THE HARVEST MOUSE. 



Mus messorius. SHAW. 

 PLATE XXV11. 



Ears one -third of the length of the head ; upper parts 

 light reddish- brown lower white. 



Mus messorius. Shaw, Gen. Zool. II. 62 ; Desmar. Mammal. 

 302 ; Jenyns, Brit. Vert. Anim. 31 ; Bell, Brit. Quadr. 299. 



THIS beautiful species, the smallest of the mammalia 

 of Great Britain, was first desciibed by White, the 

 celebrated historian of Selborne, who found it in 

 Hampshire. Since then it has been observed in 

 various parts of England, but chiefly in the,southem 

 counties ; and I have twice obtained a specimen of 

 it in Scotland, one sent to me from Aberdeenshire, 

 the other from the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. 

 Once also I found its nest in Fifeshire ; it was 



