1900.] MUS STLVATICUS AND ITS ALLIES. 405 



Pattedyr, p. 99, pi. i. (1834) ; nee A. Dehne, W. E. de Winton et 

 aliorum (vide sub M. s. tvintoni). 



Type locality. Upsala, Sweden. 



Nomenclature and Synonymy. Melchior's M. flavicollis must 

 stand as a synonym of M. s. typings, since I find that the Mice of 

 llillerdd, in Zealand (an almost topotypical locality for the former 

 name), belong to the latter form, as shown by a collection made 

 there by Mr. Oldfield Thomas. This is unfortunate, since the 

 name flavicollis had, on the initiative of Mr. de Winton, been 

 applied to its British representative, for which, therefore, a new 

 name must now be instituted. 



Distinguishing Characteristics. A greyish Mouse, with rather 

 dark central dorsal region, resembling the subspecies wintoni in 

 size, but slightly smaller, and with the white of the underside far 

 less pure, the chest-band less prominent, and a slight tendency to 

 display a washing of yellowish colour on the underside. 



Distribution. Parts of Denmark, Norway, Sweden (I have seen 

 specimens from Laaland, Denmark ; Bergen, Norway, and Upsala, 

 Sweden), and, possibly, the southern shores of the Baltic. 

 Specimens from Brunswick, Germany, are intermediate between 

 this and other subspecies. 



General Remarks. Linnaeus may possibly not have had an adult 

 before him when he wrote his original description of Mus sylvaticus, 

 which runs as follows : — " M. cauda mediocri, palmis tetradactylis, 

 plantis pentadactylis, corpore griseo pilis nigris, abdomine albido." 

 This would apply very well to a not quite mature animal. At all 

 events the Long-tailed Field-mice of the localities given above are 

 distinguishable from those of other parts of Europe. In size 

 they are intermediate, being not so large as M. s. wintctni, but 

 larger than M. s. intermedins from Ireland, England, and the 

 neighbouring continental areas. The Mice of Brunswick seem 

 to connect this subspecies and the larger M. s. wintoni and M. s. 

 prineeps. A series obtained there by Mr. J. A. Loring are 

 smaller and less bright than other specimens which I have seen, 

 notably a set procured by myself in 1894. 



It is through the courtesy of Mr. G. S. Miller, Junior, who 

 sent me over two specimens collected by Mr. J. A. Loring at 

 Upsala, that I am enabled to know definitely what the Mouse 

 which Linnseus described is really like. It seems to be a reduced 

 and dulled edition of M. s. wintoni. 



I strongly suspect, however, the existence of two subspecies in the 

 Scandinavian Peninsula, but the material at my disposal is not yet 

 sufficient for their proper differentiation. The skins which I have 

 examined suggest the inference that those from Bergen are redder 

 on the flanks, darker on the central dorsal line, and yellower beneath 

 than those from Upsala, which latter agree with skins from 

 Meiningen, Germany, and are not so red on the flanks, nor so 

 dark on the central dorsal line ; all the Scandinavian and Meinin- 

 o-en specimens possess a breast-band or spot, and in two or three 

 individuals there is a wash of yellow continued right along the 



Pkoc. Zool. Soc— 1900, No. XXVII. 27 



