tion of the Vertebrata which he especially studied and advanced. His excellent Lectures on Comparative Anatomy,' 'Elementary Physiology,' 'Introduction to the Classification of Animals,' and' Anatomy of Invertebrate Animals,' afford abundant proof of this, to say nothing of his numerous important monographs on living and extinct fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals."

In one only of the many appointments which he held did he fail to shine. This was the Inspectorship of Salmon Fisheries, which he applied for and secured on the death of Frank Buckland. For this post he was unsuited, possessing none of the instincts of the out-of-door naturalist* or fisherman, and having therefore little appreciation of the requirements needed in the way of fishery legislation, and the best way of amending it. Nor had he even that indispensable acquaintance with the Salmon in all stages of its existence, all known by various local names, which cannot be learnt from " spirit specimens," and which was possessed, for example, by the late Surgeon-Major Francis Day (Zool. 1889, p. 306), who was also a candidate for the post, and who from his practical knowledge of the subject would have made a far better Inspector of Fisheries. To a man of Prof. Huxley's calibre the uncongenial nature of the duties attaching to the office, and the long railway journeys necessitated by periodical inspections in distant parts of the country, soon became burdensome, and it was therefore not long before he resigned the appointment, although not until he had prepared a valuable report, with the aid of Mr. George Murray, on the nature of that troublesome disease in Salmon, Saprolegnia. His monograph on the Crayfish also (Internat. Sci. Series, 1880) marked this epoch in his life.

Perhaps the most noteworthy fact in Prof. Huxley's career is that he did more than any other man to uphold and promulgate the doctrine of evolution. It was in 1858 that Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace simultaneously laid their great theory of Natural Selection' before the Linnean Society, and in the

*He said of himself:-"I am afraid there is very little of the genuine naturalist in me. I never collected anything, and species work was always a burden to me. What I cared for was the architectural and engineering part of the business, the working out of the wonderful unity of plan in the thousands and thousands of the diverse living constructions and the modifi cations of similar apparatuses to serve diverse ends."

November of the following year Darwin's 'Origin of Species' was published. The effect of the speculations and conclusions. of that great naturalist on Prof. Huxley was immediate and profound, as may be seen from his appreciative remarks in the 'Westminster Review' for April, 1860. At the present day

it is difficult to realise what a revolution in the world of thought was caused by the new doctrine. To most theologians it was irreligious. To many men of science it was a seductive fallacy. Owen, the doyen of English anatomists, never adopted it. The French naturalists would have none of it. Very few of the most eminent British savants gave it a whole-hearted aceeptance, but foremost amongst these was Huxley, who to the last remained steadfastly the champion of " Darwinism."

His wide reading, clear thinking, and vigorous writing made him a formidable controversialist, and it has been well observed of him by a recent writer that his success in life is striking proof of the predominance of the literary faculty. It was his clear philosophic reasoning and that literary gift which Darwin so greatly envied that made him the potent personality he was to his contemporaries, and will ever be to posterity.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

MAMMALIA.

The Marten and Polecat in Wales.-On Jan. 24th an adult Marten was sent to Mr. Hutchings, of this town, for preservation. It was obtained near Llanberis. and is now in the possession of Mr. J. W. Wyatt, of East Court, Wells. A younger example, not full grown, was received from the same locality twelve months previously, both being trapped upon the same property. As confirming what I have already stated as to the abundance of the Polecat in this district, I may mention that fifteen examples were captured during the first three months of the present year.-J. H. SALTER (University College, Aberystwyth).

Albino Shrew in Yorkshire. On June 25th my friend Major Arundel, of Ackworth, in the West Riding, sent me a beautiful white specimen of the Common Shrew, Sorex araneus, which on the previous day he had picked up dead on the road between Ackworth and Pontefract. It is perfectly white, without a dark hair anywhere, and the eyes were devoid of pigment. I was very much afraid at first that I should be unable

to preserve it, as the hair was beginning to slip badly upon the abdomen; but setting to work with great care, it has turned out a very pretty little specimen.-OXLEY GRABHAM (Flaxton, York).

