262 WATER VOLE. 



The upper incisors are of moderate size, slightly 

 curved, chisel-shaped, and close together ; those of 

 the lower jaw long, curved, subcylindrical, rounded, 

 but laterally sloped. Internally of the mouth, at 

 the commissure of the lips, is a tuft of whitish 

 shining hairs, directed inwards, arising from a 

 whitish callous surface. There are three grinders 

 above and below in a straight very close series, 

 their sides marked with perpendicular ridges and 

 grooves, their surface flat, with a zig-zag appear- 

 ance. 



The palate is tuberculate ; the first or anterior 

 tubercle small and trigonal, the second broader, and 

 transversely narrow ; the third broader and thicker; 

 the series then divides, and terminates in two smaller 

 very close on each side opposite the first grinder. 

 The stomach is large, divided into two portions by 

 a contraction ; the intestine about five feet long ; 

 the coecum of enormous size. 



The pile is thick, long, close, silky, composed of 

 two sets of hairs, some being longer and a little 

 thicker ; the hair on the feet short, adpressed, and 

 glossy. The general colour of the pile above is 

 dark-brown, or a mixture of blackish-brown, with 

 light reddish-brown ; the belly and under parts in 

 general, as well as the sides of the head, light 

 brownish-red. The concealed part of all the hairs 

 is bluish-black, on the lower parts bluish -grey ; the 

 tips of the shorter hairs on all parts of the body 

 are reddish-brown; and there being none of the 

 long blackish hairs on the under surface, the colour 



