634 MURIDA:—MUS 
DIE HOUSE MOUSE: 
MUS MUSCULUS, Linneus. 
1758. [Mus] MuscuLus, C. Linnzus, Sys¢, Mat., 1, 10th ed., 62; described from 
Upsala, Sweden ; of most subsequent authors. 
1772. MUS DOMESTICUS, J. Rutty, 4x Essay towards a Nat. Hist. of the County of 
Dublin, i., 281. 
1801. M[us] M[USCULUS] ALBUS, FLAVUS, MACULATUS, and NIGER; J. Bechstein, 
Gemein. Naturgesch. Deutschlands, ed. 2, i., 955; described from Thuringen, 
Germany. 
1827. [MUS MUSCULUS] STRIATUS, ALBICANS, and NIVENS, Billberg, Sy. Fauna 
Scand., 6 ; described from Skane, Sweden. 
1867. [MUS MUSCULUS] HELVOLUS, VARIUS, and CINEREO-MACULATUS, L. Fitzinger, 
Sitzungsber. kais. Akad. Wiss. Wien., math.-nat. Cl., \vi., Abt. i1., 70; helvolus, 
described from Hungary, varzus and cinereo-maculatus from Europe. 
1869. MUS POSCHIAVINUS, V. Fatio, Faun. Vert. Suisse, i., 207; described from 
Poschiavo, Grisons, Switzerland ; as sub-species, Trouessart. 
1872. MUS MUSCULUS, var. FLAVESCENS, Fischer, Zoo/, Garten, xiil., 223 ; described 
from Berlin, Germany. 
1907. MUS NUDOPLICATUS, Campbell, Zoologis/, 1 ; described from living specimens 
received from Australia. 
1912. MUS MUSCULUS MUSCULUS, G. S. Miller, Catalogue Mamm. West Europe, 871. 
Die Hausmaus of the Germans ; da souris of the French. 
The synonymy given above has reference only to the House Mouse 
in Europe; many other names, based upon material collected in the 
East or in America, have been applied to this animal, but it is not 
necessary to deal with them here. 
The House Mouse is “ Mus domesticus” in Albertus Magnus (de 
Anim., xxii., fol. 182), Gesner (de Quad., 1551), Jonston (Quad, 115, 
t. 66, 1657), and Merrett (Puax, 167, 1667); “ Mus domesticus minor” 
in Aldrovandus (Digzz., 417); “ Mus domesticus vulgaris seu minor” in 
Sibbald (Scot, 12, 1684) and Ray (Syn. Quad., 218, 1693); “ Mus 
minor” in Klein (Quad. disp., 57); it is “ Sorex domesticus” in Charleton 
(Exercit., 25, 1677), and “ Sorex” in Brisson (Reg. Quad. 1762, 119), 
and Gronovius (Zoophy., 1, 4, n. 19). 
Terminology :—Variants of the word “mouse” (derived from the 
Sanskrit ws and the Greek wis) are common to all the Teutonic and 
Indo-Germanic languages, and were used, like the Latin sorer and the 
Celtic /uch, indiscriminately for all small, mouse-like rodents and 
insectivores. The House Mouse being the most familiar of such 
creatures, the word was at an early date specially applied to this species, 
without, however, losing its more general significance. The earliest 
instances of such special usage of “ mus” and “ mys” in English, cited in 
the V.E, Dictionary, are in King AE lfred, Boeth., xvi., 2 (about 888), and 
