts. We
shall show that it was regularly pursued in the Channel in
the middle ages, and the cervical vertebrae of a Whale,
dredged up at Lyme Regis, in 1860, and now in the
British Museum, are referred to this species by MM. Van
Beneden and Gervais, but are made the type of a new
species—Macleayius brittanicus—by Dr. Gray.

It is to the laborious researches of Professors Eschricht
and Reinhardt, of Copenhagen, that we are indebted for
the elucidation of the two northern species of Balena.
These gentlemen published the result of their investiga-

388 BALENIDA.

tions in 1861, under the title “ Om Nordhvalen,” in the
Transactions of the Royal Danish Society of Sciences,
and we have already referred to the translation of their
invaluable paper in the volume of “ Recent Memoirs on
the Cetacea,” edited by Prof. Flower. Since then the
subject has been treated of by MM. Gervais and
Van Beneden in their great work ‘* Ostéographie des
Cétacés,” and by M. Fischer in the ‘‘ Aunales des Sciences
Naturelles”’ for 1871.

It has always been known that a flourishing Whale-
fishery was carried on by the Basques in the Bay of
- Biscay and the English Channel, as far back as the eighth
and tenth centuries. These hardy and intrepid fishermen
are said to have invented the harpoon, and it is certain
that it was from them that the early Dutch whalers
learned the use of that weapon. But the Whales became
scarcer and scarcer, and the pursuit was gradually diverted
to the Arctic Sea. The very natural conclusion to which
Cuvier came, and which has been shared by most suc-
ceeding naturalists, was that the persecuted animals had
retired from the temperate to the polar regions, whither
they had been followed by their relentless assailants.

But HH. Eschricht and Reinhardt have been able to
prove that the Greenland Right-Whale has not changed
its habits or resorts within the last hundred years, the
official records of the Danish colonies in Greenland show-
ing that it frequents the same stations, and appears and
disappears at exactly the same seasons of the year as it did
ninety years ago. These facts seemed to point to the
conclusion that the Right-Whale, now nearly exter-
minated in the temperate regions of the North Atlantic,
was of a distinct species from the true B. mysticetus of the
Arctic Circle, and as such it had always been regarded
by the whalers. In old Icelandic manuscripts, mention

ATLANTIC RIGHT-WHALE. 389

is made of the Nordhval, which appeared in winter, and
of the Sletbag, seen only in summer. To the French the
more southern species was known as the Sarde, and to the
Dutch as the Nordkaper, under which latter name it was
mentioned by several naturalists and travellers, as Egede,
Crantz, Anderson, and others, who concur in describing
it as having a much smaller head than the Greenland
species, while its baleen was much shorter ; it yielded less
oil, and its skin was invariably disfigured by parasitic
Cirripedes, which are never found on B. mysticetus. This
‘* Nordkaper ” seems now to be unknown in the Iceland
seas, and Scoresby expressly states that he never met with —
it in any of his voyages. It seems probable that the
“Black Whale” of the temperate shores of North
America is identical with this species. It has been named
B. cisarctica by Prof. Cope, but he regards it as closely
allied to B. biscayensis— if not the same.” MM. Van
Beneden and Gervais regard them as identical, but
M. Fischer thinks they are probably distinct.

The notices and documents which establish the fact of
the former abundance of the Atlantic Right-Whale in the
Bay of Biscay and the English Channel, will be found
quoted at length in the memoirs to which we have referred
above. In more modern times the occurrences of the
animal have been very rare. The most recent, and much
the most important, was that of a female, accompanied by
a young one, which entered the harbour of St. Sebastian
on the 17th January 1854. The mother escaped, but
the young one was secured, and it is on this example that
our positive knowledge of the species principally rests.
Dr. Monedero made a drawing of it, which is engraved in
MM. Gervais and Van Beneden’s work, and which we
have copied as the only authentic representation of the
species. The skeleton was also preserved, and was deposited

390 BALENIDE.

in the Museum at Pampeluna, where it remained till 1858,
when it was purchased by Eschricht for the Copenhagen
Museum. Its description has been delayed by the
lamented death of that eminent naturalist, and is now
eagerly awaited from the pen of his friend and survivor,
Prof. Reinhardt.

In the Atlantic Right-Whale, the head is much shorter
in proportion to the body than in B. mysticetus, not ex-
ceeding one-fourth of the entire length of the animal;
the baleen is also much shorter. In these respects, as
well as in the manner in which the angles of the gape are
deflected below the eyes, it more nearly resembles the
B. australis of the southern hemisphere. The colour
appears to be always a uniform black, without any white
markings.

As we have not seen any detailed description of the
skeleton, now at Copenhagen, we are not able to point
out the osteological characters in which it differs from
B. mysticetus. The vertebral column is described as being
much more massive, and the number of the vertebrz is
stated to be different. The first rib is double-headed, and
in consequence Dr. Gray has recently placed this species
in his genus Hunterius, but it is now generally acknow-
ledged that no reliance can be placed on this character in
discriminating the species of Cetacea. Its extreme varia-
bility has been pointed out by Reinhardt, Van Beneden,
and others, who have shown that it occasionally appears as
an individual peculiarity in several species, as in Balenop-
tera musculus and B. sibbaldii, and also more rarely in Orca
gladiator and Delphinus delphis, while it appears to be
constant in one species only, namely, Bal. laticeps. Prof.
Turner, in a paper in the fifth volume of the ‘‘ Journal of
Anatomy and Physiology,’ has shown good reasons for
the belief that this character is owing to the ankylosis of

ATLANTIC RIGHT-WHALE. 391

a rudimentary cervical rib with the true first dorsal rib,
similar to a malformation occasionally met with in the
human skeleton.

In size, the Atlantic Right-Whale is inferior to the
Greenland species, and its average length may probably
be estimated at about forty to fifty feet. The following
measurements of the St. Sebastian young specimen are -

given by M. Fischer (Ann. Sc. Nat., XV.) in metres and
feet :—

, M. Ft. In.
Length from snout to tail . ; ; 56 26 9
Circumference . : : ; : 3 4:92 le 45)
Distance from snout to eye . é 6 5 ales 5 2
Length of flipper : : ‘ ' 2 1:06 2 6

As already stated, our illustration is a copy of Dr.
Monedero’s drawing of this young specimen, as engraved
in MM. Van Beneden and Gervais’s ‘‘Ostéographie des
Cétacés.”’ (Atlas, pl. VIL, fig. |.)

392 BAL ANOPTERIDA.

CETACEA. BALA NOPTERIDA.
(MYSTACOCET1.)

Genus Mecarrera (Gray, 1844).

Generic Character.—Skin of throat and belly plaited; a low obtuse dorsal
fin; flippers very long, equalling a fourth or even a third of the whole length,
their edges undulated; lips marked by a row of tubercles; head broad and
flat. Cervical vertebrae usually free, acromion of scapular absent or rudi-
mentary.

HUMP-BACKED WHALE.

Megaptera longimana (Rudolphi).

Specific Character.—Black above, varied black and white below, flippers
wholly white; baleen black. Vertebre 53, ribs 14 pairs. Length of adult -
about 50 feet.

Balena boéps, Faprictus (nec Linn.) Fauna Grenl. (1790), 36.

» longimana, Ruporpy1, Mem. Ace. Berl., 1829, 1338.
Megaptera ,, J. E. Gray, Zool. Erebus and Terror (1844), I., 17.

Kyphobalena bodps, Escurtcut, Nord, Wallthiere (1849), 146.
Keporkak of Greenlanders. Puckelhval of Swedes.

Tue Hump-backs and Rorquals or Fin-Whales con-
stitute the family Balenopteride, distinguished by the
longitudinal plaits or folds which mark the skin of their
throats and bellies, and by the possession of a dorsal fin.
In this family the head is relatively smaller than in the
Right-Whales, and the jaws are less arched, the baleen
is short and twisted, the vertebree of the neck are usually
separate, and the flipper has only four fingers. The

HUMP-BACKED WHALE. 393

members of this group have been separated by recent
writers into an immense number of subdivisions, but
they appear to be referable to two well-marked genera,
both of which are represented in our fauna.

Of these the first, Megaptera, includes the Whales
known to sailors as ‘‘ Hump-backs”; they have a some-
what bulky body, a broad head, and a very low and
obtuse dorsal fin. The flippers are of extraordinary size,
equalling a fourth or even a third of the whole length
of the animal, and the second and third digits have no
less than eight joints in each.

The Hump-backed Whale was not known to Linneeus,
but appears to be the Balena bodps of Fabricius. Although

? and

well known to whalers as the ‘‘ Bermuda Whale’
« Hump-back,” and to the Greenlanders as the Keporkak,
it was not properly characterized until 1829, when
Rudolphi figured and described it as Balena longimana,
from an example cast ashore at the mouth of the Elbe.
Since then much has been done in clearing up its history,
thanks principally to the labours of Holbdéll and of
Eschricht.

The ‘‘Keporkak” is found, according to these ob-
servers, between the degrees of 62 and 66 north latitude
in summer, but not one is to be seen off the Greenland
coasts in winter. From March till May they are met
with as far south as Bermuda, and the females are then
accompanied by their young. Sometimes it wanders into
the German Ocean, and even penetrates into the Baltic;
Herr S. Hallas has seen it on the coast of Iceland, and
Herr G. O. Sars among the Loffoden Isles, and Eschricht
states that one was taken in Norway, near Stavanger, in
April, 1846.

On our own shores, it may sometimes have been con-

fused with the true Rorquals, but the occurrence of two
35

394 BALENOPTERIDA,

individuals is certainly known. Of these the first was cast
ashore near Newcastle, 19th September, 1829, and was
figured and described by Dr. G. Johnston in the first volume
of the “ Transactions of the Newcastle Natural History
Society.” It was a female of about twenty-six feet in
length, and the contents of its stomach were not a little
remarkable, consisting of six Cormorants, while a seventh,
on which the Whale was supposed to have choked, was
found in its throat ; a few weeks before a Whale of fifty-
eight feet came ashore at Holy Island, but the species
was not ascertained. The second specimen, also a female,
was taken in the estuary of the Dee in 1863, and its
skeleton is now in the Free Museum of Liverpool. It
measured thirty-one feet four inches, and its stomach
contained shrimps. Some account of it was given by
Mr. T. Moore in the “ Naturalist’s Scrap-book”’ for that
year. In this specimen the second and third cervical
vertebree are ankylosed, which does not appear to be
usually the case in this genus.

The Hump-backed Whale is neither shy nor fierce,
and is easily killed. The Greenlanders attack it without
harpoons, stealing alongside in their Kajaks and stabbing
it with lances, but it is seldom persecuted by European
whalers, both its blubber and whalebone being of very
inferior quality. It feeds on various fish and mollusks,
among which Mallotus arcticus, Ammodytes tobianus and
Limacina arctica form its chief prey in the Greenland
seas, to which Holbdll adds Gadus agilis and various
Crustaceans. Prof. Lilljeborg makes the following
remarks on the habits of this species: —“It often,
during calm weather, rests quietly on the surface
of the water, sometimes lying on one side, beating
itself with its pectoral fins, as if trying to rub away
something that annoyed it; sometimes it jumps quite

HUMP-BACKED WHALE. 395

out of the water, turns round in the air, and falls on its
back, beating itself with the pectorals. It appears at
times quite fearless, and swims round about the boats
quite near to them, as if they were its comrades. The
young follow the mother until she brings forth another,
which is said not to take place every year, as very large
young ones are sometimes seen with the mothers.”

The head is larger in proportion than that of the Rorquals,
and the upper jaw is smaller than the lower. The body is
robust, near the tail it is much compressed. The blow-
holes are two narrow slits, the eyes are placed close to
the angles of the mouth, and the lips are marked by a
row of tubercles of various sizes. The flippers are
very long and are marked along their edges by promi-
nences and depressions nearly corresponding with the
joints of the concealed fingers. The dorsal fin is very
low, often hardly more than a lump; the tail is broad
and deeply notched. The throat and belly are marked
by deep longitudinal plaits or grooves, but these are less
numerous than in the true Balenoptere.

The upper parts are black, the lower are varied with
black and white in streaks and patches; the pectorals are
wholly white. The baleen is black with brownish bristles,
and consists of about four hundred short blades on each
side of the mouth. The number of vertebreze is fifty-three,
and there are fourteen pairs of ribs.

According to Eschricht and Holbdll, the “ Keporkak ”
reaches a length of fifty or even sixty feet. Prof. Flower
considers the usual length of the adult to range from
forty-five to fifty feet.

The following are the dimensions of the Dee specimen

as given by Mr. Moore :—
Ft. In.
Total length ; : : ; : : . dl 4
Length of gape . . : ‘ : ; an oeO

396 BALENOPTERIDA.

Ft. In.
From snout to flipper . : : : ; CO
Length of flipper . : : z : Se lO
From snout to hump ., : : ‘ : te Sa0
Extreme width of tail . : 5 3 : 5 ah

Our illustration is from the original figure given by
Rudolphi, in the Memoirs of the Berlin Academy for
1829.

ow

COMMON RORQUAL. 397

CETACEA. BALA NOPTERIDA,
(MYSTACOCETT.)

Genus BaLt@zNorpTERA (Lacépéde, 1804).

Generic Character.—Skin of throat and belly plaited ; a well-defined com-
pressed dorsal fin; flippers short, their edges even; head and body slender.
Cervical vertebrae usually free, scapular with a distinct acromion and coracoid
process.

COMMON RORQUAL or RAZOR-BACK.

Balenoptera musculus (Linneeus).

Specific Character.—Black above, shaded to a brilliant white below; flip-
pers black; baleen slate-colour, streaked with paler shades. Upper jaw
pointed ; dorsal-fin high, distinct. Vertebree 61 or 62; ribs 15 pairs, the
first usually single-headed ; sternum trilobate, not longer than broad. Length
of adult 60 to 70 feet, or a little more.

Balena musculus, Linnamvs, Syst. Nat. (1766), I., 106.
6 antiquorum, FiscuEr, Syst. (1828), 525.
Physalus J. E. Gray, P.Z.S. (1847), 90.

Keporkanak of Greenlanders. Rérhval of Swedes. Razor-back and Fin-
back of English whalers.

Tur second genus of Balenopteride contains the true
Rorquals or Fin-whales, separated from the Hump-back
by their more slender form, smaller head, and more dis-
tinct and compressed dorsal-fin, as well as by the com-
parative shortness of their flippers, of which the middle
digits have not more than six joints.

398 BALENOPTERIDA.

-The name Rorqual is derived from the Norse Rorgqval,
Swedish Rérhval, and means a whale with plaits or folds,
alluding to the longitudinal ventral furrows so charac-
teristic of this family. Several distinct species inhabit
the more temperate northern seas, but have been much
confounded with one another, owing to their great general
resemblance, and to the individual variations found in
animals of the same species. So much was this the case
that in our first edition only one species was included,
but with the remark that further observations were
required to clear up the discrepancies found in the
accounts of various writers. Since that time very much
has been done, and at least four distinct species are now
known to visit the European coasts, of which the present
species appears to be the most abundant.

