66 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



PIPISTRELLE BAT ( Vespenigo pipistrcllus}. There is a 

 considerable range of colour in the fur of this species. It is 

 generally stated that the dark, or dull black, individuals are 

 the young animals. This is not always the case, for I have 

 often had specimens with dull, or lustreless, black fur, that 

 were fully adult. In such examples the whole of the naked 

 portions of the membrane share in this melanic shade. 

 Although the majority are of deep rufous brown, individuals 

 of this dark colour are by no means rare in Solway. This 

 variation, or phase as it ought more properly to be called, 

 results evidently from the extension of the basal colour of 

 the hairs to their extremities. 



COMMON HEDGEHOG (Erinaccus Europceus}. Most 

 Hedgehogs are either of a decided brown tint, or a dirty 

 black colour, with a small minority of a pale gray. The 

 light points of the spines are always conspicuous and modify 

 the body, or under, tints. These colours are neither seasonal, 

 nor sexual, although they may have something to do with age. 

 I have not met with an albino, but in several instances that 

 I could depend upon, such cases have been reported to me. 



COMMON MOLE (Talpa Europcea}. I have never found 

 a true albino of the Mole, although leucotic specimens are 

 comparatively common, and the palest of these are often 

 very white. I have several pretty specimens of a warm 

 orange or bright buff. Others are light creamy There is 

 a variety of tolerably frequent occurrence which has a more 

 or less narrow streak of bright orange buff along the mesial 

 line of the abdomen. That is the usual form of this aberra- 

 tion, but occasionally the buff broadens out to a large patch. 

 The remainder of the fur is normal with occasionally a 

 considerable tinge of rusty buff round the snout ; but in every 

 specimen showing this buff streak, patch, or spot on the 

 abdomen the tip of the tail has been white, and the long 

 hairs fringing the feet have also been mostly pure white. 

 No pied (black and white) moles have ever fallen into my 

 hands, and grayish and brownish ones have only been got 

 at rare intervals. The mole catchers have a firm belief that 

 the leucotic, or yellowish, animals are confined to certain 

 farms, that in fact variations of the sort run in certain mole 

 families. I am strongly inclined to accept this conclusion. 



