RODENTIA. 



COMMON FIELD- VOLE. 323 



ARVICOLIDyR. 



COMMON FIELD-VOLE. 



Arvicola afjrestis. (Linn.) 



Specific Character. — Grejish-brown, beneath pale grey, feet dusky. Tail 

 only one-third the length of the body. The second upper gi-indcr has five 

 spaces and six angles ; the third six spaces and eight angles ; the first lower 

 grinder nine spaces and eleven angles. 



Mus agrestis, Linn^us, Faun. Suec, IL 11, No. 30. 



,, yregarius, ,, Syst. Nat. L, 84, No. 16. 



At'vicola njrcstis, De Sklys, 1!u1. Acad. Brux., 1840. 



This species was first described by Liiinasus, but was 

 afterwards generally confounded with the comnion Vole 

 of the continent, and thus A. ayrestis and A. arvalis are 

 constantly given as synonymous, although the animals are 

 very distinct in nature. A. agrestis may always be dis- 

 tinguished by the character of its second u])pcr molar, 

 which \idi% five cemental spaces, whereas the same tootli in 

 A. arvalis, as in all the other European Voles, has o\\\y four 

 spaces. It seems not a little strange that the last-named 