The Razor-back, or Common Rorqual, is a native of the
more temperate northern seas ; although it is said to have
been observed as far north as lat. 80°, its distribution is
certainly much more southern than that of the Greenland
Right-Whale. To the south of 70° north latitude it is
much more frequently met with, and it is the only
Balenoid Whale which is known to enter the Mediterra-
nean, a fact which at once identifies it with the Mysticetos
of Aristotle and the Musculus of Pliny.* Although well
known to the natives of Greenland and Iceland, it appears
there irregularly and at all seasons. From time to time
specimens are stranded or washed ashore on the coasts of
Europe, and MM. Gervais and Van Beneden have given a
long list of such occurrences. A female taken on the Ame-
rican coast is described by Dr. Dwight in the ‘‘ Memoirs of
the Boston Society of Natural History” for 1872.

* Since the above was written we have seen, in the Marseilles Museum, a
skull of B. rostrata, which is labelled as having been obtained on the coasts
of Provence.

COMMON RORQUAL. 399

On our own coasts a Finner of forty-six feet in length,
and probably of this species, was taken in the Firth of
Forth in November, 1690, and described by Sir Robert
Sibbald as ‘‘ Balena tripennis que rostrum acutum habet.”
Since that date many large Rorquals have occurred on all
parts of our coasts, from Shetland to Cornwall, and from
Western Ireland to Norfolk. Some of these may have
belonged to the species next to be described, but latterly
almost every specimen has been examined by competent
observers, and in many cases a part at least of the skeleton
has been preserved. Without attempting to give a full
list of captures, we will note some of those in which the
exact species has been best determined.

In Scotland the Common Rorqual seems to occur
not unfrequently in the Orkney and Shetland Isles ; three
specimens taken in 1856 were fully described by Mr.
Heddle in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society ; these
were made the types of a distinct species named Physalus
duguidii by Dr. Gray, but their identity with B. musculus
is now generally recognized. On the mainland of
Scotland several examples have been recorded—of these
one taken in the Firth of Forth in October, 1808, was
described by the late Dr. Neil. In England more than
a dozen examples have been recorded as having occurred
within the last fifty years. The skeleton of one taken
near The Needles in April, 1842, is exhibited at Black
Gang Chine in the Isle of Wight, and that of one found
floating dead in Plymouth Sound in 1831, is in the
British Museum. The bones of a Razor-back taken at
Margate in 1850, are preserved in the Museums of the
Royal College of Surgeons and of the University of Cam-
bridge—the former collection also contains a specimen
obtained at Yarmouth in 1857, and the latter a male
stranded in Pevensey Bay in 1865. Two other complete

400 BALENOPTERIDE:

skeletons are exhibited in the Metropolis, that of one
taken in the Thames in May, 1859, being shown at Rosher-
ville Gardens, and that of a male cast up near Falmouth
in 1863 is mounted at the Alexandra Park. Specimens
have been recorded on the Irish coasts.

The Common Rorqual, like the rest of the family, is
remarkable for its strength and activity, swimming at
the rate of twelve miles an hour and exhibiting little
fear of man. As its baleen and blubber are inferior in
both quantity and quality, it is generally avoided by the
Whalers, who regard it as at once valueless and dangerous,
and dislike its appearance as being a proof that they have
not yet reached the waters frequented by the Right-
Whale.

The Razor-backed Rorqual has a somewhat small head,
the sides of the upper jaw gradually narrowing towards
the apex. The upper parts, including the pectorals, are
black, but owing to their polished surface appear in some
lights to be grey; this dark colour is gradually shaded
off on the flanks, and the throat and belly are white,
the skin between the plice being of a rosy tint. The
baleen is of a dark slate, variously streaked and variegated
with brown or yellowish-white, especially in front, and
the bristles on the interior edge of the plates are whitish.
The hinder part of the body is much compressed, and the
sharp ridges thus formed on the back and belly run out
into the tail.

In the skeleton the sternum has somewhat the form of
a trefoil, and is broader than it is long: there are usually
sixty-one or sixty-two vertebra, and fifteen pairs of ribs, of
which the first is sometimes, though rarely, double-headed.

The adult Razor-back attains a length of sixty to
seventy feet, or perhaps a little more. The following are
some of the measurements of the male cast ashore at

COMMON RORQUAL. 401

Pevensey, as given by Prof. Flower in the Zoological
Society’s Proceedings for 1865 :—

Ft. In.
Extreme length in a straight line . F : 5 Cry 0
From snout to flipper . : ‘ ‘ ‘ el 0
Length of rs ; : : ; 16 9
Breadth of tail, ANate , ; : . 18 0
Depth of body, 4 feet in front of fail 3 : = 4 6

In the illustration at the head of this article we have
given a copy of the figure published by Prof. Flower in
the ‘‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society” for 1869,
pl. XLVII., as being an authentic drawing of a well-
identified specimen; indications of the local colouring
have been added. ‘The animal from which it was taken
was found floating dead in the Channel, and its skeleton is
now preserved at Portsmouth.

A young Rorqual taken on the coast of Wales in 1846
is the type of Benedenia knoxwi of Dr. Gray. It has been
ascribed to the present species by MM. Gervais and Van
Beneden, and their identification has been generally
accepted.

402 BALZNOPTERIDA.

CETACEA. BALAINOPTERIDA.
(MYSTACOCETL)

SIBBALD’S RORQUAL.

Balenoptera sibbaldii (J. E. Gray).

Specific Character.—Black above, shading into slate-grey below, more or
less varied with whitish spots and markings; flippers black above, whitish
below; baleen uniform deep black. Head broad; flippers long and broad ;
dorsal-fin distinct, but very low. Vertebre 64; ribs 16 pairs, the first usually
single-headed. Length of adult 60 to 80 feet or more.

Physalus sibbaldii, J. E. Gray, P.Z.S., 1847, 92.
Balena borealis, (In part) Fiscuer, Syn. 524 (1828).
Sibbaldius borealis, Gray, P. Z.8., 1864, 223.

Physalus latirostris, Frower, P. Z. 8., 1864, 410.

2** Balena tripinnis que maxillam
inferiorem rotundam,” &e., SrppatD, Noy. Phaleen., 33 (1692).
Steypireythr of Icelanders.

S1pBALD’s Rorqual, probably the largest of its family,
has long been distinguished as a separate species by the
Icelanders under the name of Steypireythr, but was first
zoologically characterized by Dr. Gray, who in 1847
named it sibbaldii in honour of the distinguished Scotch
cetologist of the seventeenth century. Since then very
considerable additions have been made to our knowledge
of its history and structure, chiefly by the labours of
Professors Reinhardt, Flower, and Turner.

SIBBALD’S RORQUAL. 403

A large Fin-whale, seventy-eight feet long, which was
stranded near Abercorn in 1692 and described by Sir
Robert Sibbald, was probably of this species, as Prof.
Turner suggests, but the description is not sufficiently
detailed to set the question at rest. Coming down to
the ‘present century, we have to consider the huge
Rorqual which was found floating dead in the North Sea
in 1827 and taken to Ostend ; its skeleton was preserved
and was exhibited in this country, whence it was shipped
to America, and it is said to be now at St. Petersburg (Gray,
Zoologist 1873, p. 3364). This ** Ostend Whale ”’ created
much popular excitement at the time, and was described
by several writers, as Dubar, Van Breda, Dewhurst,
and others. Unfortunately several of its vertebrae had
been lost, and the published descriptions of it are not
trustworthy; thus, its length has been variously stated at
eighty-four, ninety-five, and a hundred and five feet ;
consequently, its specific identity is ditlcult to deter-
mine. Eschricht named it Balenoptera gigas, and Dr.
Gray Sibbaldius borealis, while MM. Van Beneden and
Gervais refer it to Bal. musculus. Prof. Turner, in his
paper on Sibbald’s Rorqual in vol. XXVI. of the
‘Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,”
expresses the belief that the ‘‘ Ostend Whale” was a
large example of this species, an opinion in which Prot.
Flower fully agrees. Four years later, in October 1831,
a Fin-whale of about eighty feet in length was found
dead near North Berwick, and its skeleton, prepared by
the late Dr. Knox, is now in the Museum of Science and
Ayt in Edinburgh. This has always been quoted as’ an
example of B. musculus, but Prof, Turner has clearly
shown that it, too, belongs to the present species.

In 1847, Dr. Gray described the skeleton of a young
Rorqual taken in the Humber and preserved in the

404 BALENOPTERIDA.

Museum of the Hull Literary and Philosophical Society,
as a new species, under the name of Physalus sibbaldit.
In 1864 Prof. Flower bestowed the name of Physalus
latirostris on a skeleton in the collection of the late Prof.
Lidth de Jeude at Utrecht (now in the British Museum),
but he soon became convinced that it was identical with
the Hull specimen (P. Z. S. 1865, p. 472). In the course
of the next year a Fin-whale, taken near Gothenburg in
Sweden, was described by Prof. Malm as a new species—
B. caroline—but it has been identified with B. sibbaldit by
Professors Flower and Reinhardt, and their determination
has been generally accepted.

On the 3rd November 1869, a large Rorqual stranded
itself near Longniddry, in the Firth of Forth, and soon
died. It was carefully examined and dissected by Prof.
Turner, to whose papers in the “Transactions of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh” we have already referred.
This specimen proved to be a pregnant female of Sibbald’s
Rorqual, containing a male foetus of the length of nine-
teen feet six inches. The carcase was sold by the Board
of Trade to an oil-merchant, and the skeleton, along with
various anatomical preparations, were secured for the
Edinburgh Museum. About the same time a female
Fin-whale with its calf was stranded in Hamna Voe,
Shetland, and some of its bones, afterwards secured by
Prof. Turner, proved that it, too, belonged to this
species.

The Steypireythr of the Icelanders has been clearly
shown by Prof. Reinhardt to be identical with Sibbald’s
Rorqual, and in all probability the Tunnolik of the
Greenlanders is the same. It is said to be constantly
seen between 63° 40’ and 66° 20’ north latitude, and to be
the most abundant Fin-whale about Iceland, where it is
chiefly seen in summer. According to Holbdll, it is plen-

SIBBALD’S RORQUAL. 405

tiful off the coasts of South Greenland, where it feeds
principally on Malotus arcticus.

This species differs from the common Rorqual in many
important external characters, as well as in its anatomy.
The head is broad, the lower jaw both longer and broader
than the upper. The dorsal-fin is very low and small,
and the pectorals are long and broad. The baleen is
entirely of a deep rich black, affording a good distinction
from B. musculus, in which it is always grey, mottled with
lighter tints. The colour of the upper parts is dark
grey, almost black on the back and shaded off on the
flanks ; the lower parts are also grey, but of a paler tint,
and irregularly mottled with whitish spots and patches.
The flippers are dark above, whitish beneath.

In the skeleton, the rostrum of the skull is nearly half
as broad as it is long. The sternum is small and trefoil-
shaped and the bones of the flippers very long—so much
so, that those of the Hull specimen of forty-seven feet are
absolutely longer, says Prof. Flower, than those of a full-
grown Razor-back of seventy feet. There are sixty-four
vertebrae and sixteen pairs of ribs; in Prof. Lidth de
Jeude’s specimen there are only fifteen pairs, but in the
Whales of this family the last rib is sometimes compara-
tively rudimentary, and is easily lost in preparing the
skeleton.

That this species attains a very great size cannot be
doubted, though many accounts are probably exaggerated.
Holbdll gives the length of the adult at sixty to eighty
feet; Reinhardt says that six examples measured by Herr
S. Hallas varied from seventy to eighty feet (Danish). The
length of the ‘‘ Ostend Whale,” as already observed, has
been very variously stated. The following are some of the
measurements of the Longniddry specimen, as given by

Prof. Turner :—

406 BALENOPTERIDA,

Hit) sine
Entire length, along curve of back : A + OS 9
Girth behind flippers, about . ; : : . 45 0
Breadth of tail, about . ; ‘ ; ; ay ke 0
Length of flipper along anterior margin . 3 oe 2 3
Girth of flipper at base : 5 : : eee 19) 6

The weight of the carcase was estimated at about
seventy-four tons, and it yielded sixteen tons of oil, the
blubber being thicker than that of the Common Rorqual.

Our figure is a copy of the plate illustrating Prof.
Turner’s account of this specimen. As that gentleman
has remarked to us, some allowance must be made for the
fact that the animal was gravid, and consequently appears
more bulky than would otherwise be the case.

RUDOLPHI’S RORQUAL. 407

CET. CE. . Ly .

mUDOWPHIS ~“ROR@U AL:

Balenoptera laticeps (J. .. Gray).

Specific Character.—Black above, white below; upper surface of flipper
black. Baleen black? Rostrum of skull very broad; vertebrze about 58;
ribs 15 pairs, the first usually (or always?) double-headed. Length of adult
30 to 40 feet.

Balena rostrata, Ropouput (nec Linn.) Berlin Abhandl., 27 (1820),
Balenoptera laticeps, J. E. Gray, Zool. Erebus & Terror, I., 20 (1844),
Sibbaldius laticeps, > P. Z.S., 1864, 223.

? Balenoptera boips, Yarrett, P. Z. 8., 1840, 11.

2 AR tenuirostris, SwEETING, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1840, iv. 342,

Rupoupui’s Rorqual is a small species, not much
larger than the Lesser Rorqual, with which it was for-
merly confounded. Very little is yet known of its history
and geographical distribution.

In 1820 Rudolphi described a specimen taken in
Holstein under the name of Balena rostrata; its skeleton
is still preserved in the Berlin Museum. This was the
** Rorqual du Nord” of Cuvier (Oss. Foss., V., p. 564),
to which Fischer gave the name of Balena borealis, in-
cluding the Ostend Whale in his description. But the
distinction of Rudolphi’s specimen was first clearly
pointed out by Dr. Gray, in the “ Zoology of the
Erebus and Terror” in 1846, and other skeletons have
since been found to belong to the same species.

408 BALANOPTERID®.

Of these the oldest in point of date would seem to be
that of a Fin-whale taken in the Zuider Zee in August
1811, and preserved in the Leyden Museum. The length
is stated to have been thirty-two feet; the skeleton, as
described by Prof. Flower in the ‘‘ Proceedings of the
Zoological Society’ for 1864, is that of a young animal,
and has fifty-five vertebra, but the last consists of two or
three bodies ankylosed ; there are thirteen pairs of ribs, but
the last pair seem to be wanting; the first have double
heads. The next specimen in point of time is Rudolphi’s,
taken on the coast of Holstein in 1819; it was over thirty-
one feet in length, the flippers were three feet six inches
long and eight in. broad; the skeleton shows, according to
Van Beneden, that the animal was not adult. <A third
skeleton, obtained by Eschricht from the North Cape, is
stated by Prof. Flower to be in the Brussels Museum ; it is
about the same size as the one at Leyden, and is evidently
that of a young animal. Some of the vertebrae are want-
ing, but the original number would appear to have been
fifty-eight; there are thirteen ribs on the right side and
fourteen on the left, the extra one being much thinner
than the rest; the first pair have double heads. - Accord-
ing to Prof. Lilljeborg, a fourth skeleton, that of a
Whale taken on the coast of Norway in 1863, is pre-
served in the Museum at Bergen; the baleen of this
example is stated to be black, and the species is said to be
not unfrequent on the Norwegian coast.

