ON THE MAMMALIA OF THIS DISTRICT. 239 



brought to me at lockmock, but it seemed to be 

 very rare, for no one knew what animal it was ; 

 and this was the only one I saw in Lapland. 



We used to kill both the bank vole (Arvicola 

 riparia, Yarr.) and the field vole or short- tailed 

 field mouse (A. agrestris, Flem.) ; and besides 

 these we had another species of field vole (the 

 Lemmus medius, Nilss.), which is peculiar to the 

 north, and met with in all the valleys and meadows 

 at the foot of the fells, from Gudbrandsdalen, in 

 Norway, up to the North Cape. I cannot see this 

 species noticed in Clermont's "Mammalia," and 

 fancy that it has been confounded with the Arvicola 

 terrestris, De Selys, wliich it appears much to re- 

 semble. It is about 5 inches long, tail 2 inches 

 (7 inches in all) ; but specimens which I killed 

 varied very much in size and colour. The colour 

 is usually dark bright brown above, under parts 

 pale grey. It rather resembles the water vole in 

 form, but the far is more silky ; and Nilsson argues 

 that, from the absence of the stiff bushy hairs 

 which are strewed over the body of the water vole, 

 its habits are far more terrestrial. Of this I can 

 say nothing. I never saw one in the water, but 

 we used to get them in all the wet meadows, and 

 often in cow-houses and outhouses. 



There are also two other smaller species of 

 field vole in Lapland (the Lemmus rufucanus. 