BIRDS.

Sale of Great Auk's Egg.-Another egg of the Great Auk has lately changed hands (vide antea, p. 193). On June 25th last, Mr. J. C. Stevens offered for sale by auction in his well-known room in King Street, Covent Garden, an egg of Alca impennis, from the collection of Baron Louis d'Hamonville. The history of this egg as given in the Sale Catalogue is as follows:Lot 211. Egg of the Great Auk. Taken in Iceland about 1830 by a shipowner of St. Malo, who bequeathed it to the Comte Raoul de Baracé, whose collection was purchased by the Baron d'Hamonville. This specimen (slightly cracked), which in colouring and texture is unique, was figured in the Mémoires' of the Société Zoologique de France, 1888 (pl. vi. fig. c), and additional notes on its history appeared in the Bulletin' of the same Société in 1891."

Mr. Symington Grieve, in his work on the Great Auk, referring (Appendix, p. 25) to the three eggs of this bird in the collection of the Comte de Baracé at Angers, states that they came "from Iceland by way of St. Malo, some time before 1837 "; but, according to his own showing (op. cit. p. 104), one of them seems to have been procured in Paris by the Abbé Vincelot of Angers, from whom it was purchased by the Comte de Baracé, who obtained another of them from Fairmaire of Paris. What authority there is for fixing the date of the third example (which according to the recent sale catalogue was "taken in Iceland about 1830") is not stated, nor is any evidence afforded that the finder was a shipowner of St. Malo. The French expression may have been "armateur," but possibly the word intended was "amateur." However that may be, the egg just sold by auction was one of three which belonged to the Comte de Baracé, and which subsequently came into the possession of the late owner, Baron d'Hamonville. The latter has published in the Bulletin' of the Société Zoologique de France (1891, pp. 34-38) the history (so far as he could collect it) of each of them, having previously furnished coloured figures of the natural size (together with a similar figure of Yarrell's specimen, which he acquired in 1875, on his purchase of Bond's collection), in the 'Mémoires' of the same Société for 1888 (pp. 224-227, Pls. V.—VI.). One of these M. de Baracé had purchased through Fairmaire of Paris in 1858 from the Baron de Vèze, who had bought it of Parzudaki of Paris, in 1855, for 500 francs. It became the property of Baron d'Hamonville in March, 1887. The two others, it appears, came from Iceland (as stated by M. de Baracé in a letter to Dawson Rowley dated Jan. 13, 1867), whence he had received them more than thirty years before (about 1834 or 1835),

through an armateur (or amateur) resident at St. Malo, and it is one of these which has been sold. The peculiarity about this specimen, which is described in the sale catalogue as being "unique in colouring and texture," is that the markings upon it, more numerous on the sides than at the larger end, are of a pale green colour, most unusual in eggs of this species. Although the specimen is slightly cracked, this did not prevent a bid of 100 guineas being made for it. The biddings advanced by five and ten guineas at a time, nntil the sum of 165 guineas was reached, at which price, there being no further advance, it was knocked down to Mr. T. Jay, of Regent Street.

