242 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



the ordinary way, as the new comes in, but in others the "pale 

 yellowish brown " tips of the hair on the back and flanks are first 

 cast, leaving the " slaty grey " under portion, and at the same time 

 the long black hairs on the back drop out. When this has been 

 completed over nearly the whole of the back the new hair may be 

 seen coming in below the old, which drops out as the new increases 

 in length. Occasionally all the tips are not moulted at the same time, 

 and patches of old hair, with tips still adhering, are left here and 

 there amongst the shortened tipless grey fur, giving the animal a 

 very shaggy and unkempt appearance. The hair on the head and 

 cheeks is moulted in the ordinary way, and so probably is that on 

 the belly, but in none of my specimens is there any indication of a 

 moult taking place on that part of the body. That some kind of 

 moult on the belly does take place is certain, as the winter fur is 

 considerably longer than that of summer. The Autumn moult 

 takes place in August and September, and specimens collected by 

 Mr. Robert Godfrey in August 1905, and Mr. Eagle Clarke in 

 September 1904, show that it is carried out in the same two ways 

 alluded to. Some young specimens obtained by Mr. Eagle Clarke 

 at the same time and not half grown were just casting their first 

 coat, which is duller and more of a House Mouse colour than that 

 of adults and without the rufous on the belly. The change to adult 

 pelage seems to take place first on the belly, and in two specimens 

 the coat on the upper side of the body has not been changed at all, 

 while that on the belly is quite as rufous as in any adult. None of 

 my specimens show any signs of melanism, and perhaps it was a 

 Vole in a half-moulted state, as described above, which Mr. Millais 

 saw near Loch Stennis and not a real melanic example. NORMAN 

 B. KINNEAR, Edinburgh. 



Common Field Vole in Islay. With this I send for identifica- 

 tion a small mammal which I take to be the Common Field Vole. 

 It was found on 3oth July in a sea cave in the Mull of Oe by a 

 party of tourists led by Ronald M'Arthur, and was new to all of 

 them. They thought it had been killed by being trodden on by one 

 of their party, as the mouth was bleeding. I do not find any 

 information as regards Islay in Harvie-Brown's "Fauna of Argyll and 

 Inner Hebrides," though he has a paragraph (p. 40) relating to 

 Arvicola agrestis in Jura. T. F. GILMOUR, Port Ellen, Islay. 



[Dr. Gilmour is correct in his surmise. The animal sent is 

 a typical specimen of Microtus agrestis, the Common Field Vole. 

 We believe that it has not hitherto been recorded for Islay. EDS.] 



A White Porpoise (?) in Clyde Waters. It may be of interest 

 to naturalists to know that on the morning of June i2th, while 

 crossing in the Caledonian Railway steamer from Kirn to Gourock, 

 and about a quarter of a mile from Kirn pier, we passed a pure 

 white cetacean which was lazily swimming up the frith in the 



