THE HIGHLAND GRASS MOUSE 439 
THE HIGHLAND GRASS MOUSE. 
MICROTUS AGRESTIS NEGLECTUS (Thompson in Jenyns). 
1841. ARVICOLA NEGLECTA, William Thompson in Leonard Jenyns, Ann. and Mag. 
Nat. Hist., 270, June; described from moors near Megarnie (szc), z.e., Meggernie 
Castle, Perthshire, Scotland. 
1857. ARVICOLA AGRESTIS (b.), ARVICOLA NEGLECTA, J. H. Blasius, Sdugethivre 
Deutschlands, 369 (part). 
1896. MICROTUS AGRESTIS NEGLECTUS, G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton, Proc. Zool. Soc., 
London, 598 and 606 (part) ; Trouessart (part) ; Miller, Catalogue. 
Local names (non-Celtic) :—gvass mouse, hill mouse, meadow mouse, 
water mouse (the latter fide E. R. Alston), i.e., earth hound (Taylor). 
(Celtic) :—luchSheoir or luch-an fheoiyr=“ grass mouse,” is used 
indiscriminately for all mice in Scotland, as is fiolagan in Arran 
(C. H. Alston). 
History :—Although described by Thompson in a paper by Jenyns 
in 1841, it cannot be said that the original description added anything 
to knowledge. In fact the name zeg/ectus, although first applied to the 
highland form of true agrestzs, was actually transferred by de Sélys and 
many subsequent writers, including myself, to the small southern 
hirtus. The synonymy and relationships are now, however, clear, 
mainly as the result of the work of Miller and of Hinton in different 
fields of mammalogy, and of Ogilvie-Grant in organising a collection 
of Scottish mammals. 
Distribution:—This is the Grass Mouse of the Highlands of 
Scotland, where it is widely distributed and common in all suitable 
localities to the highest summits of the mountains, as, for instance, 
around and in the observatory buildings on Ben Nevis at 4400 feet 
(Bruce, Anzu. Scott. Nat. Hrst., 1896, 187). It is not definitely known 
exactly where neglectus ends and fzvtus begins. Service’s (/ourn. cit., 
1903, 68) and W. Evans’s remarks on the distinctness of hill and 
lowland specimens in the Solway and Edinburgh districts suggest that 
neglectus ranges to the hills of south Scotland, and I have seen 
specimens from Lanarkshire taken by Kinnear. Millais probably 
alludes to these two forms when he states that, although English 
specimens vary very little in colour, immediately the Border is crossed, 
beginning with Wigtownshire and the Cheviots, two very distinct types 
are found, one larger and greyer on the hills, the other smaller and 
redder and with thinner coat on the low ground. Millais believes 
that the distinctions are accentuated as one goes north, but that the 
succession of “intermediate varieties is so continuous and so well- 
connected that it is impossible to create a dividing line.” The question 