In February 1840, a Whale was stranded at Char-
mouth, Dorsetshire, and was described by the late Mr.
Yarrell, in the “‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society”
for that year, under the name of Balenoptera bodps, and
by Mr. Sweeting in the ‘‘ Magazine of Natural History”
as B. tenuirostris. Unfortunately the skeleton, which
was preserved, has been lost sight of, and is believed to

RUDOLPHT’S RORQUAL. 409

have been sold for manure. This specimen was a female,
forty-one feet long, black above and white below, the upper
surface of the flippers black, and the baleen “ bluish-
black and yellowish-white.” The number of the verte-
bree was sixty, of the ribs fourteen pair, the first being
double-headed. The identity of this Charmouth Whale
has given rise to much difference of opinion; Mr. Sweet-
ing, as we have seen, considered it a new species,
Dr. Gray refers it, along with the Ostend whale, to
Sibbaldius borealis, while MM. Van Beneden and Gervais
regarded them both as B. musculus. Prof. Flower, we
believe, considers that it must be referred to this species,
and it certainly seems to come nearer to this than to any
other described species.

In the Museum of the University of Cambridge there
is a skull of a Rorqual which was cast ashore on the
Island of Islay in 1866, which MM. Van Beneden and
Gervais refer to this species, but it has not yet been
properly described or figured. In the Museum of the
Royal College of Surgeons there are several bones un-
doubtedly belonging to B. laticeps, but their history is
quite unknown, and it is impossible to discover whether
they are British or not.

Rudolphi’s Rorqual has the upper jaw wide, and the
dorsal-fin small. Its colour is black above, pure white
beneath, the upper surface of the flippers being black
without any white band. The baleen in the Bergen
skeleton is black.

In the skeleton the normal number of vertebra would
appear to be fifty-eight, and of ribs fourteen pairs; the
bifurcation of the heads of the first pair, found as an
individual peculiarity in other Fin- Whales, has been found
in every specimen of this species which has yet been

described. [he rostrum of the skull is very broad, the
3G

410 BALENOPTERIDA.

outer edge being nearly as wide as the mandible.
bones generally are somewhat slender and dense in

structure.

The

The following are some of the measurements of Ru-
dolphi’s specimen, and of the Charmouth example :—

Rudolphi.
Kt in.
Entire length . 4 ‘ : 2 ol 1
From nose to flipper . : ot) 0
Length of ie : : ; a 6
Breadth of ,, : : ; 5 ow 8

Yarrell.
Ft. In.
41 0
10 9

5 6
1 6

Our illustration is a copy of the only figure of this
species with which we are acquainted, drawn from Ru-
dolphi’s original specimen, and published in Brandt and
Ratzeburg’s ‘‘ Medizinische Zoologie ” (Vol. I., pl. XV.,
fig. 3), under the name of Balena rostrata; as the back
is turned from the spectator the dorsal-fin is not shown.

LESSER RORQUAL. 41]

CETAOEA. BALAINOPTERIDZ,
(MYSTACOCETI.)

LESSER RORQUAL.
Balenoptera rostrata (Fabricius).

Specific Character. —Black above, white below; flippers black, with a broad
white band across the middle; baleen yellowish-white, tinged with pink in
the live animal. Vertebre 48; ribs 11 pairs; sternum in form of a cross,
longer than broad. Length of adult 25 to 30 feet.

Balena rostrata, Fasricius, Fauna Greenl. (1790), 40.
Rorqualus minor, (Knox) Naturalist’s Library, xxvi. 142.
Tikagulik of Greenlanders and Eskimo; 7'schikagulk of Alaskan Indians ?
Vaagevhal of Norwegians; Seigval or Seival of Finns; Little Finner and
Pike Whale of whalers.

Tue Lesser Rorqual was first described by Fabricius
under the name of Balena rostrata ; Martens, also, dis-
tinguished it in his Spitzbergen voyage and speaks of it
as‘the “ Kleyne Walvisch” or Little Whale. John
Hunter examined a specimen taken in the Thames, and
gave a good figure, of which our illustration is a copy, in
the ‘‘ Philosophical Transactions” for 1789. The two
Cuviers, however, having seen no specimens, regarded the
Lesser Rorqual as the young of a larger species, but it is
now well established as one of the best marked and most
easily distinguished species of the family.

This small Fin-Whale is an inhabitant of the North
Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, and Eschricht believes it to

412 BALENOPTERIDA.

be identical with the Tschikagulk of the Alaskan Indians,
which visits Kamschatka and the Aleutian Islands. On
the western shores of America it occurs at Labrador, and
one taken in New York Bay is recorded by Dekay. It
appears regularly in Davis Straits, and on the coasts of
Iceland, Greenland, and Norway ; in the latter country it
is killed every year in the fjords near Bergen, where it is
called the ‘‘ Summer Whale ” from its being seen only at
that season ; and in Finland it is known as the Sezgval or
““Cod-Whale.” Further tothe south it only appears as an
accidental straggler, specimens having been recorded to
have occurred in the Baltic and on the coasts of Denmark,
Holland, Belgium, and France.*

In Britain the first specimen of the Lesser Rorqual of
which we have authentic knowledge was a young one,
seventeen feet long, which was taken on the Dogger Bank
and described by John Hunter; its skeleton is now pre-
served in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons,
as is also that of one stranded at Cromer, in Norfolk, in
1860. Another, a young female under fourteen feet in
length, was taken in the Thames in October 1842, and is
now in the British Museum. The skeleton of one taken at
Lynn is in the Museum of the University of Cambridge,
and there is also a British skeleton in that of Oxford. A
young one of ten feet long, taken in the Firth of Forth
in 1854, was described by Dr. Knox, who clearly pointed
out its specific distinction from his ‘‘ Great Northern
Rorqual;” its skeleton is now in the Museum of
Science and Art at Edinburgh. Other examples are
recorded as having occurred in Shetland, Fifeshire, Lan-
cashire, Cornwall, and Ireland. In the Andersonian
Museum at Glasgow there is a Whale’s skull, found in

* Tt also appears to have been taken in the Mediterranean. (See footnote
to p. 398.)

LESSER RORQUAL, 413

brick-clay near Stirling, which is probably to be referred
to this species.

Little has been observed of the habits of the Lesser
Rorqual, which are probably similar to those of its huge
relatives. It is usually seen alone, and more than two or
three rarely go together. It is observed in Norway that
many more females are killed than’ males, the reason
probably being that the former seek the shelter of the
coast to bring forth their young. According to Eschricht,
the period of gestation is ten months, and the new-born
young is about nine feet in length; instances of two
young ones being found are on record.

In the Norwegian fjords the ‘‘ Waagehval” is watched
into narrow bays or creeks, the entrances of which are
then secured and the poor animals die a lingering death
under the darts and harpoons of the fishermen.

In form this species resembles the other Rorquals.
The baleen is short and of a uniform yellowish-white.
The upper parts are dark lead-colour or black, the chin
and belly pure white. ‘The flippers are black, with a
broad white band across the middle. This appears to be
constant, and to afford a good specific character.

In the skeleton the number of vertebree is forty-eight,
and there are only eleven pairs of ribs. The cervical
vertebrae are usually all separate, but two or three of
them are sometimes partially united. The sternum is in
the form of a Latin cross, and is longer than broad.

The usual length of the adult appears to be from twenty-
five to thirty feet, and none have ever been recorded which
have exceeded thirty-one feet. In freshly killed specimens
the baleen is often strongly tinged with pink ; this is owing,
according to Prof. Turner, to the presence of blood in the
tubes which extend throughout the substance of the blades.

The following are some of the measurements of the

414 BALENOPTERID®.

young female, taken in the Thames in October 1842, as
recorded in the ‘* Zoologist” for 1843, p. 83 :—

Ft. Th.

Entire length . ; : d . oo Le 8
Length of upper jaw . : : : ape 8
as lower jaw : : 2 mu

no flipper - E : F a WZ 0
Breadth of tail 3 10

Our figure is from Hunter's original plate in the
** Philosophical Transactions ” for 1789.

A very complete account of the anatomy of the Lesser
Rorqual is given by Drs. Carte and Macalister in the
** Philosophical Transactions ” for 1868.

_ ES TT } n
i “Mihi fl TT r

Monga ul
iit tt

SPERM-WHALE. 415

apn aan PHYSETERIDE.

Genus Puyseter (Linn., 1766).

Generic Character.—Head enormously large, truncated ; no distinct dorsal-
fin, Edges of maxillary bones elevated, enclosing a hollow basin in front of
the skull. Lower jaws united by a symphysis of nearly ‘half their whole
length. Teeth of upper jaw rudimentary or absent, those of lower jaw
numerous, large, and conical.

SPERM-WHALE OR CACHELOT.
Physeter macrocephalus (Linnzeus).

Specific Character.—Black above, shaded to grey beneath. Vertebra
49-50; ribs 10 pairs, Length of adult male 60 to 70 feet, female much
smaller.

Physeter macrocephalus, Linnavs, Syst. Nat., I., 107 (1766).

Catadon 59 Lac&PEDE, Hist. Nat. des Cét., t. 10 (1804).
», australis, Watt, ‘‘ NewSperm Whale” (Sydney, 1851).

2? Balena macrocephala tripinna, S1ppaup, Phal. Nov., t. 2.

? Physeter tursio, Linnaus, Syst. Nat., I., 107.

Tue history of the Sperm-Whale or Cachelot has been
involved in much confusion, and several distinct species
have been discriminated by various writers. Of these the
most remarkable is the so-called “ High-finned Cachelot,”’
of which two examples are said to have occurred on the
Scotch coast in the years 1687 and 1689, which were
described by Sir Robert Sibbald under the name of

Balena macrocephala tripinna. These animals are stated

416 PHYSETERID”.

to have had a high dorsal fin “ like the mizzen-mast of a
ship,” but they were not examined by Sibbald himself.
Although such a Whale has been since recorded as being
seen by various observers, not a single specimen has ever
fallen into the hands of any naturalist, and as Dr. Gray
observes, “ there is not a bone, nor even a fragment of a
bone, nor any part that can be proved to have belonged
to a specimen of this gigantic animal, to be seen in any
museum in Europe.” In spite, therefore, of Sibbald’s
well-earned character for accuracy, it is evident that
Physeter tursio must be dismissed—at least provisionally
—as an ill-established species. The Cachelot of the
southern hemisphere was separated, in 1851, under the
name of Catadon australis, Wall, but its distinction from
the northern Sperm-Whale is very doubtful. — Prof.
Flower, in an exhaustive memoir ‘On the Osteology
of the Cachelot,” published in the sixth volume of the
“ Transactions of the Zoological Society,” has carefully
compared skeletons from Tasmania and Britain, and fails
to find any characters of specific value by which to dis-
tinguish them, though he does not deny that the animals
may yet prove distinct in their outward organization.
Meantime it is evident that we must revert to the views
of Cuvier, and admit only one species of this genus as
being yet clearly established. The genus Kogia of Gray,
inhabiting the southern seas, is a very distinct form, but
at present is only imperfectly known.

Instead of inhabiting the Arctic and Antarctic seas,
as was formerly stated, the Sperm-Whale is a native of
the tropical and warmer temperate latitudes, from which
it occasionally wanders, both northwards and southwards.
The principal fisheries are carried on in the southern
hemisphere. Stray examples have often wandered to the
Kuropean shores, and these, as pointed out to us by Prof.

SPERM-WHALE. 41%

Flower, have almost invariably been old bulls, which had
probably been driven from the herds or shoals, like the
‘rogue Elephants” of India, and forced to live a solitary
and wandering life. Occasionally, however, a whole
herd has strayed as far as Europe; a ‘ school” which
entered the Adriatic in 1853 is recorded by Heckel, and
in the last century no less than thirty-one were stranded
on the coast of Bretagne.

In Britain a considerable number of occurrences have
been recorded from the time of Gesner up to the present
day, both on the English and on the Scotch and Irish
coasts, of which we shall only note those in which the
animal was best observed. One ran ashore in the Firth
of Forth in 1769, and an excellent figure and description
was published by Mr. Robertson of Edinburgh in the
** Philosophical Transactions.” In 1788 no less than six
were found dead on the Kentish coast, and others on the
shores of Holland, after a northerly gale; these were all
decayed, but a live one ran ashore at the same time in
the River Thames (Letter to Sir J. Banks, quoted by
Dr. Gray). <A large male was stranded at Holderness,
Yorkshire, in 1825, and its skeleton is preserved in
the park at Burton-Constable, the seat of Sir Clifford
Constable, Bart.; this specimen was described by Dr.
Alderston in the second volume of the ‘‘ Cambridge
Philosophical Transactions,” and the skeleton has since
been examined by Prof. Flower. Another old bull, sixty-
two feet in length, was cast up on the Kentish coast in
February 1829, and its skeleton was prepared for the
Zoological Society’s Museum, but litigation arose as to
the ownership of this mighty ‘ flotsam and jetsam,” and
the bones were left on the shore till they were all washed
away by the waves. In May of the same year one was
captured in Argyleshire near Oban, and its jaws are still

3H

418 PHYSETERID A.

preserved at Dunstaffnage Castle, as recorded by Prof.
Turner. The much decomposed carcase of a large male
was washed ashore in Caithnesshire, near Thurso, in
July 1863, and its skeleton, which was presented by
Capt. Macdonald to the British Museum, is described
by Prof. Flower in his memoir. Lastly, a large example
was stranded in Loch Scavaig, Isle of Skye, in July
1871, and a portion of its skeleton was secured by Prof.
Turner, as recorded by him in the Proceedings of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh.

The Sperm-Whale is well known as yielding the pecu-
liar and useful substance from which it takes its common
name. The general form of its skull, which is larger in
proportion to the body than that of any known animal,
has been aptly compared by Mr. Flower to “a huge
pointed slipper, with a high heel-piece and the front part
trodden down.” The concavity of this “slipper’’ is
formed by the raised edges of the maxillary bones, and in
it lies the ‘‘ spermaceti,”’ contained in a thick bag divided
into compartments by membranous partitions. This
spermaceti, or ‘‘head-matter” as it is called by the
whalers, is in a fluid state when the animal is alive, and
when a Whale is killed an opening is made in the upper
part of its head and the liquor is baled out in buckets,
but it solidifies on cooling. Another substance of some
value is produced by this animal, called, from its colour
and smell, ambergris. It is found in .the intestines, or
more frequently is collected on the shores of those seas
which are frequented by the Cachelot. There is now no
doubt that ambergris is a kind of bezoar, formed from
the cuttlefish, which form the principal food of this species,
the nucleus of the mass being usually the beak of one
of these Cephalopods. It was formerly used in medicine,
but is now wholly neglected, as being useless and nearly

SPERM-WHALBE. 419

inert, but is still largely used as a perfume and commands
a high price.

