Sabine's Snipe. 15 



also, although very rarely, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, and 

 England. On the Continent I cannot find any record of its 

 occurrence except that of A. Milne-Edwards, who reported 

 black varieties of Mus decumanus from Paris {Ann. Sci. Nat., 

 1871, XV, art. 7). 



It is hard, however, to speak with confidence of the distri- 

 bution in Great Britain of Mus hibernicus, since there are three 

 mammals which are reported indiscriminately as Black Rats, 

 e.g. Mus rattus, the true black rat ; Mus hibernicus, a variety of 

 Mzcs decumafius ; and (I believe, most frequently of all) the black 

 variety of the Water Vole, Microtus aniphibius. 



The points of resemblance in the distribution of the two 

 melanic animals, Sabine's Snipe and the Irish Rat, and the 

 fact of their much more frequent occurrence in Ireland than 

 in any other country, led me to inquire if in Ireland there 

 might be a general tendency to melanistic forms. I cannot say 

 however, that my investigations have hitherto met with much 

 success. In Vertebrates I think the few cases which have 

 come under my notice might have occurred in any country, 

 and are certainly too meagre to bring forward here. In re- 

 gard to Lepidoptera, Mr. G. H. Carpenter, of the Science and 

 Art Museum, Dublin, has very kindly replied to ni}^ inquiries 

 as follows : — 



"With regard to Irish I^epidoptera, among butterflies Meli- 

 tcEa aurifiia and Puris 7iapi are more deepl}^ marked in Ireland, 

 the latter on the west coast sometimes approaching the alpine 

 var. bryo7iice. Noctuid moths are generally dark and rich in 

 Ireland, and so are some Geometers. But all these dark var- 

 ieties turn up in parts of Great Britain — mountains and 

 northern districts, .specially the western Scottish Highlands, 

 Hebrides, and Shetland." 



In regard to mollusca. Dr. R. F.- Scharfif, aLso of the Dublin 

 Museum of Science and Art, has most obligingly replied in a 

 very similar manner. He writes — "I once thought that there 

 were instances among slugs of melanism confined to Ireland, 

 or even to the British Islands, but similar cases have turned 

 up in a number of places all over Europe." So far, then, I am 

 unable to bring forward any support for the suggestion I put 

 forward that melanism might be more common in Ireland 

 than in Great Britain, but the question cannot yet be regarded 

 as anything like fully worked out. 



