62 The Natural History of Selbor?ie 



thatch of which were assembled near an hundred, most of 

 which were taken, and some I saw. I measured them; and 

 found that, from nose to tail, they were just two inches and a 

 quarter, and their tails just two inches long. Two of them, 

 in a scale, weighed down just one copper half-penny, which is 

 about the third of an ounce avoirdupois : so that I suppose 

 they are the smallest quadrupeds in this island. A full-grown 

 Mus medius domesticus weighs, I find, one ounce lumping 

 weight, which is more than six times as much as the mouse 

 above ; and measures from nose to rump four inches and a 

 quarter, and the same in its tail. 



We have had a very severe frost and deep snow this month. 

 My thermometer was one day fourteen degrees and a half 

 below the freezing-point, within doors. The tender ever- 

 greens were injured pretty much. It was very providential 

 that the air was still, and the ground well covered with snow, 

 else vegetation in general must have suffered prodigiously. 

 There is reason to believe that some days were more severe 

 than any since the year 1739-40. I am, &c. &c. 



Wheat* 



ar 