Interesting accounts of the habits and chase of this
animal are to be found in Beale’s ‘‘ History of the Sperm-
Whale” and Bennett’s ‘‘ Whaling Voyage.”’ It is a
gregarious creature, the sexes usually keeping apart in
distinct “ schools,’’ which roam through the high seas and
are rarely found near land. Its food seems to consist
principally of cephalopode mollusks, though it also
devours fish. When undisturbed it usually swims slowly,
just below the surface, but when it moves ata more rapid
rate the head is shown above the water at every stroke.
When it ‘‘ blows” the cloud of vapour is said to be visible
at a distance of four or five miles. Its pursuit is even
more dangerous than that of the Right-Whale ; not only
are boats often destroyed, but there is at least one authentic
instance of an infuriated Sperm-Whale charging a large
vessel and staving in her bows with its head. In fact, as
Lowe quaintly says, ‘‘all the kind seem to be very mis-
chievous.”

The head of the Sperm-Whale is of most enormous
size, forming about half the entire bulk of the animal,
the principal amount of this mass consisting of cavities
divided by membranous septa and filled with fluid sperm-
aceti, lying in the anterior cavity of the skull. The snout
is abruptly truncated ; above it, and a little to the left,
the single blow-hole is situated on a protuberance. The
upper jaw, which overhangs the lower by some four or
five feet, is usually without visible teeth in the adult.
-The lower jaw is extremely narrow, the symphysis
between its branches continuing for the greater part of
its length, and is furnished with twenty to twenty-five
large conical teeth on each side. The body tapers from the
head to the tail. The back has no distinct dorsal-fin, but

420 - PHYSETERIDA.

there is a protuberance not far from the tail, and some-
times one or two smaller ones. The flippers are small
and slightly grooved longitudinally ; the tail is very broad
and divided into two equal lobes. The upper parts are
very dark, almost black, the sides lighter, and the belly
silvery grey.

The usual length of the adult males appears to be about
sixty feet, the largest authentic measurement given by
Bennett being seventy-six feet in length by thirty-eight
in girth. Females are stated by Beale to be very much
smaller than the males, and Prof. Flower remarks that
very small but apparently adult jaws are preserved in
museums, which are either those of females or indicate a
distinct and smaller species.

The skeleton has forty-nine or fifty vertebrae and ten
pairs of ribs. The best description of the osteology of the
Sperm-Whale is contained in the paper by Mr. Flower to
which we have so often referred.

COMMON BEAKED-WHALE. 421

CETACEA. PHYSETERIDZ.
(ODONTOCETI.)

Genus Hyprroopon (Lacépéde, 1804).

Generic Character. —Front rounded, convex ; a distinct beak ; mouth small.
Flippers small, dorsal fin low and very far back. Skull with two great bony
crests on the maxillaries, nearly or quite as high as the occipital portion. No
teeth in the upper jaw, those in the mandible two or three in number, small
and concealed by the gum. Cervical vertebree united.

COMMON BEAKED-WHALE.

Hyperoodon rostratus (Chemnitz).

Specific Character.—Nearly black, paler on belly. Teeth *. Skull with

. . 1°
the maxillary crests narrow, widely separated, and not higher than the

occipital portion.

Balena rostrata, Curmnrrz, Berlin Besch., iv., 183 (1778).
Hyperoodon butzkopf, Lackirmps, Hist. Nat. des Cét., 319 (1804).
Delphinus bidens, Turton, Brit. Fauna (1807).

Heteroodon hyperoodon, Lusson, Man., 419 (1827).

Tue remarkable group of Cetaceans known as Ziphioid
Whales hold in many respects an intermediate position
between the Cachelots (along with which they form the
family Physeteride), and the Dolphins and Porpoises.
Few species of this family are now known to exist, and
with one exception they all appear to be very rare animals,
but they were abundant in the later geological epochs,
and especially at the period of the Crag formations.
These facts, in the words of Prof. Flower’s recent memoir

492 PHYSETERIDA.

on the group in the Transactions of the Zoological
Society, “lead to the belief that the existing Ziphioids
are the survivors of an ancient family which once played
a far more important part than now among the Cetacean
inhabitants of the ocean, but which have been gradually
replaced by other forms, and are themselves probably
destined ere long to share the fate of their once numerous
allies or progenitors.” They are at once distinguished
from other toothed Whales, by many important structural
differences both external and internal. In the upper jaw
there are no functional teeth, which are only occasionally
represented by rudiments, which never cut the gums,
while those of the lower jaw are reduced to either one or
two pairs, which are often greatly developed but sometimes
remain almost rudimentary. The snout is produced into
a more or less distinctly marked ‘ beak,’”’ the flippers are
short and rounded and the dorsal-fin placed very far
back. The blow-hole is crescentic, and two diverging
furrows in the skin of the throat assume the form of the
letter V with its angle directed forward. The family has
been separated into an enormous number of genera, only
four of which are recognized in Prof. Flower’s paper.
Of these the first and best marked is Hyperoodon, charac-
terized by great bony crests which rise from the upper
surface of the maxillary bones of the skull, by the rudi-
mentary condition of the only pair of teeth which it
possesses, and by the small hard horny tubercles which
cover its palate.

The Common Beaked-Whale or “ Bottle-head,”’ as it is
usually called, is by far the best known species of the
family. It isa native of the North Atlantic Ocean, and
goes as far north as Greenland in summer. In autumn
it constantly comes into British waters, and specimens are
killed almost every year on some part of our coast. One

COMMON BEAKED-WHALE. 423

was taken in 1783 in the Thames above London Bridge,
and our illustration is a copy of the figure of this indi-
vidual published by John Hunter in the Philosophical
Transactions for 1787 ; its skeleton is still in the Museum
of the Royal College of Surgeons. Skeletons of British
killed specimens are also to be found in most of the
larger provincial Museums, both in England and in
Scotland and Ireland.

The Beaked-Whale, like its immediate allies, appears
to be solitary in its habits, never being found in large
herds, but either singly or in pairs. Those taken on our
coasts are usually females or young ones; the old bulls,
being very shy, are rarely secured. The food of this
species is principally cuttle-fish, immense numbers of the
horny beaks of these mollusks are usually found in its
stomach, often closely packed one inside the other.

The female has usually a single calf, which is born late
in autumn.

The front is obtusely rounded, being supported by the
great maxillary bones of the skull, the snout or beak is
depressed and pointed, the blow-hole crescentic, concave
in front. The flippers are small and rounded, and the
small dorsal-fin is placed very far back. The general
colour is a uniform deep black, the lower parts being
somewhat lighter.

The two teeth in the lower jaw are small, conical, and
permanently concealed by the gum; during foetal life
they are more numerous, but all save this pair are absorbed
before birth. The extraordinary appearance of the skull,
caused by the great maxillary crests, is shown in the
vignette to this article.

The adult Beaked-Whale attains a length of from
twenty to twenty-six feet. The following are some
of the measurements of a large female taken at

424 PHYSETERID &.

Weston-super-Mare, as supplied to Dr. Gray by Mr.
Crotch :—

Bits eels
Entire length : é : , : eZ 0
Girth at dorsal-fin ; ; . : gee eal 0
Length of flipper . : : : : ee” 0
Height of dorsal-fin : : < 6 apa 5
Breadth of tail . ‘ j : : ent 0

A detailed description of the anatomy of this species,
accompanied by excellent plates, is given by Prof, Vrolik
in the “ Natuur-kundige Verhandelingen” of Haarlem,

for 1848.

BROAD-FRONTED BEAKED-WHALE. 425

CETACEA, PHYSETERID@
(ODONTOCETL.) .

BROAD-FRONTED BEAKED-WHALE.
Hyperoodon latifrons (J. E. Gray).

* Specific Character.— (External characters unknown.) Skull with the crests
of the maxillaries flat-topped and very thick, almost touching one another,
higher than the occipital region of the skull.

Hyperoodon latifrons, J. H. Gray, Zool. Erebus & Terror, I., 27 (1846).
Lagenocetus as 4 Proc. Zool. Soc., 1863.

In 1846 Dr. Gray figured and described, in the
* Zoology of H.M.S. Erebus and Terror,” the skull of a
Hyperoodon from Orkney, which appeared to him to be
different from the common species, and bestowed on it
the name of H. latifrons. Subsequently he considered it
worthy even of generic distinction, and instituted the
genus Lagenocetus for its reception. ‘The skull originally
described, which was formerly in Mr. Warwick’s collec-
tion, is now in the British Museum.

Prof. Eschricht, M. Gervais, and other cetologists,
have doubted the distinctness of H. latifrons from the
more common JH. rostrata, believing that it is the adult
male of that species, an opinion which is apparently
supported by the fact that almost all the examples of
H. rostrata which have come under the observation of
naturalists have been females. But Dr. Gray has shown
that both sexes of both species are known (Proc. Zool.
Soc., 1860, p. 424), and Prof. Reinhardt, who has lately

received a complete skeleton from the Feroes, considers
31

426 PHYSETERID A.

it to be a well-established species (Vidensk. Selsk. Skrift.,
vol. V.).

Besides the skull from Orkney in the British Museum,
there is a skeleton in the Museum of Science and Art
at Edinburgh which Dr. Gray has identified with this
species; this is stated by Mr. W. Thomson (Ann. and
Mag. Nat. Hist., XVII., 155) to have belonged to a female
twenty-eight feet six inches long which was taken in the
Firth of Forth on the 28th October 1839, accompanied by
a young male. Dr. Gray also mentions one taken in
Morecamb Bay, Lancashire, the imperfect skull of which
is preserved in a garden near Lancaster. The large
Bottle-head described by Hunter was in all probability of
this species; unfortunately the skull, which he says was
in his collection, has disappeared, and only a portion of the
lower jaw is now in the Museum of the Royal College of
Surgeons.

Beyond our own seas the Broad-fronted Beaked-Whale
has been taken in Greenland, whence there are skeletons
in the Museums of Newcastle and Copenhagen, and the
Feroes, as mentioned by Prof. Eschricht. We believe
also that the skull of a French specimen is in the Caen
Museum.

Nothing has been recorded of the outward appearance
of this species, which is known only from its bones. The
principal distinctive characters of the skull le in the
great raised crests of the maxillary bones, which are very
much thickened and flattened above, so asalmost to touch
one another, whereas, in H. rostrata, they are rather
sharp-edged above, and separated by a considerable in-
terval. In H. latifrons these crests rise absolutely higher
than the occipital region of the skull, which is not the
case in the common species.

This animal appears to be considerably larger than the

BROAD-FRONTED BEAKED-WHALE. 427

Common Hyperoodon, and probably attains a length of
upwards of thirty feet. Our figure of the skull is from
the original plate in the “‘ Zoology of H.M.S. Erebus
and Terror.”

Su

428 PHYSETERID@.

CETACEA. PHYSETERID&.
(ODONTOCETI.)

Genus Zipnius (Cuvier, 1825).

Generic Character.—Teeth © conical, placed in front of lower jaw, in-

i
clined forwards, of moderate size. Skull with a deep hollow at base of
rostrum, into which the nares open, formed by the premaxillaries, and
overhung above by the nasal bones. Rostrum tapered, triangular.

CUVIER’S WHALE.
Ziphius cavirostris (Cuvier).

Ziphius cavirostris, CuviER, Ossem. Foss., I., 350 (1825).
’ Hyperoodon gervaisti, Duvernoy, Ann. des Sc. Nat., XV., 49 (1851).
? Epiodon desmaresttt, J. E. Gray, Cat. Seals and Whales, 341 (1866).

Tue first occurrence of this very interesting species on
the British coasts has lately been recorded by Prof.
Turner of Edinburgh, to whose kindness we are indebted
for an early copy of his paper in the “ Transactions of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh ” for 1872.

In 1870 a small Whale was taken off Hamna Voe, on
the North-west of the mainland of Shetland, and its
skull was purchased, along with other cetacean bones,
by Prof. Turner from Mr. J. Anderson of Hillswick.
When it arrived in Edinburgh it was still covered with
the hardened integuments, but on being cleaned it
proved to belong to the species described by Cuvier as

CUVIER’S WHALE. 429

Ziphius cavirostris, and Prof. Turner was thus enabled to
make a most important addition to the list of British
cetaceans.

Cuvier’s Whale was first described by that great
zoologist from a skull found in 1804 on the Medi-
terranean coast, in the department of Bouches-du-Rhéne,
and is the type of the genus. It was then believed to
belong to an extinct animal, but several examples have
since occurred on the southern and south-western coasts
of France. A Whale stranded in Corsica, and described
by M. Doumet in 1842 as a Hyperoodon, is proved by its
skeleton, which is preserved at Cette, to belong to the
same species. One came ashore in May 1850, in the de-
partment of Hérault, and has received the names of
Hyperoodon gervaisit (Duvernoy), and Epiodon desmarestit
(Gray), but it was regarded by M. Gervais as identical
with Z. cavirostris. A skull found on the shore of the
Bay of Arcachon in 1864, and preserved in the Museum
of that town, is recorded by M. Fischer; and Prof.
Flower, in his paper “On Ziphioid Whales” in the
‘“‘ Transactions of the Zoological Society (Vol. VIII.),”
informs us that a fifth specimen was taken at Villa
Franca in 1867, and that its skeleton, which has not yet
been described, is now in the Museum of the University
of Jena. There is also a complete skeleton of a Swedish
specimen in the Stockholm Museum, as mentioned by
Herr Malm ina recent paper in “ The Proceedings of
the Royal Swedish Academy.”

Besides these European specimens, remains of recent
Ziphius have been brought from the Cape of Good
Hope and the east coast of South America; these have
received the names of Z. indicus (Van Beneden), Petro-
rhynchus capensis (Gray ),and Epiodon australe (Burmeister).
The identity of these with Cuvier’s Ziphius must remain

430 PHYSETERID#.

an open question until further materials and observations
have been collected; but Prof. Turner is meantime
inclined to believe that they are all identical with
Z. cavirostris, and that that animal has as extended a
geographical range as the Cachelot.

If Risso’s Delphinus desmarestii (Eur. Mérid., II1., p. 24)
is identical with this species, as seems probable, the
colour is steel-grey with irregular white streaks—in fact
similar to that of Sowerby’s Whale. Doumet describes
his Corsican specimen as having the jaws covered with ,
small hard tubercles.

Our illustration is a copy of Doumet’s figure (Revue
Zoologique, 1842, pl. 1., fig. 2); the vignette represents the
Shetland skull as figured by Prof. Turner.

SOWERBY’S WHALE. 431

CETACEA. ;
(ODONTOCETL) PHYSETERIDA.

