1870.] BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY. 105 



of late years) be reckoned, and the two minute forms, Sorex 

 pygmceus and Mus minutus, which have been said to occur, but 

 which M. Fatio has not himself succeeded in finding. This list 

 does not include the ibex, the stag, or the 3fus agrarms, which 

 have become extinct. Some mammals which occur in adjoining 

 countries are remarkable for their absence in Switzerland : thus, 

 the two bats, Rhinolophus clivosus and i?. Eiiri/ale, which occur 

 in Lombardy, 3Ius agrarius, occurring near the Rhine on the 

 north, and by Como to the south, Arvicola suhterraneiis, also found 

 near the Rhine, and A. Savil, found in Lombardy, are not met 

 with in Switzerland. 



M. Fatio has increased the catalogue of Swiss mammals, as 

 given by some of his predecessors, by the addition of nine species 

 of bats, two insectivora, and four rodents, one of which is consi- 

 dered a new species altogether. 



This new species of M. Fatio, is a little black mouse, very 

 much like the common house mouse (^Mus musculus). but having 

 a very dark black-coloured fur ; the two presenting much the 

 same contrast as do the Mios rattus and 3Ius Alexandrinus, which 

 M. Fatio agrees with M. Arthur de I'Tsle in considering one and 

 the same species. The new mouse, however, which is called Mus 

 Poschiavinus, from the locality where it was observed, presents 

 more important differences when compared with Mus musculus 

 than those of colour and proportion only. The palatine ridges in 

 M, Poschiavinus are four in number, in place of Jive in the common 

 species, and the anterior simple ridges are of a different form. 



The strange thing about this little black mouse, which is found 

 at Poschiavo in the Grisons, is that it lives on tobacco. It was 

 first noticed in a tobacco-factory, and was found to make great 

 ravages among the stores of the nicotian weed. When first 

 caught, M. Fatio thought he had possibly got hold of young 

 specimens of the black rat, but subsequently he obtained specimens 

 bearing evident signs of maturity. It does not appear to have 

 suggested itself to M. Fatio's mind, that his Mus Poschiavinus 

 may be only a sample of the deleterious effect of indulgence in 

 the noxious herb to which these rodents are addicted. What if 

 this new black mouse is but a stunted race of the black rat ? It 

 would furnish an invaluable argument to the anti-tobacconists. 



A very pretty coloured plate, representing two Poschiavinian 

 mice helping themselves to cigars, illustrates the description of this 

 species. It is not a little remarkable that an animal should 