To any

Notable increase of the Lesser Tern in Co. Mayo. naturalist visiting the estuary of the Moy and Killala Pool, the elsewhere unusual but interesting sight of four species of Terns fishing in company may be witnessed any day, the species being the Sandwich, Common, Arctic, and Lesser Terns. The first-named breeds on the little island-lake of Rathronyem, the second on Lough Conn, and also, in company of the Arctic and Lesser Terns, on the "Inch" and Ross shore by Killala Pool. The breeding haunt of the Lesser Tern, Sterna minuta, the "Inch," is the largest of a small group of gravelly islands situated at the end of the little peninsula of Ross, but as it is the only one uncovered by the spring tides, it is the haunt of the Terns, whose eggs are placed above the level of the high tides. Ross peninsula is about a mile in length and half-a-mile in width at its broadest parts, the western side being a low sandy flat, the shore of a little sheltered bay; while the eastern side consists of a range of low sand-hills, the boundary of the Pool and channel running to the open sea. The usual stock of Lesser Terns breeding on the Inch generally consisted of ten or twelve pairs, some years less, while that of the Common and Arctic Terns, of perhaps twice that number. On June 14th, when visiting this breeding haunt, I found to my surprise the numbers of the birds greatly increased: at least twenty pairs of Little Terns appeared flying about and resting on the shores, while fully twenty to thirty pairs of the larger species were in sight also. Landing on the Inch, we found several nests of the Common and Lesser Terns, some on the bare stones without any attempt at nest-building, and containing from two to three eggs each; but the number of nests found being so few compared to the number of birds seen induced me to look further for the real haunt where the bulk of the birds bred; so seeing several hovering over and pitching on the peninsula, I crossed over, and then found that the three species were breeding along the shores for nearly half-a-mile. Their favourite sites for laying their eggs were on the stony bases of several little mounds that rose out of the sands where the looser parts had been blown away, leaving the stony flats and bases exposed, and here on the bare stones, and in many places on the bare sand, the eggs were laid most of the eggs I examined

were within a day or two of hatching out, and we found one newly hatched bird lying alongside an unhatched egg. Observing several of the small Terns hovering over the sand at the end of Bartragh, I crossed the channel to the island, and found four pairs hatching on the bare sand just above high-water mark. It was the first time I had found Terns breeding on the island, although visiting it annually for the last thirty years. This sudden arrival of such large numbers of the Lesser Tern to a breeding haunt usually frequented by so few birds is very interesting, and suggests that from some unexplained cause they had probably deserted some other breeding-ground. Their nearest haunt to Killala Bay is that in Brown's Bay on the Sligo coast, between thirty and forty miles distant; but even if they had moved from that haunt it would not account for the increase in their numbers, for only about ten or twelve pairs usually breed there.ROBERT WARREN (Moy View, Ballina, Co. Mayo).

Fearlessness of the Spotted Flycatcher.-On June 6th, 1895, I found a nest of the Spotted Flycatcher, Muscicapa grisola, containing five eggs; and as they were exceptionally well-marked specimens, I took both nest and eggs for my collection. On arriving at an outhonse in my garden, about fifty yards from the spot, I examined the eggs more carefully, and came to the conclusion that they were of no use to me, being apparently hard set. Therefore, after testing one of the eggs in water, I returned to the spot and replaced the nest in the fork of the tree from which I had taken it, arranging it as naturally as possible. To my surprise the old bird shortly returned to it, and recommenced sitting on the eggs as if nothing had occurred. On June 9th I revisited the nest and found young birds in it, and they are now (June 12th) doing well.-E. A. BUTLER, Lt.-Col. (Brettenham Park, Ipswich).

Language and Instincts of the Domestic Fowl. At a recent meeting of the Oxfordshire Natural History Society, held in the Museum, Mr. G. C. Druce, F.L.S., in the chair, a lecture was given by Mr. G. J. Burch, M.A., on the language of birds. He explained that he had been led to make a series of systematic observations on the language and instincts of the domestic fowl some years ago, when the negligence of a sitting hen obliged him to undertake the care of some young chicks from the time of their leaving the shell. Hatched under these circumstances, there were special opportunities for observing the inborn faculties of the birds, and the lecturer had found that all his preconceived notions of inherited instinct must give way before the utter helplessness of the chicks. Unable at first to balance themselves on their feet, repeated efforts had to be made before they could stand. They were without any notion of picking up food when hungry, or swallowing it; indeed, the most rudimentary actions of life had to be learnt by experience. Absurd attempts to reach an object were made before any idea of distance was gained, and stranger