Genus Mrsopxopon (Gervais).

Generic Characters. —Teeth © , placed some distance from front of lower

ul
jaw, compressed, inclined forwards, sometimes very greatly developed. Skull
with no hollow at base of rostrum, the nares opening directly on the surface ;
rostrum very slender.

SOWERBY’S WHALE.
Mesoplodon sowerbiensis (De Blainville).

Specific Character.—Black above, white below, sides marked with ver-
micular white streaks. Teeth moderate, visible externally. Flippers and
dorsal-fin small, vertebree 38, ribs 10 pairs. Length of adult 15 to 18 feet.

Physeter bidens, Sowrnrsy, Brit. Miscell., t. I. (1804).
Delphinus sowerbiensis, BuarnvittE, Nouv. Dic. Nat. Hist., IX.,
177.

Delphinorhynchus micropterus, F. Cuv., Hist. Nat. des Cét., 114 (1836).
Mesoplodon sowerbiensis, Games Zool. et Pal. rte , 291 (1859).

Tur first example of this species which came under
the attention of naturalists was an adult male, sixteen
feet in length, which was cast ashore in 1800 on the estate
of James Brodie, Esq., of Brodie, Elginshire, the skull of
which, along with a drawing of the animal, was forwarded
by that gentleman to the late Mr. Sowerby, who figured
and described it, in 1804, in his “ British Miscellany,”
under the name of Physeter bidens. The skull, which is

432 PHYSETERIDA.

imperfect, is now in the Museum of the University of
Oxford. Another male, about fifteen feet long, was
stranded in March 1864, in Brandon Bay, County Kerry,
and photographs of its head were taken by Dr. Busteed,
which have been engraved by Mr. W. Andrews, in vol.
XXIV. of the “ Transactions of the Royal Irish Aca-
demy;” its skull is now in the Museum of the Royal
Society of Dublin. Another specimen, seventeen feet in
length, was taken in the same place in May 1870, the skull
and some of the bones of which are now at Dublin; and Dr.
Gray mentions, in the “ Annals and Magazine of Natural
History ”’ for August 1872, that he has been informed by
Mr. Andrews of the occurrence of a third individual on
the west coast of Ireland, the complete skeleton of which
has been received at the Dublin Museum. In the
Museum of Science and Art at Edinburgh there is a
skull of this animal of which the history is unknown, but
Prof. Turner, who has minutely described it in vol.
XXVI. of the ‘“ Transactions of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh,” thinks that it was probably formerly in the
University Museum, and adds, ‘It is not unlikely that
the animal had been captured somewhere on the Scottish
coast, and that the skull had been presented to the late
Prof. Jamieson.”

On the continent very few specimens of Sowerby’s
Whale have been recorded. Prof. Flower, in his paper
“On the Ziphioid Whales,” in vol. VIII. of the Zoological
Society’s Transactions, enumerated the following :—A
female was taken at Havre in September 1825, and re-
ceived the name of Delphinorhynchus micropterus from
Cuvier; it$ skull is nowin the Paris Museum. Another
female was stranded at Calvados in the same year; the
skull and some of the bones are preserved in the Museum
of Caen. The Museum of Brussels contains the com-

SOWERBY’S WHALRE. 433

plete skeleton of a young female taken at Ostend in
1835; a lower jaw found on the Norwegian coast is
in the Museum at Christiana, and Herr Malm informs us
that the complete skeleton of a Scandinavian specimen is
preserved in the Stockholm Museum. It is a strange
coincidence that, as far as is known, all the British speci-
mens have been males and the continental ones females.

Nothing whatever is known of the habits of Sowerby’s
Whale. The one which came ashore at Havre is recorded
to have uttered cries like the lowing of a cow.

The appearance of the head, as shown in Dr. Busteed’s
photographs, is very curious. The front slopes gradually
into the beak, the blow-hole forming an indentation as
seen in profile. The upper jaw is both shorter and
narrower than the lower, the projecting teeth being
visible externally like the tusks of a Boar, and working
in a groove in the thickened and hardened lip of the
upper jaw. Under the throat are the two diverging
furrows so characteristic of this sub-family. The flip-
pers and dorsal-fin are small. Sowerby’s specimen is
described as black above, nearly white below, the skin
being very smooth and satiny. ‘Immediately under
the cuticle the sides were completely covered with white
vermicular streaks in every direction, which at a little
distance appeared like irregular cuts with a sharp
instrument.”

The skull differs so much from that of true Zphius,
that it seems necessary to distinguish the species generic-
ally. The nares are not placed at the bottom of a deep
hollow, but open directly on the top of the skull; the
rostrum is long and narrow, and the two compressed
teeth of the lower-jaw are placed at some distance from
‘ts anterior extremity. The skeleton in the Brussels
Museum has thirty-eight vertebra and ten pairs of ribs.

3K

434 PHYSETERID.

A nearly-allied but probably distinct species, with the
teeth much nearer the apex of the jaw, was taken in the
Channel in 1840, and is the Dioplodon europawus of Gervais.
Other species have been recorded from the southern seas,
but further information is required as to their characters.

The illustration at the head of this article is a copy of
Sowerby’s plate, the vignette represents the skull in the
Edinburgh Museum, from one of Prof. Turner’s figures.

NARWHAL. 435

CETACEA, DELPHINIDZ.
(ODONTOCETT.)

Genus Monopon (Linnzus, 1765).

Generic Character.—Head round, no beak ; no dorsal fin. Teeth in adult
4:1, in the female they usually both remain rudimentary and concealed, but in
the male the left one is developed into a great tusk, projecting from the snout
in the line of the animal’s body. Cervical vertebra usually free.

NARWHAL.

Monodon monoceros (Linneus).

Specific Character.—Back grey, mottled with black; flanks and belly
white, the latter spotted with grey and black. Length of adult 14 to 16
feet, of the exserted tooth, 7 feet or more.

Monodon monoceros, Linnaxus, Syst. Nat., I., 105 (1766).
Narwhalus vulgaris, LackpEpE, His. Nat. des Cét., 142 (1804).
microcephalus, e 6 yp 163,
andersonianus, “s 4 re 163.

”

9?

Tue Narwhal, perhaps the strangest of the many
strange animals included in this order, is essentially an
Arctic form, frequenting the icy seas of the highest
latitudes, and rarely wandering to more temperate
regions. It frequents the coasts of Greenland, Spitz-
bergen, Nova Zembla, and Siberia, and was seen by
Parry as far north as lat. 81° 10’, its favourite haunts
principally lying between 70° and 80°. South of this
zone it has very rarely been observed. Nilsson records

436 DELPHINIDA.

one occurrence on the coast of northern Norway, and
Wagner two on that of north-western Germany.

In Britain the Narwhal has been recorded on three ®
occasions. Tulpius (Ods. Med., p. 376) mentions one
taken in June 1648, in the Firth of Forth, near the Isle
of May (prope insulam Mayam) ; it was twenty-two feet
long, in which measurement the tusk was doubtless
included. The second on record came ashore alive in
February 1800, near Boston in Lincolnshire ; an incorrect
drawing of this specimen, sent by Sir Joseph Banks to
Lacépéde, seems to have been the origin of the Narwhalus
microcephalus of that writer. A third individual entangled
itself among rocks in the Sound of Weesdale, Shetland, in
September 1808, and was well described by Dr. Fleming
in the first volume of the ‘‘Memoirs of the Wernerian

’

Society ;” it was a male of twelve feet in length, with a
tusk of twenty-seven inches.

The Narwhal is a powerful and active creature,
swimming with almost incredible swiftness and consorting
in small herds or ‘ schools.” Scoresby well describes
its manners in the following passage: “ A great many
Narwhals were often sporting about us, sometimes in
bands of fifteen or twenty together; in several of them
each animal had a long horn. They were extremely
playful, frequently elevating their horns, and crossing
them with each other as in fencing. In the sporting of
these animals they frequently emitted a very unusual
sound resembling the gurgling of water in the throat,
which it probably was, as it only occurred when they
raised their horns, with the front part of the head and
mouth out of the water. Several of them followed the
ship, and seemed to be attracted by the principle of
curiosity at the sight of so unusual a body. The water
being perfectly transparent, they could be seen descend-

NARWHAL, 437

ing to the keel and playing about the rudder for a con-
siderable time.”

- The food of this species consists of various mollusks
and fish. Scoresby, having found the remains of large
flat-fish in a Narwhal’s stomach, thought it probable that
the tusk was used in spearing them, as it seemed impos-
sible that an animal with such a small mouth could
otherwise capture a large Ray or Skate. But if the
tusk is necessary for procuring food, it appears difficult
to understand why it is not usually developed in the
female as well as the male.

In most cases one young one only is produced, but
an instance of a female containing two is recorded in
Vol. XV. of the “ Linnzan Transactions.”

The valuable products of the Narwhal are its oil and
ivory. Its blubber, which is usually about three inches in
thickness, yields about half a ton of very superior oil,
which, as well as the flesh, is considered a great delicacy
by the Greenlanders. The tusk is composed of a very
dense and beautifully white ivory, which commands a
high price in the market—in the middle ages it was still
more valuable, being believed to be the horn of the
Unicorn of fable, and was fashioned into cups, which
were supposed to possess the valuable power of detecting
and neutralizing any poison poured into them. The
Narwhal is harpooned.in the same way as other Whales ;
when struck, it dives with great velocity, often to a depth
of two hundred fathoms, but soon returns to the surface,
when it is easily despatched with lances.

‘‘ The word Narwhal,’’ says the Rev. Mr. Barclay, “is
Gothic, and means literally ‘the beaked Whale,’ from
the Gothic nar, Icelandic ner, a beak or projecting snout.”

The forehead is rounded, and a slight depression marks
the neck. The mouth is small, the jaws pointed, and

438 DELPHINIDA,

the upper one slightly overhangs the lower; the blow-
hole is just above the eyes. The anterior part of the
body is nearly cylindrical, the remaining portion to the
tail conical; in this latter region there are low ridges
on the back and belly, and less distinctly marked lateral
ridges, giving a sub-quadrangular form to the posterior
part of the body. There is no dorsal fin, and the flippers
are very small. The upper parts are dusky or blackish
grey, varied with marblings and spots of a darker shade,
the lower parts are white, marked on the flanks with
numerous grey or black spots. The young are bluish
grey, and the animal appears to become lighter in colour
with age.

The great projecting tusk or “ horn” which is so charac-
teristic of the Narwhal, is the left canine tooth, which is
developed to this enormous size, while its companion
remains abortive ; it is produced from the maxillary bone
and not from the intermaxillary, as was believed by
Cuvier. In the young animal, and usually in the adult
female, the rudimentary canines lie parallel to one
another in the hollowed-out maxillaries, and consequently
when the left tooth is developed it grows straight forward
and forms an immense tusk or spear, projecting from the
animal’s snout in the direct line of the body. This tusk
in the adult reaches a length of six or eight feet, or even
more, and is covered with spiral markings, twisting from
right to left ; the point is somewhat blunt and the anterior
portion is usually smooth and polished. As already
mentioned, the tusk is seldom developed in the female,
but several instances are on record in which it has
assumed a considerable size.

Occasionally, though but rarely, both tusks are
developed. This is well exemplified in a very fine
Greenland skeleton, which we had recently the pleasure

NARWHAL. 439

of examining in the University Museum at Cambridge,
and which has been described and figured by our friend
Mr, J. W. Clarke in the Zoological Society’s ‘“ Proceed-
ings” for 1871. In this specimen the left tusk measures
six feet seven inches, and the right, which has been broken,
six feet one inch. There is only one other bidental skull in
Britain, that of a young animal at Hull, and Mr. Clarke
only knows of nine others in the Continental Museums.
He also points out that the statement that the right tusk
is sometimes developed, while the /eft remains abortive,
appears to be an error, no such specimen is preserved in
any collection, and those who have examined most skulls,
as Scoresby and Prof. Reinhardt, never met with such a
case.

440 DELPHINID®.

CETACEA. DELPHINIDZ.
(ODONTOCETT.)

Genus Detentnaprerus (Lacépéde, 1804).

Generic Character.—Head rounded, no beak ; no dorsal fin. Teeth in
front part of both jaws, sometimes deciduous.

.WHITE WHALE, OR BELUGA.
Delphinapterus leucas (Pallas).

Specific Character. — Adult wholly white, young bluish-grey. Teeth §:§ to
49:19 Length of adult 10 to 16 feet.

Delphinus leucas, Pauuas, Reise, III., 92 (1776).
5 albicans, Fasricius, Fauna Greenl., 50 (1780).
Delphinapterus beluga, LacépEpx, Hist. Nat. des Cét., 243 (1804).
Kellelnak of Greenlanders. Beluga of Russians.

Tue White Whale or Beluga is a native of the Arctic
regions, and can only be regarded as an accidental visitor
to the coasts of western Europe. It is abundant in
Hudson’s Bay, Davis Straits, and the Arctic Ocean
generally, but Mr. Scoresby never saw it further south
than the island of Jan Mayen. It is common about
Spitzbergen, and was seen by Steller on the coast of
Kamschatka. In the White Sea it is very plentiful, a
regular fishery being carried on in the spring and summer
at Solza, near the mouths of the River Dvina, and it is
said to be sometimes seen off the coast of Norwegian
Finmark. It seems to be partial to large rivers; in

WHITE WHALE. 44]

America it ascends the St. Lawrence as far as Quebec,
and in Asia Schrenk and Nordmann state that it goes far
up the River Amur.

On the British coasts the White Whale has appeared
occasionally as an-accidental straggler. Two young ones
are stated to have been cast ashore in the Pentland Firth
in August, 1793, some miles west of Thurso, and were ob-
served by Colonel Imrie; they were both males of seven
or eight feet in length, and were mottled with brownish-
grey. In June, 1815, a male was killed in the Firth of
Forth, and is now preserved in the Museum of Arts and
Sciences at Edinburgh, It had been seen in the Firth
for nearly three months, passing up and down with the
tide, and was at last killed by some fishermen with guns
and spears; this example was described by Drs. Neil and
Barclay in the third volume of the “ Transactions of the
Wernerian Society.” A third occurrence is recorded by
Messrs. Baikie and Heddle in their ‘‘ Historia Naturalis
Orcadensis,” where it is stated that “adead White Whale
was found stranded on the Island of Auskerry after a
gale of easterly wind in October, 1845.”

The Beluga has long been known under various names,
all signifying “ White Fish” or “ White Whale,” Beluga
being a Russian name derived from the adjective ‘‘ beloe,”
white. The snowy colour of the animal, sometimes
slightly tinged with yellowish or rosy, renders it the
most beautiful of the whole order, and its proportions
are admirably adapted for the rapid and graceful move-
ments for which it is remarkable. Like most members
of the family, it is gregarious, sporting, feeding, and mi-
grating in herds of moderate numbers, and often follow-
ing vessels and playing round them like the common
Dolphin. It must be a beautiful and interesting sight

to witness a number of these animals leaping and playing
3 L

4492 DELPHINID®.

in the calm dark sea, now pursuing each other in active
gambols, now diving after their prey, now re-ascending to
the surface to breathe. Prof. Newton, when he saw such
a‘ school ” of Belugas near Spitzbergen, in 1864, observed
that they glided through the water with an easy roll, now
and then showing the whole of their bodies above the
waves.

