that from nose to tail, they were just two inches and 

 a quarter, and their tails just two inches long. Two 

 of them, in a scale, weighed down just one copper 

 halfpenny, which is about the third of an ounce avoir- 

 dupois : so that I suppose they are the smallest quad- 

 rupeds in this island. A full grown Mus medius do- 

 mesticus weighs, I find, one ounce lumping weight, 

 which is more than six times as much as the mouse 

 above ; and measures from nose to rump four inches 

 and a quarter, and the same in its tail. We have had 

 a very severe frost and deep snow this month. My 

 thermometer was one day fourteen degrees and a half 

 below the freezing point, within doors. The tender 

 evergreens were injured pretty much. It was very 

 providential that the air was still, and the ground 

 well covered with snow, else vegetation in general 

 must have suffered prodigiously. There is reason to 

 believe that some days were more severe than any 

 since the year 1739-40. 

 Selborne, /««. 22, 1768. 



LETTER XIV. 

 To Thomas Pennant, Esq. 



If some curious gentleman would procure the 

 head of a fallow deer, and have it dissected, he 

 would find it furnished with two spiracula, or 



55 



