HARVEST MOUSE. 291 



finement, it appears that the mother has speedily killed 

 and partly eaten her offspring. 



The propriety of considering the Mus minutus of Pallas 

 as identical with White's species was apparent to Shaw, 

 and is also urged by Montagu. Fischer, too, in his 

 Synopsis, has this note : " An revera a M. minuto dis- 

 tinctus ? " In the description there is not a single cha- 

 racter that does not appertain to both, and there can no 

 longer be any doubt of their identity ; an opinion in 

 which Mr. Bennett appears to have fully agreed. It is 

 certainly also the Mulot nain of M. Fr. Cuvier, described 

 in the second volume of his Histoire Naturelle des Mam- 

 miferes. 



The Harvest Mouse is spread over nearly the whole of 

 Europe, extending as far north as Russia and Siberia ; 

 and as a southern locality, it may be mentioned, that 

 although not included in the Fauna Italica of the late 

 Prince Buonaparte, it has been found in the north of Italy 

 by Prof. Blasius. The late Professor Macgillivray, in his 

 work on British Quadrupeds, forming one of the volumes 

 of the Naturalist's Library, mentions three localities in 

 Scotland in which it has been known to occur, viz., 

 Aberdeenshire, Fifeshire, and near to Edinburgh. In 

 Ireland it would seem to be very rare, but through the 

 kindness of Dr. Kinahan, we are enabled to record it as 

 an inhabitant of that country. 



The general form is rather more elongated and slender 

 than that of most of the genus : the head rather narrow ; 

 the eyes are less prominent than in the Common Field 

 Mouse, black ; ears about one-third the length of the 

 head, rounded ; tail rather shorter than the body. Fur 

 above of a reddish-brown colour, rather brighter than 

 that of the Dormouse ; the hair being dusky at the 

 base, and red towards the point ; the under parts pure 