This is almost the only Cetacean which has been kept
in captivity for any length of time. A male White
Whale, captured in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, was kept
alive in a tank in America for two years, and showed
great intelligence and docility. On its death it was
examined by Prof. Wyman, who gives the following in-
teresting account of its manners in the seventh volume of
the ‘‘ Boston Journal of Natural History ” :—‘ I was in-
formed by Mr. Cutting, the proprietor of the Aquarial
Gardens, who is a very careful and trustworthy observer,
that this animal during his confinement showed some
capacity for education. He was sufficiently well trained
to allow himself to be harnessed to a car, in which he
drew a young lady round the tank; he learned to recog-
nize his keeper, would allow himself to be handled by
him, and at the proper time would come and put his head
out of the water to receive the harness or take food. At
times he showed a playful disposition, and amused him-
self sometimes with splashing about in the water, and at
others with tossing stones with his mouth. He often
took in his mouth a Sturgeon and a small Shark which
were confined in the same tank, and after playing with
them for a while allowed them to go unharmed. Mr.
Cutting states that the White Whale was less docile than
the Delphinus tursio, who was for a time a companion with
him in the tank.”

The Beluga feeds on various fish, as Cod, Haddocks, &c.;

WHITE WHALR. 443

and also on Cuttle-fish. The female has usually only
one young one, which is born in spring, and is at first
of a bluish-grey colour, the change to pure white being
said not to take place till it is about two-thirds grown.

The skin of the Beluga, although so soft in its natural
state as hardly to hold a harpoon, affords a very useful
leather, which is at once flexible and tough, and its
blubber yields oil of excellent quality. For these pro-
ducts it is hunted in America, Greenland, and Russia,
being either harpooned, or, more frequently, surrounded
with strong nets and killed with the lance. Its flesh is
much valued in Greenland; in the quaint language of
Egede, “it has no bad taste, and when it is marinated with
vinegar and salt it is as well tasted as any pork whatever ;
the fins also and the tail, pickled or sauced, are very good
eating; so that he is very good cheer.”

The head of the White Whale is small, the forehead
rounded, the gape narrow, and the upper jaw a little
overhangs the lower. The flippers are very short and
broad, oval in shape; there is no dorsal fin, and the tail
is broad and powerful. The colour of the adult animal
is entirely white, sometimes with a yellowish or even a
rosy tinge. .

The teeth are conical, often truncated, and vary in
number from eight to ten on each side of either jaw.
M. Van Beneden considers the most usual number to be
nine above and eight below on each side. There are
about fifty vertebra in the spinal column, and the
number of pairs of ribs is ten.

The adult animal reaches a length of twelve to sixteen
feet, or even more. ‘The dimensions of the Forth spe-
cimens as given by Drs. Barclay and Neil are as

follows :—

444 DELPHINIDA.

Bit. | ane
Total length in straight line . 3 : A 5. als} 4
Me following curve of back - : . 14 5
Greatest girth of body. ; : c - | Sele
Length of flipper along anterior margin . : dn, oat 0
Breadth of ,, ; , ; : ; ee | 1
5, of tail 3." On

As the White Whale was the type of Lacépéde’s genus
Delphinapterus, it must retain that title, which has generally
been misapplied to Péron’s Dolphin, the Delphinus peronu
of Lacépéde and Leucoramphus peronii of Lilljeborg.

Our figure is a copy of the plate illustrating Drs. Neil
and Barclay’s paper alluded to above.

KILLER, OR GRAMPUS. 445

CETACEA, DELPHINID&,
(ODONTOCETI.)

Genus Orca (J. E. Gray, 1850).

Generic Character.—Head rounded, no distinct beak ; flippers oval, broad ;
dorsal fin high. Teeth large, conical, slightly curved, and permanent.

KILLER, OR GRAMPUS.
Orea gladiator (Lacépéde).

Specific Character.—Black above, white below, the colours being sharply
defined ; a white spot above each eye. Teeth }}:1} or }3:13; vertebra: 50; ribs
11 or 12 pairs.

Delphinus orea, Linnzvus, Syst. Nat. I. 108 (1766).
es gladiator, Lackripn, Hist. Nat. des Cét. 302 (1804).
Orca gladiator, J. E. Gray, Cat. Cet. Brit. Mus. 93 (1850),

THE application of the classical name Orca to this
genus is hardly supported by the few and meagre facts
recorded by ancient writers of the animal known to them
by that name. The description given by Pliny (Hist.
Nat. I. IX., ¢. vi.) of the capture of an Orca at the port
of Ostia in the presence of the Emperor Claudius, in
which one of the boats filled and sank in consequence of
the commotion produced by the blowing of the animal,
would seem to imply that the story referred to a Cachelot,
rather than to a Grampus, as both the Cuviers have

446 DELPHINID®.

remarked. The opinion of the same distinguished
naturalists, that the Aries marinus of Pliny was identical
with the present species, is perhaps a more plausible
conjecture, for the white mark which is said to have
represented the horns of these Sea-Rams may perhaps
answer to the spot above the eye of the Killer. A¢lian
gives a similar description, but some doubt is thrown on
the question by the fact that this species has been very
rarely taken in the Mediterranean in modern times.

The Killer is an inhabitant of the North Atlantic
and the adjoining seas, extending as far north as Green-
land, where it is the Ardlursoak of the natives. It is
not rare on the western coasts of Scandinavia, has been
taken on those of Holland, Belgium and France, and
has occurred in the Mediterranean in at least two in-
stances.

On the British coasts the Killer is most frequently
met with in the north. It is often seen about the Shet-
land and Orkney Islands, as mentioned by the Rev. Mr.
Barclay and by Messrs. Baikie and Heddle. Dr. Fleming
states that in the Firth of Tay “it goes nearly as far
up as the salt water reaches, almost every tide at flood
during the months of July and August, in pursuit of
salmon, of which it devours great quantities;” but we
must remark that the name of Grampus is constantly
given by fishermen to the Globicephalus melas, and the two
species have consequently often been confounded. Even
in the south of England the Killer has occurred in
several instances. Three different individuals were
taken in the River Thames towards the end of the last
century, and described by John Hunter; and the
skeleton of one of them is still preserved in the Museum
of the Royal College of Surgeons. In the British
Museum there is the skull of a specimen taken on the

KILLER, OR GRAMPUS. 447

coast of Essex, and a skeleton from Weymouth. In
November, 1830, a male of twenty-one feet in length was
stranded in Lynn Harbour, and was tardily despatched
with knives and sharpened oars. The groans of this
poor animal are described as having been most horrible ;
its skull was procured for us by our friend Dr. Laird,
and is now in the Museum of the University of Cam-
bridge. In March, 1864, a “school” of ten came up
the River Parret, in Somersetshire, and were all secured
within five miles of Bridgewater; they were examined
by Mr. T. Clark, who recorded the fact in the ‘‘ Zoolo-
gist’ for the same year. One was taken at Weston-
super-Mare in 187]; its skeleton is now in the Oxford
Museum.

The fierceness and voracity of the Killer, in which
it surpasses all other known Cetaceans, was naturally
enough exaggerated by the sailors and fishermen of the
north. According to them they attacked the Right
Whale in troops, some of the herd hanging on to the
colossal victim’s tail and biting it till it roared with pain,
when one of them would dart into its huge mouth and
tear out the tongue. At other times, according to
Crantz, a Killer might be seen bearing off a Seal in its
jaws, another beneath each flipper, and a fourth under
its dorsal fin! Such tales are sufficiently absurd, but
the well-authenticated proofs of this creature’s savage
rapacity almost stagger belief. John Hunter found the
tail of a Porpoise in the stomach of a Grampus, and one
examined by Prof. Nilsson contained fragments of four
Seals. Prof. Eschricht dissected a specimen of twenty-one
feet in length, taken on the coast of Denmark in 1861,
and found in its stomach the remains of no less than
thirteen Porpoises and fourteen Seals, more or less

digested, while the voracious brute seemed to have

448 DELPHINIDA.

choked on the skin of another Seal which was found
entangled in its teeth! Holbéll was an eye-witness of
a herd of White Whales being driven by Killers into
a bay near Godhaven and literally torn to pieces, and
mentions a case in which a large ‘‘ Keporkak ” (Megap-
tera longimana) was destroyed by these savage animals.

The name “ Killer” or “ Whale-Killer” is commonly
applied to this large species by sailors, and seems pre-
ferable to that of ‘‘ Grampus,’’ which has been given
to several very distinct: species, and has latterly been
used as the systematic name of a different genus.
Killer” evidently alludes to the carnivorous habits of
the animal; ‘‘ Grampus ” is derived through the Norman
Grapois, from the French Grand-poisson, just as Porpoise
is from Porc-poisson.

The head is obtusely and evenly rounded, passing
gradually into the snout, which is not truncated as in
some species, although more blunt than in the Porpoise.
The upper jaw is slightly the longest; the eye is small,
and is placed at a distance of about five inches above
and behind the angle of the gape. The external open-
ing of the ear is about as large as a pea; the blow-hole
lunate, concave in front. The dorsal fin is very high,
especially in the male, being sometimes more than one-
fifth of the whole length of the animal. The flippers
are broad and oval, and the tail extremely broad and
powerful.

The colour is somewhat variable. The upper parts
are of a fine glossy black and the lower of a pure white,
the meeting of these lines being sharply defined. Above
each eye is a white spot, and in some individuals there
is a large pale mark on the side, which in others is
joined to the white of the belly. Sometimes there is
a saddle-mark” of a grey colour, and in others a

KILLER, OR GRAMPUS. 449

broad stripe of purple runs along the base of the
dorsal-fin.

The teeth are eleven or twelve on each side of either
jaw, and are large, conical, and slightly recurved. They
are permanently retained, and the front ones are found
to be worn down much earlier than the others.

The following are the dimensions of the male taken
in Lynn Harbour :—

Hts) ene

Total length, along curve of back . : : soi 3
- in straight line : é - 5 UY 0

Girth of body . F : ; ‘ : . 14 0
From snout to dorsal-fin c F : ; 5 oa) 2
Height of “s : : F ‘ . 4 0
Length of flipper : : : : : ee: 0
Breadth of ,, : 2. 8

Three distinct species of Killer have been distinguished
by the Danish naturalists, namely, the present species
and two smaller ones, Orca schlegellit of Lilljeborg, and
O. eschrichtii of Steenstrup. The specific distinction of
these forms seems to require further confirmation, and
as they have not yet been met with in British waters,
we may refer such of our readers as may wish for further
particulars on the subject to the translation of “ Recent
Memoirs on the Cetacea,”’ published by the Ray Society.
Two other species are described by Dr. Gray in his
‘Supplement to the Catalogue of Seals and Whales in
the British Museum” (1871) from British skulls, these
are O. stenorhyncha, in which the rostrum of the skull is
more attenuated than in O. gladiator, and O, latirostris, in
which it is comparatively broader. As nothing further
is yet known of these animals, they may be allowed to
wait for further confirmation of their specific dis-

tinctness.

oy)
nd
—

450 DELPHINID&.

CETACEA., DELPHINID&.
(ODONTOCETI).

Genus Grampus (Gray, 1846).

Generic Character :—Head rounded, no beak ; flippers long and narrow,
placed low down ; dorsal-fin high. No teeth in upper jaw at any age, those of
lower jaw few, and confined to the front part of the mandible.

RISSO’S GRAMPUS.
Grampus griseus (G. Cuvier).

Specific Character :— Colour variable, from black above and white helow to
a pale grey passing to black towards the tail, marked all over with stripes and *
streaks irregularly disposed in every direction. Teeth a to = ; vertebree 68 ;

ribs 12 pairs.

Delphinus griseus, | Cuvier, Ann. du Mus., XTX., 14 (1812).
rissoanus, DESMAREST, Mamm., 519 (1822).
Grampus curvieri, J. H. Gray, Ann. Nat. Hist. (1846).
56 griseus, FiowER, Trans. Zool. Soc., VIII. 1.

Tuts species was first described by Cuvier from a
drawing and the skeleton of a specimen taken at Brest.
The latter is still preserved at Paris in the Museum of
the Jardin des Plantes. Since that time other individuals
have occurred on the French coast. In 1822 another
species was established by Desmarest on a figure and
description forwarded to the Academy by M. Risso of
Nice, and received the name of Delphinus rissoanus. That
the two species were very closely allied was evident, and

~~

RISSO’S GRAMPUS. 451

Cuvier himself thought that they might prove to be
identical. More recently M. Fischer has arrived at the
conclusion that they both belong to one very variable
species (Ann. Sc. Nat. 1868, p. 563), a view which has
been fully confirmed by Prof. Flower in the “ Transac-
tions of the Zoological Society” for 1871, and by Dr.
Murie (Journ. Ann. Phys. v. V.). Cuvier’s specific name
was changed by Dr. Gray in the “ Annals of Natural
History” for 1846 into cuvieri, on the ground that the
colour of the animal was black, and not grey, but as
will be seen, this character is one liable to the greatest
variation.

On the English coast Risso’s Grampus has hitherto
only been found in the Channel. One ran aground near
Puckaster in the Isle of Wight in the spring of 1848,
and its skull was presented to the British Museum by
the Rev. C. Bury, who described the specimen in the
“ Zoologist ” for 1845. An adult female, ten feet six
inches long, was taken in a mackerel-net near Eddystone
Lighthouse on the 28th Feb. 1870, and was brought to
London; it is now in the British Museum, and is figured
and described in Prof. Flower’s memoir. About a month
later a young female, about six feet long, was sold in
the fish-market at Billingsgate, and was described both
by Mr. Flower and Dr. Murie ; the exact place where it
was taken could not be ascertained, but it was probably
also from the Channel.

Nothing can be said to be known of the habits of this
rare cetacean, which seems only to have fallen into the
hands of naturalists on eleven occasions, eight times on
the French and thrice on the English coasts. Four
were stranded together in La Vendée in June, 1822, and
large herds were taken in the Mediterranean in 1829
and 1854. D’Orbigny notices that the Vendéen animals

459 DELPHINID.

uttered loud cries when they came ashore, so as to alarm
the whole neighbourhood. One preserved in the Town
Museum at Nice is labelled as having been taken there
in June, 1855.

