THE BAEBABY MOUSE. 55 



tation. It is singular that so delicate an animal should 

 be able to subsist under the cold and extremely humid 

 climate of the Falkland Islands and on its unproductive 

 soil." — Darwin. ' It must be observed that all thesespeci- 

 mens are rather less than full grown individuals of the 

 same species procured in England : in other respects they 

 do not diifer. 



The sixth specimen is from Maldonado, where it is 

 common in the houses of the town, and is similar in habits 

 to its European relative. The Maldonado mouse is 

 considerably less than British specimens of the common 

 mouse, and is of a richer and brighter colour ; the head is 

 smaller, the muzzle shorter in proportion, whilst the 

 tarsi are even longer than in a large specimen of Mus 

 musculus. These points of dissimilarity induced Mr. 

 Waterhouse to regard it as a distinct species, and to 

 apply to it the name of " brevirostris." But upon subse- 

 quent re-examination, he was induced to change his opi- 

 nion. The teeth indicate that it is not an adult specimen. 



Mr. Darwin (' Journal and Remarks ') observes that 

 mice and other small Rodents subsist in considerable 

 numbers in very desert places, as long as there is the 

 least vegetation. In Patagonia, even on the borders of 

 the Salinas, where a drop of fresh water can never be 

 found, they swarm. Next to lizards, he adds, mice ap- 

 pear to be able to support existence on the smallest and 

 driest portions of the earth, even on the islets in the 

 midst of great oceans. He believes it will be found 

 that several islands, which possess no other warm-blooded 

 quadruped, have small Rodents peculiar to themselves. 

 Sir Woodbine Parish (' Buenos Ayres,' &c.) states, 

 that after the great drought of 1830, 1831, and 1832, 

 there was a prodigious increase of all kinds of vermin, 

 especially field-mice, myriads of which overran the 

 country, and entirely destroyed the maize-harvest of 

 1833. 



The Barbary Mouse (Mus Barbarus). 



In size this beautiful species is intermediate between 

 the common mouse and rat. It is found in Barbary, 



d2 



