Q 
202 
ralists it will be asusefulas are the various volumes on British 
Zoology published by Mr. Van Voorst, to British zoologists. 
Atthe same time, thereis always a gain where there is a loss 
in these matters : what we lose in comprehensiveness we 
gain in detail ; and accordingly in M. Fatio’s book we find 
much that is valuable on account of the great care which 
he has taken in fersova/ investigation ; whilst the interest 
of the whole subject is enhanced by the peculiar and 
varied conditions of the ice-ploughed Switzerland, to 
which it relates. Such a valley as that of the Rhone in 
the Valais presents conditions of climate and vegetation 
comparable with those of the southern shores washed by 
the Mediterranean ; whilst an extensive region of perpetual 
snow is within a few hours’ walk of this favoured spot. 
The Alpine valleys of the Grisons, again, present peculiar 
conditions in their great elevation. M. Fatio finds, how- 
ever, that the encroachments of man, and his destruction 
of forest, have a more powerful influence on the distribu- 
tion of animals than mere circumstances of altitude. 
M. Fatio gives the number of mammals inhabiting 
Switzerland in the wild state—that is, excluding the cat, 
dog, horse, ass, ox, sheep, and goat—as fifty-eight, or as 
sixty-one, if the rabbit (which is not indigenous, but 
has been imported of late years) be reckoned, and the 
two minute forms, Sovear pygm@eus and Mus minutus, 
which have been said to occur, but which M, Fatio has 
not himself succeeded in finding. This list does not 
include the ibex, the stag, or the JZws agrardus, which 
have become extinct. Some mammals which occur in 
adjoining countries are remarkable for their absence in 
Switzerland: thus, the two bats Akzxolophus clivosus and 
R. Euryale, which occur in Lombardy, Jus agrarius, 
occurring near the Rhine on the north, and by Como to 
the south, Arvicola subterraneus, also found near the 
Rhine, and A. Saviz, found in Lombardy, are not met 
with in Switzerland. 
M. Fatio has increased the catalogue of Swiss mai- 
mals, as given by some of his predecessors, by the addition 
of nine species of bats, two insectivora, and four rodents, 
one of which is considered a new species altogether. 
This new species of M. Fatio, is a little black mouse, 
very much like the common house mouse (JZuvs musculus), 
but having a very dark black-coloured fur; the two 
presenting much the same contrast as do the JZus rattus 
and Mus Alexandrinus, which M. Fatio agrees with 
M. Arthur de V’Isle in considering one and the same 
species. ‘The new mouse, however, which is called J/us 
Poschiavinus, from the locality where it was observed, 
presents more important differences when compared with 
Mus musculus than those of colour and proportion only, 
The palatine ridges in JZ. Poschiavinus are four in 
number, in place of five in the common species, and the 
anterior simple ridges are of a different form. 
The strange thing about this little black mouse, which is 
found at Poschiavo in the Grisons, is that it lives on 
tobacco. It was first noticed in a tobacco-factory, and 
was found to make great ravages among the stores of the 
nicotian weed. When first caught, M. Fatio thought he 
had possibly got hold of young specimens of the black 
rat, but subsequently he obtained specimens bearing evident 
signs of maturity. It does not appear to have suggested 
itself to M. Fatio’s mind, that his M/ws Poschiavinus may 
he only a sample of the deleterious effect of indulgence in 
INGAT (OWS eS 
[ Fan. 13, 1870 
the noxious herb to which these rodents are addicted. 
What if this new black mouse is but a stunted race of the 
black rat? It would furnish an invaluable argument 
to the anti-tobacconists. 
A very pretty coloured plate, representing two Poschi- 
avinian mice helping themselves to cigars, illustrates the 
description of this species. It is not a little remarkable 
that an animal should normally feed on tobacco. Monkeys, 
as is well known to the frequenters of menageries, are 
exceedingly fond of the end of a cigar, and an elephant has 
been seen gravely to accept such an offering ; but one 
would have supposed that the amount of nicotine in a 
pinch of snuff was enough to make a mouse unwell. The 
indifference of these mice to the toxic action of tobacco, 
calls to mind the similar indifference on the part of 
pigeons (rodents are like birds in many things) to the 
toxic action of opium in the largest doses, as lately 
noticed by Dr. Weir Michell. 
Among the rarer and more interesting forms noticed 
by M. Fatio as still existing, or as having existed—for he 
notices the contents of the quaternary deposits in Switzer- 
land—are the Bear (Ursus arctos), the Wolf (Canzs lupus), 
the Wild Cat (Fels catus), the Lynx (Fels lynx), the 
Bouquetin or Ibex (Capra zbex), the Chamois (Capella 
rifricapra), and the Stag (Cervus elaphus), With regard 
to this last, it appears that, eighty years since, very fine 
specimens inhabited the Swiss valleys; now it only 
appears when driven from the German forests lying to 
the north; its remains are found in quaternary deposits. 
The fallow-deer is represented neither in the present nor 
in the quaternary fauna; the Roebuck, or Chevreuil, is 
the only cervine species still inhabiting the country. 
Wolves, lynxes, and wild cats are not uncommon in 
the forests of the Jura; but the lynx has not been found 
in the quaternary deposits, which is noteworthy, since 
Dr. Ransom, of Nottingham, has found it in England in 
such beds. 
The bear is commonest in the Grisons; every year 
there is some bear-hunting to be done in these wild and 
elevated valleys. The ibex, though no longer found in 
the Swiss Alps, occurs in the immediately adjacent territory 
of Lombardy ; where, however, it is now strictly preserved. 
The ibex of the Alps, of the Pyrenees, of Siberia, and of 
Crete, each have very distinctive characters, in the direc- 
tion and length of their horns, but are hardly to be 
considered as distinct species. Some naturalists, how- 
ever, distinguish a second species in Spain, as 2gyceros 
Hispanicus, occurring farther south than the so-called 
A=gyceros Pyrenaicus. The domesticated Capra hircus, 
has no doubt largely taken the place of the indigenous 
ibex; natural hybrids between the two are not uncommon. 
The industrious Swiss have sometimes exhibited to 
curious tourists an eccentric specimen of the common 
goat asalivingibex. M. Fatio mentions such an instance, 
which may put naturalist travellers on their guard. A 
specimen presented by the King of Italy may be seen 
in the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park. The chamois 
are still very numerous in Switzerland, though the 
large herds of eighty and a hundred, which used to be 
seen in past times, are not now met with. A certain 
amount of care is exercised now in regard to the time 
of hunting, and the animals are allowed to breed in 
security, so that they are on the increase in localities 
