ON THE BANK VOLE. 367 



Rowe, Thomas Cornish, E. H. Rodd, and C. Spenoe Bate ; bat 

 nothing further is stated beyond the facts above mentioned. 



In Devonshire the Bank Vole appears to be either very rare 

 or extremely local. For a long time it was only accorded a place 

 in the fauna of Devon on account of its having been included, by 

 the Rev. W. S. Hore, in a list contributed by him to Rowe's 

 ' Perambulation of Dartmoor ' ; and for this reason it was 

 included by Mr. Brooking Rowe in his ' Catalogue of the 

 Mammals, Birds, &c., indigenous to or observed in the County 

 of Devon,' published in 1863. The species of Vole described 

 and figured by Bellamy, in his ' Nat. Hist. S. Devon ' (1839), 

 under the name of Arvicola hirta, as already remarked, was most 

 likely a variety of Arvicola agrestis. It was not until 1879 that 

 Mr. D'Urban, the energetic Curator of the Albert Memorial 

 Museum, at Exeter, was enabled to state with certainty that 

 A.glareolus really does occur in Devonshire. In ' The Zoologist' 

 for that year (p. 487), after stating that there were no well- 

 authenticated instances of its occurrence in that county, he 

 announced his reception at last of a living sj)ecimen, which had 

 been captured by Mr. A. Dudley at Ide, near Exeter. Other 

 examples may, therefore, be expected to occur. 



We can hardly doubt, also, that it will be met with in Wilts 

 and Dorsetshire, if looked for in suitable spots. 



The Bank Vole is included by Mr. A. G. More in his 

 " Catalogue of the Mammalia of the Isle of Wight," printed in 

 Venables' ' Guide to the Isle of Wight ' ; but, beyond the mere 

 insertion of the name, no information is given respecting it. As 

 this * Guide,' however, was published so long ago as 1860, when 

 less attention was paid to the geographical distribution of species 

 than at the present time, due allowance must be made. 



It is most probable that in the attempt which has been made 

 to trace the distribution of Arvicola glareolus in the British 

 Islands, many records may have been overlooked which ought to 

 have been noticed. In this case it is to be hoped that readers will 

 forward a note of such omissions as may appear to them important, 

 and particularly a note of any localities with which they may be 

 acquainted in counties where, so far as the writer is aware, the 

 occurrence of this species has not yet been made known. 



In order to aid those who may have leisure to search for it, 

 we may point out the chief characters which serve to distinguish 



