184 JULY 



Out of about forty known species of vole, three 

 inhabit the British Isles, namely, the water-vole 

 (Armcola amphibius); the field- vole (A. agrestis), which 

 is the pest that occasionally multiplies inordinately 

 and destroys immense tracts of pasture and young 

 woods; and the bank-vole (A. glareolus), dignified 

 by some naturalists as a separate genus, because its 

 characteristic vole molars sometimes alter with age, 

 the pulp cavities hardening, and regular roots 

 forming. 



It cannot be too widely known that anybody 

 killing a water-vole is destroying a perfectly harm- 

 less animal. 



LVIII 



Forcibly as every observant mind must be im- 

 Why Cattle pressed by the ingenious mechanism 

 S fce U t in 6 P rov ided ^7 Nature for the wants of 

 Herds animal and vegetable life, one is some- 

 times inclined to suggest remedies to apparent 

 imperfections. These lines are written in a river- 

 side tavern in Hampshire, where I am sheltering 

 from the torrid heat till approaching dusk shall set 

 the trout astir once more. In a little meadow 



