134 Proceedings of the Boyal Physical Society. 



as eight or nine at a litter, in a round nest composed of 

 the blades of grass and wheat. White thus describes one 

 of these nests : " It was most artificially plaited and com- 

 posed of the blades of wheat, perfectly round, and about the 

 size of a cricket ball, with the aperture so ingeniously closed 

 that there was no discovering to what part it belonged. It 

 was so compact and well filled that it would roll across the 

 table without being discomposed, though it contained eight 

 little mice, which were naked and blind. This wonderful 

 procreant cradle, an elegant instance of the efforts of instinct, 

 was found in a wheat field suspended in the head of the thistle." 

 They are found in Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Devonshire, 

 Warwickshire, and probably in many other English counties, 

 also in Wales, and, I am informed, are sometimes to be met 

 with in Scotland. Mr Gray, secretary of this Society, has 

 mentioned that he has procured specimens from various 

 counties, the farthest north being Kincardineshire. Their 

 food consists of all kinds of grain, but especially oats. Those 

 I now exhibit are fed on oats, wheat, soaked bread and milk, 

 and canary seed, and are very partial to the latter. They are 

 fond of flies, and would probably eat other insects also. The 

 Eev. W. Bingley says they lay up in their burrows a store of 

 grain for the winter. I have placed the four I possess in an 

 empty aquarium, with glass sides and perforated zinc top, 

 and in this fixed a small apple bough, with a few pieces of 

 string hanging from it. They are wonderfully agile in spring- 

 ing from one twig to another, and running up and down the 

 strings, and their tails being prehensile, they steady them- 

 selves by curling these round the twigs and strings, and often 

 suspend themselves momentarily by their tails before drop- 

 ping to the floor of the cage. The prehensile nature of this 

 member must be of great assistance to them in ascending 

 and descending the straws of grain. They, seem capable of 

 much domestication, and have no offensive smell like the 

 common house mice. I procured them from Surrey, and they 

 met with an adventure in transit, being detained in St Martin 

 le Grand for forty-eight hours, the post office authorities re- 

 fusing to forward them, as the conveyance of live animals by 

 post is contrary to the official regulations. 