In general form Risso’s Grampus, according to Prof.
Flower, closely resembles the Pilot-Whale (Globicephalus
melas). The forehead is rounded, with no proper beak ;
but the thick projecting upper-lip is separated by a
hollow from the convexity of the head. The flippers
are long and narrow, and the dorsal-fin high and falcate.
As already mentioned the colour is extremely variable in
this species, being either black above and white below,
or clear grey, passing into black on the posterior parts,
and into white on the belly. But the most remarkable
character of the colouration is the manner in which these
ground-tints are marked by irregular lines and streaks,
running in all directions without any definite pattern ;
when best developed, each of these lines has a narrow
white centre and a black border. In the younger British
specimen noted above, the flanks were marked with white
stripes, vertically disposed and nearly symmetrical.

The teeth are confined to the lower jaw, even in extreme
youth, and vary from three to seven on each side, placed
in the front part of the mandible. The number of
vertebre is sixty-eight and of ribs twelve pairs.

Our illustration represents this example as figured in
the plate published with Mr. Flower’s paper.

The following are some of the measurements of the
adult female specimen described by Prof. Flower :—

Et.) in:
Total length in straight line . , e F al 6
From upper lip to dorsal-fin . F : - ea lil

56 0) flipper 1
Height of dorsal-fin : ; ‘ sa 4
Length of flipper . : : : : ; oy eg s,
Breadth of tail 2 oD

PILOT-WHALE. 453

CETACEA
: DELPHINI :
(ODONTOCETI.) ca

Genus GuLosicrePHatus (Lesson, 1842).

Generic Character :—Head rounded ; no beak. Dorsal-fin long ; flippers
very long and narrow, the second digit having 14 phalanges. Teeth large,
conical, many of them soon lost.

PILOT-WHALE.
Globicephalus melas (Trail).

Specific Character :—Black, a whitish stripe along the belly, forming in
front a heart-shaped spot under the throat. Teeth sometimes 34:34, generally

fewer ; vertebrae 56, and ribs 12 pairs. Length of aduit 16 to 20 feet.

Delphinus melas, Tratu, Nichols. Journ., XXII., 81 (1809).
globiceps, Cuvier, Ann. du Mus., XIX., 1, pl. I. (1812).
a deductor, ScorEsBy, Arct. Regions, I., 496.
Cw ing Whale of Orcadians. Grindeval of Faroese. ottle-head, Bottle-
nose, and Grampus of English fishermen.

bk

Our knowledge of the habits of many of the ceta-
ceous animals is so meagre, and our opportunities of
observing them are so rare and imperfect, that it is often
difficult to seize upon any facts of interest and impor-
tance to enliven the dry detail of formal description.
Such, however, is not the case with the present remark-
able species. From the sociability of its habits, its
strong instinct of attachment, and a tendency to imita-

454 DELPHINID&.

tion which not only influences it in pursuit of its prey,
but often hurries whole troops into the power of its
most destructive enemy, it becomes an object of interest
not only to the fisherman, but to the naturalist and the
investigator of psychological science.

The Pilot-Whale is a native of the northern seas, and
according to Eschricht migrates from the Polar Seas to
the Atlantic. Large shoals constantly appear in the
neighbourhood of Iceland and the Faroe Islands, and
not unfrequently on the more southern coasts of Europe.
It also appears to enter the Mediterranean, and either
this or a nearly-allied species is the “ Blackfish” of the
American coasts.

It visits the shores of Britain in large herds, but
at irregular intervals of time. Hardly a year elapses
without its appearance at Shetland, where it is called the
Ca ing or driving Whale; it is often taken in Orkney,
and more rarely among the Hebrides. Further south it
is not so often seen, but it has been recorded from many ~
points of our coast, even to the Channel and Cornwall.

This is, perhaps, the most gregarious of all the
cetaceans. Herds of two or three hundred are of not
unfrequent occurrence, and they sometimes assemble to
the astonishing number of one or two thousand. This
extraordinary tendency to association, and their habit
of blindly following one another like a flock of sheep,
frequently leads to the capture of immense numbers, for
no sooner is one individual driven ashore than the rest of
the herd follow with blind impetuosity, and, throwing
themselves into shallow water, become an easy prey to
their pursuers. They are thus an important object of
pursuit to the inhabitant of Iceland, Faroe, Shetland,
and Orkney, yielding an abundant supply of good oil.

On the appearance, therefore, of a shoal of these

PILOT-WHALE. 455

Whales, the whole fishing squadron of the neighbour-
hood is put into requisition, each boat being provided
with a quantity of stones. The first object is to get to
seaward of the victims, then the boats are formed into a
large semicircle, and the whole herd is driven into some
bay or creek. The stones are thrown to splash and
frighten the Whales if they try to break back, and in
Faroe, ropes are stretched from boat to boat with wisps
of straw hung at intervals. Should one Whale break
through the line all is lost, the rest will follow it in
spite of every exertion of the fishermen. But if they
are forced into shallow water, they plunge wildly on till
they strand themselves, and then the whole population
rush upon them, armed with harpoons, spears, hatchets,
picks, spades,—any weapon that comes to hand, and the
cries and dying struggles of the poor animals, the shouts
of the men, the clash of weapons, and the bloody and
troubled sea, combine to form an extremely exciting if
somewhat revolting scene.

In this manner, very large numbers are often secured.
Provost Debes, in his ‘‘ Description of Faroe ” (English
Ed., London, 1676), says that ‘‘it happened in the year
1664 there were taken in two places about a thousand.
Wherefore,” adds the good old Provost, the Lord, as
also for his other benefits, be blessed and praised.” In
the winter of 1809-10 no less than eleven hundred and
ten are said to have been captured at Hvalfjord in
Iceland. In the “ Zoologist” for 1846 it is stated, on
newspaper authority, that two thousand and eighty were
taken in Faroe in the previous year within six weeks,
and that fifteen hundred and forty were killed within two
hours in Quendall Bay, Shetland, on the 22nd Sept.,
1845, not one escaping.

Like the other Delphinide, the Pilot-Whale feeds on

456 DELPHINIDA.

fish. The Rey. Mr. Barclay states that it eats cod and
ling, but its favourite food seems to be the cuttle-fish, of
which great quantities are usually found in its stomach.

The female has generally only one young one, which is
more than three feet long at birth. It appears to be
born late in summer, and to be suckled throughout the
winter.

The names “ Pilot-Whale,” ‘Ca’ing” or Driving
Whale, and Scoresby’s specific name of deductor, all
allude to the habit of the animal already dilated on, of
following a leader either for good or evil. Fishermen
and sailors usually term it the ‘‘ Bottle-nose,” but that
term is applied by them to many very distinct animals.

The forehead is bluff and rounded, the jaws short, the
upper being slightly the longest, the upper lip thick and
fleshy. ‘The blow-hole is crescentic, concave in front,
the eyes very small, and placed near the angle of the
gape. The body is thickest just in front of the dorsal-
fin; towards the tail it is much compressed with a sharp
dorsal and ventral outline. The flippers are very long,
narrow and sabre-shaped, broadest near the base, but
narrowed at the wrist. The dorsal-fin is long and
sloping, the tail lunate, deeply cleft, and tapered at the
points.

The colour is rich deep black all over, excepting a
white heart-shaped mark under the throat, extending in
a broad whitish stripe along the breast and belly.

The teeth are conical, slightly curved, and less than an
inch in length; they vary much in number, but the

normal dentition would appear to be 2222 to 2424; in
e St 24°24 24°94
old individuals many of them are lost. '
The skeleton has usually fifty-five or fifty-six vertebra,
the cervicals being generally separate, except the second

and third; there are twelve pairs of ribs. Dr. Murie has

PILOT-WHALE. 457

given a full account of the anatomy of this species in the
‘Transactions of the Zoological Society ” (v. VIII. p. 235).

The Pilot-Whale attains a length of sixteen to twenty
feet, or even, it is said, of twenty-four feet. The
following are some of the dimensions of a female killed
in the Firth of Forth in April 1867, which we had the
pleasure of personally examining :—

Ft. In.

Total length ; é : ‘ ‘ : 5 Als) 2
From nose to eye . ; é : : : ee! a

een angle of gape 1 24
Res, dorsal-fin . ; : 4 7
Length of flipper, along anterior edge 4 2
Greatest breadth of ditto ) al
Breadth of tail-fin 1 4

In 1861, Dr. Gray described a skull received from
Bridport as specifically distinct, under the name of
G. incrassatus, and he has subsequently made it the type
of his genus Spherocephalus (P. Z. S., 1864, p. 244).
This skull, which is now in the British Museum, is,
however, so much water-worn that it seems unsafe to
consider it distinct until other similar specimens have

been procured.

458 DELPHINIDZ.

CETACEA. DELPHINID&.
(ODONTOCETI.)

Genus Puocana (Cuvier, 1827).

Generic Character.—Head rounded, with no distinct beak ; a dorsal-fin.
Teeth compressed, spatulate, truncated. Rostrum of skull broad, depressed.

PORPOISE.
Phocena communis (¥F. Cuy.).

Specific Character.—Black, lighter beneath, almost white on the belly.
Teeth 22:20 to 36:25. Anterior edge of dorsal-fin with a row of small tubercles.

20

Length of adult 4 to 5 feet.

Delphinus phocena, Linnaus, Syst. Nat., I., 108 (1766).
Phocena communis, F, Cuvier, Hist. Nat. des Cét., 172 (1838).
* tuberculifera, J. B. Gray, P. Z. S., 1865, p. 320.
Nisa of Greenlanders, Zumlare of Swedes. Local names, Nisack
(Shetland), Pelloch (Scotland), Sniffer (Cornwald), Herring-Hog, Hog-fish.

Tur Porpoise is the most common of the cetaceans of
our seas, and is gregarious, making its appearance in
herds of various numbers, playing and tumbling in the
water with an agility which rivals that of the Dolphin.
Every one who has resided by the sea-side is familiar
with the rude unwieldy gambols in which these creatures
indulge, now pursuing each other in sport, now diving
with great force and vivacity after their-prey. On the

PORPOISE. 459

approach of a storm, or even in the midst of the tempest,
they appear to revel among the waves, showing their
black backs above the surface, and often throwing
themselves wholly out of the water in their vigorous
leaps.

The Porpoise is an inhabitant of the North Atlantic,
usually found near the shore, and hardly ever met with
far from land. It is migratory in its habits to some
extent. In Greenland, according to Fabricius, it is
rarely seen in winter, and the same is observed in Orkney
by Messrs. Baikie and Heddle. Eschricht observes that
it enters the Baltic in spring through the Sound, in
pursuit of the Herrings, and leaves in autumn by the
Little Belt. On the coast of Finmark, however, it is
stated by Herr Malmgren to be present at all seasons.

The food of the Porpoise consists mainly of fish, and
it may constantly be observed in pursuit of such species as
go in large shoals, as Mackerel, Pilchards, and Herrings ;
we have known over two dozen freshly-swallowed fish of
the last-named species to be found in the stomach of
asmall Porpoise. Itis also very destructive amongst
Salmon when they are entering the mouths of rivers, and
is not uncommonly taken in the nets that have been set
for its victims.

Porpoises often ascend rivers in pursuit of fish, and
they were formerly not uncommonly seen high up the
Thames, even above London Bridge. We were informed
by our friend Dr. Thomas Bell Salter, of Poole, that
many years ago three which wandered up the Wareham
river were made prisoners, fences being put across the
river above and below them, but they plunged so violently,
and their cries, which were continued by night as well as
by day, were so distressing, that they were put out of
pain on the third day of their captivity: one of them

460 DELPHINIDA.

was found to be a pregnant female. Of late years more
than one attempt has been made to keep Porpoises alive
in the gardens of the Zoological Society, but hitherto
without success, the animals having experienced rough
treatment before coming into the Society’s hands. That
the animal will live in confinement under favourable
circumstances is shown by the fact, recorded by Mr.
Couch, that one taken by some fishermen in Cornwall
was placed in a pond at a farm, where it lived for a
month.

The period of gestation is stated by Anderson to be
six months, and the pairing season is said to be in
summer. ‘This agrees with the account given above on
Dr. Salter’s authority, in which a female was found to be
pregnant towards the end of the year: but Mr. Jenyns
relates that one brought to the London market in May
1833, was found to contain a full-formed young one.

The name Porpoise is derived from the French Pore-
poisson, and names similar in significance have been given
it in many languages; as the French Marsouin, Gothic
Marsuin, German Meerschwein, and English Sea-hog,
Herring-hog, and Hog-fish, The Shetland name of
Neesook or Nisack is a diminutive of the Norse name Mise,
the primary meaning of which, we are informed by the
Rev. T. Barclay, is a goblin or sprite.

The head of the Porpoise is rounded, the forehead is
obtuse, and there is no external beak or rostrum; the
opening of the mouth is moderately large, and the lower
jaw is very little longer than the upper. The eye is
small, with a vertical elliptical pupil; the blow-hole is
exactly over the eyes, and is in the form of a crescent,
concave in front. The dorsal-fin is obtusely triagonal,
the. anterior margin slightly convex and often furnished
with a series of small tubercles—these, although noticed

PORPOISE. 461

by Camper and by Dr. Jackson of Boston, have been
generally overlooked, and consequently Dr. Gray, on
first observing them, regarded them as the characters of
a new species, which he named Ph, tuberculifera.

The colour of the upper parts is dusky or black, be-
coming gradually lighter on the sides and nearly passing
into white on the belly; the flippers are tinged with
brown.

The teeth vary in number from twenty to twenty-six on
each side of either jaw, and differ in form from those of
most of the Delphinide ; instead of being conical, they
are enlarged, compressed and truncated at the apex, with
a contracted neck below. The rostrum of the skull is
broad, the cervical vertebre are usually anchylosed ; the
whole number of vertebrz is sixty-five and of ribs thir-
teen pairs.

The Porpoise attains a length of from four to five feet.

462 DELPHINIDA.

CETACEA. DELPHINIDZ.
(ODONTOCET!.)

S

SS

Genus Detruinus (Linneus, 1766).

Generic Character.—Head with well-marked produced beak ; a dorsal-fin.

Teeth conical, equal, and numerous in both jaws. Beak of skull usually as
long as brain-case, or even longer.

COMMON DOLPHIN.
Delphinus delphis (Linn.).

Specific Character.—Black above, shaded to brilliant white below. Teeth

49:40 to 50:59; vertebrae 70 to 75. Length of adult 6 to 8 feet.
Delphinus delphis, Linnaus, Syst. Nat., I., 108 (1766).
5 vulgaris, LackpmpE, Hist. Nat. des Cét., 250 (1804).
Acris, AristotLe, Hist. An. Z., VI., c. 12.
Delphinus, Purny, Hist. Nat. Z., IX., c. 8.

Ardluarsuk of Greenlanders, Springare.of Swedes.

