ARVICOLA SUBTERRANEIS. 89 



Length of head aud body, 3 inches 5 lines ; head, 1 inch ; 

 tail, 10 lines ; ears, 2 lines. — F. M. 



In its habits it mneh resembles the A. arvalisy the com- 

 mon Short-tailed Field-mouse of England and the North 

 of Eiu'ope, and is equally numerous and destructive. The 

 Prince of Musiguano relates, that on one farm alone, in the 

 neighbourhood of Rome, 11,000 were Idlled in a single 

 season. 



It Is the only species among the lesser Voles which 

 has been observed in Italy. De Selys Longchamps, as 

 quoted by Gervais, 'Zool. et Paleontol. Francaise,' says 

 that the "A. Savii, as A. incertus, is found in Provence 

 (Yai-) and Languedoc, at Montpellier." M. Crespon has 

 found both A. Savii and A. incertus in the Gard, and 

 considers them to be distinct species (see his * Faune Me- 

 ridionale*) ; the former is very abundant there in culti- 

 vated plains. 



Arvicola subterraneiis. 



Arvicola subfernrncus, De Selys, Micronim. ; Blasius, Wirbelth. 



Deutsch. 

 LemviKS j)rat(^?isis, Baillon. 



Description. — Eather less than A. arvalis. Ears a little 

 shorter, as long as the fiu*, almost naked, surrounded at 

 base by long haii-s, which,, in the live animal, almost con- 

 ceal them ; eyes very small, less than in A. arralis ; tail 

 rather less than one-third of the length of the body, covered 

 with blackish hairs above, with wliite or whitish beneath. 

 Fill' almost entirely of difterent shades of gre^-ish black, 

 except on the throat, which is dark a>h ; and on the beUy, 

 where they are ash tipped with white. In some speci- 

 mens the bail's beneath the body are earthy brown at theii- 

 tips, thus resembling some individuals of A. arvaJis : but 

 they never, like the latter, have a tinge of yellow on the 