Tue mythological and poetical associations which
belong to the Dolphin, its reputed attachment to man-
kind, its benevolent aid in cases of shipwreck, its dedi-
cation to the gods, and many other attributes expressive
of the high estimation in which it was held in olden
times, afford a striking example of how the unre-
strained imagination of the ancients could raise the most
gorgeous structures of poetry and religion upon the
most slender basis. The story of Arion’s escape on the

COMMON DOLPHIN. 463

back of a Dolphin which he had charmed by his music
is universally known, and the car of Amphitrite drawn
across the ocean by a group of the same animals is a
fiction as easy and natural as it is beautiful. Nor are
the ancient representations of its form much more con-
sonant with truth than these stories of its habits, and
it requires some stretch of the imagination to identify
the round-headed creature, with curved back and spiny
fins which is represented in ancient coins and statues,
with the straight sharp-beaked animal figured at the
head of this description. There are exceptions, how-
ever, to this general censure, and there is no difficulty in
recognizing the Common Dolphin in the animal repre-
sented on the reverse of a Syracusan coin of uncertain
date preserved in the British Museum, of which the
vignette is an accurate copy.

The Common Dolphin isa native of the more temperate
regions of the North Atlantic, and of the Mediterranean
Sea. It is known on the Greenland coast, but is there
rarer than the Porpoise. Lilljeborg considers it rare in
the Scandinavian Seas, but Herr Malmgren identifies
a large “school” seen by him on the Norwegian coast
with this species. South of these countries it is not
uncommonly met with on both sides of the Atlantic, and
according to M. Gervais it is stationary in the Mediter-
ranean.

In our own waters this Dolphin is not uncommon, and
is frequently taken in fishermen’s nets. On the Cornish
coasts Mr. Couch says that it appears in considerable
numbers. “In the month of September 1845, eight or
ten in a day were brought on shore at Mount’s Bay for
many days in succession.” Dolphins are sometimes to
be scen in the fish-market at Billingsgate, and three

specimens from that source are preserved in the British

464 DELPHINIDA.

Museum. It appears to be much rarer on the shores
of the more northern parts of Britain than in the
south.

The habits of the Common Dolphin appear to be
similar to those of the rest of this extensive genus.
The excessive activity and playfulness of its gambols,
and the evident predilection which it evinces for society,
are recorded by every mariner. Large herds of these
animals will surround a ship in full sail with the most
eager delight, throwing themselves into every possible
attitude and tossing and leaping about with elegant and
powerful agility, for no apparent purpose save mere
pastime.

The principal food of the Dolphin is fish of various
kinds, along with invertebrate animals, as Cuttle-fish,
crustaceans, and Meduse. On the Cornish coast it seems
to prey chiefly on Pilchards and Mackerel. Its voice
is said to consist only of a low murmur or suppressed
lowing sound.

The female brings forth but a single young one, which
she nurses and suckles with the greatest tenderness and
care. As in the other cetaceans, the mammary glands
become much enlarged at the period of birth, and the
teats are exerted; the calf seizes the teat with its lips,
and the mother floats to some degree on one side, so as
to enable both herself and her young one to breathe
while the operation of suckling is going on. The milk
is abundant and very rich.

The flesh of this animal was formerly considered a
delicacy, and it was eaten, as was the Porpoise, with a
sauce composed of crumbs of bread, vinegar and sugar.
As all cetaceans were considered to be fishes, the Church
permitted their flesh to be eaten on maigre days. M.
F. Cuvier says that this custom of eating the Dolphin

COMMON DOLPHIN. 465

was general in France, and the authority of Dr. Caius
shows that it was considered a delicacy in England, but
it is probable that it never was caught in sufficient
abundance on our shores to be a common article of food
in this country.

The name Dolphin is from the French Dauphin, which
is derived from the Latin Delphinus, Greek Delphis. Dr.
Gray remarks of this genus that ‘ most maritime persons
call these animals ‘ Bottle-noses, Bottle-heads, or Flounder-
heads,’ sometimes adding whale to the name. They
generally confine the name of Dolphin, most used by
landsmen, to the Scomberoid fish (Coryphena) which
changes colour in dying.” It is to the fish, therefore,
and not to the cetacean, that the time-honoured poetical
allusions to “ the dying Dolphin’s changing hues” are
to be referred.

The Common Dolphin has the forehead abruptly
rounded and descending rather suddenly to the base of
the rostrum, which is somewhat depressed, whence the
French names of “ Bec d’Oie” and “ Oie de Mer”
applied to this animal; it is about six inches in length,
and is separated from the forehead by a slight ridge.
The jaws are long and powerful and are covered by thin
and almost immovable lips. The blow-hole is crescentic,
with the horns directed backwards; the eye is of
moderate size, and the orifice of the ear extremely small,
being scarcely larger than a pin-hole. The body tapers
towards the tail, its greatest thickness being just in front
of the dorsal-fin, which is about nine inches in height,
the anterior margin being convex and the posterior
somewhat coneave. The upper parts are black, shading
through the grey of the flanks to a clear glittering white
beneath.

The teeth vary in number, but there are usually from
3.0

466 DELPHINID®.

forty to fifty on each side of either jaw; they are acute,
slightly curved, and those of the upper jaw lock in the
most even and perfect manner with those of the lower.

The adult animal attains a length of from six to eight
feet.

BOTTLE-NOSED DOLPHIN. 467

CETACEA. DELPHINID&.
(ODONTOCETI.)

BOTTLE-NOSED DOLPHIN.
Delphinus tursio (Fabricius).

Specific Character.—-Back black, sides dusky, belly dirty white. Beak
short but distinct. Teeth 39:29 to 23:35, truncated in age. Rostrum of skull
with two ribs above, formed by the convexity of the intermaxillaries ;
vertebre 41 ; ribs 13 pairs. Length of adult 8 to 12 feet.

Delphinus tursio, Fasricivus, Fauna Greenl., 49 (1790).

is truncatus, Montaau, Mem. Wern. Soe., III., 75 (1821).
Tursio truncatus, J. HK. Gray, List Mam. Brit. Mus., 104 (1850).
Tursiops tursio, Gervais, Hist. Nat. des Mam., 323 (1855).

Tue Bottle-nosed Dolphin is a much rarer animal than
the last described, but appears to have a very similar
geographical distribution, extending throughout the
temperate regions of the Atlantic from Greenland to the
Mediterranean. It seems to occur, though rarely, on the
coasts of all the countries of Western Europe.

In British waters the first recorded occurrence seems to
have been that of a female of eleven feet in length,
accompanied by a sucker, which were taken near Berkeley,
and described by John Hunter in the “ Philosophical
Transactions” for 1787, under the name of “ Bottle-
nosed Whale.” Another, which was killed in the River
Dart in Devonshire in 1814, was described by Col.
Montagu as a new species, Delphinus truncatus, in the
third volume of the “ Memoirs of the Wernerian Society ”
— its skull is still preserved in the British Museum. Since

468 DELPHINIDA.

that date it has occurred inseveral instances and at different
parts of our coast, in Scotland and Ireland, as well as in
England. One taken near Preston is mentioned by Mr.
Jenyns; a specimen caught on the south coast of Ireland
in 1829 is figured by Dr. Gray in the “‘ Zoology of the
Erebus and Terror.” In the same year one was taken in
the Thames below the Nore; its skeleton is in the Museum
of the Royal College of Surgeons. The skeletons of two,
taken in the Firth of Forth, are preserved at Edinburgh,
one of which, in the Surgeons’ Hall, has the teeth acute.
A large shoal was taken near Holyhead in 1866, the
skeletons and skulls of some of which are preserved in
Museums at Oxford and Cambridge.

Little has been recorded of its habits. It appears
occasionally to enter rivers. Montagu’s specimen was
taken five miles from the mouth of the River Dart, and
showed great tenacity of life, having suffered the attacks
of eight men armed with spears and guns, and assisted
by dogs, for four hours before it expired: when wounded
it made a noise like the bellowing of a bull. The one
taken in the Thames in 1828 also, is recorded by Mr.
Howslip to have ‘‘ survived many hours after it was
dragged out of the water, during which time it emitted a
sound not unlike the bellowing of a calf.”

The forehead is rounded, the beak distinctly marked,
but shorter than in the Common Dolphin, and the lower
jaw slightly the longest. The flipper is about the length
of the dorsal-fin, both being shorter than in the last
species. The upper parts are purplish-black, the sides
dusky, paling to a dirty white on the belly. The colour
is perhaps variable, for Prof. Schlegel has figured one of a
uniform black all over (Dieren, t. 12).

The number of teeth varies from twenty to twenty-five
in each side of either jaw; in the adult animal they are

BOTTLE-NOSED DOLPHIN. 469

truncated, but in the young conical and pointed. The
skeleton has forty-one vertebra and thirteen pairs of
ribs; in the skull the intermaxillaries are convex above,
so as to form two well-marked ribs on the upper part of
the rostrum.

The adult animal attains a length of from eight to
twelve feet.

470 DELPHINIDA.

CETACEA. DELPHINID£.
(ODONTOCETL.)

WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN.
Delphinus acutus (J. KE. Gray).

Specific Character.—Black above, white below, on each flank is a large
white stripe, which is continued above and behind by a yellow or brownish
band. Rostrum of skull slender and pointed ; teeth 38:38 to, 38:36 vertebrae
80 or 82, ribs 15 pairs. Length of adult 6 to 8 feet.

Delphinus acutus, J. E. Gray, Spic. Zool., 2 (1828).
i eschrichtii, Scutecen, Abhandl. Zool., &c., p. 23 (1841).
96 leucopleurus, Rascu, ‘* Nova Spec. Descript.,’’ &c., (1848).
Lagenorhynchus ,, Gray, Zool. Erebus and Terror, I., 34 (1846).
” acutus, ” ” ” ” I., 36 ,,

We have followed the example of Nilsson, Eschricht,
and Lilljeborg, in considering the Delphinus leucopleurus
of Rasch to be identical with Dr. Gray’s D. acutus ; and also
with Schlegel’s D. eschrichttt. They appear to agree in
all important points, both of external appearance and of
osteological structure. Dr. Gray first described D. acutus
from an Orkney skull, formerly in the collection of Mr.
Brookes and now in the Museum of Leyden; while the
types of Herr Rasch’s species were a large shoal which
occurred in the Christiania Fjord in 1843.

Besides the Orkney example mentioned above, an
adult female was sent from the same locality in May

a

WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN. 47]

1835 to the late Dr. Knox of Edinburgh, who described
it under the name of D. tursio; but its skeleton , which is
still preserved in the Museum of Science and Art at
Edinburgh, proves it to belong to this species. In August
1858, a small shoal of about twenty Dolphins were
captured in Scalpa Bay, near Kirkwall, and a description
and plate were given by Dr. A. R. Duguid in the “ Annals
and Magazine of Natural History” for 1864. According
to that gentleman this species is often seen about the
Orkneys by the fishermen, but is rarely secured.

The colour of the White-sided Dolphin is a deep black
above, and a pure white on the throat and belly. On each
flank is a short broad stripe of pure white, above and
behind which is a band of yellow or brownish-grey,
either confluent with the white mark or narrowly sepa-
rated from it. These markings appear to be very regular
and give the animal a most attractive appearance.

The rostrum of the skull is slender and tapered. The
teeth are small and seem to vary from twenty-eight to
thirty-eight in each side of either jaw. In one of Dr.
Duguid’s specimens the formula was aaa The skeleton
has about eighty vertebra and fifteen pairs of ribs.

The adult attains a length of six to eight feet. The
following are some of the measurements of a male (Dr.
Duguid) and of a female (Dr. Knox) :—

Male. Female.

Ft. In. Ft. Ih.

Total length (following curve) : 5 te) 3 6 53

Greatest girth : : ook 348 24
Length of flipper . 1 44 0 10
2 ] 1 2

Breadth of tail

Our figure is from Dr. Duguid’s plate in the ‘‘ Annals
and Magazine of Natural History ” for 1864.

472 DELPHINIDA.

CETACEA. DELPHINIDE.
(ODONTOCETI)

WHITE-BEAKED DOLPHIN.

Delphinus albirostris (J. E. Gray).

Specific Character.—Deep purple-black above, beak, lips and belly creamy
white; the colours sharply defined. Teeth 33:33 to 33:25, small, curved. Ver-
tebre 88 to 90, ribs 15 pairs. Length of adult 7 to 9 feet.

Delphinus albirostris, J. E, Gray, Aun. and Mag. Nat. Hist., XVII. (1846).
Lagenorhynchus albirostris, ,, Zool. Ereb. and Terr., I., 35. oF

SEVERAL examples of the White-beaked Dolphin have
been taken on the British coasts. One was killed at Har-
tlepool in 1834, although the species was not recognized
at the time; its skull, formerly in the Durham Museum,
is now in that of the University of Cambridge. The
same fine collection also contains the skeleton of a young
male taken on the English coast in 1867. One was cap-
tured by some herring-fishers in 1846 off Yarmouth, and
was described and figured under the name of D. tursio
by Mr. Brightwell in Vol. XVII. of the “ Annals and
Magazine of Natural History ;” another figure from the
same original drawing is given by Dr. Gray in ‘“ The

WHITE-BEAKED DOLPHIN. 473

Zoology of H. M.S. Erebus and Terror,” pl. 10. Both
the skin and skeleton of this specimen are now in the
British Museum, which also contains the skull of one
killed near Cromer by Mr. H. M. Upcher of Sherring-
ham Hall (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1866), and the
complete skeleton of an adult male taken a few years ago
on the south coast, but in what precise locality we have
been unable to learn; an account of the anatomy of this
last example is given by Dr. Murie in the “ Proceedings
of the Linnzan Society” for 1871.

This species is a native of the North Atlantic, but
does not seem to be common. It has been taken at
Feeroe, and on the coasts of Norway, Sweden, Denmark,
and Belgium. Nothing seems to have been recorded of
its habits.

The White-nosed Dolphin is a handsome species,
The following is Mr. Brightwell’s description of the
Yarmouth specimen :—‘‘ The colour of the upper part
and sides was a very rich deep purple-black. The ex-
ternal cuticle was of a soft and silky texture, and so thin
and delicate that it was easily rubbed off. The nose and
a well-defined line along the upper jaw, and the whole
of the lower jaw and belly were of a cream colour,
varied in some parts by a chalky white, which contrasted
beautifully with the rich black of the body. The fins
and tail were of the same colour as the back.”’

The teeth are small and are twenty-three to twenty-six
in number, in each side of either jaw. The vertebra are
eighty-eight to ninety, and there are fifteen pairs of ribs.
The rostrum of the skull is as long as the brain-case and
is regularly tapered to the snout.

The adult animal attains a length of eight or nine
feet. The following measurements are some of those
recorded by Mr. Brightwell :—

>)
BE

474 DELPHINIDA.

Entire length
Greatest girth
Snout to flipper .
Length of ,,
Height of dorsal-fin
Breadth of tail .

Houmno
—
=

A fifth species of Dolphin, Delphinus euphrosyne, has
been added to the British list by Dr. Gray (Cat. Seals and
Whales, p. 251), a skull in the Norwich Museum being
believed to have belonged to a British-killed animal. Our
friend Mr. Southwell has kindly made further inquiries as
to the history of this specimen, but has been unable to
learn anything authentic. ‘The claim of the species to a
place in our Fauna may therefore wait for further con-
firmation.

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