ARVICOLA SUBTERRANEUS. 89 



Length of head and body, 3 inches 5 lines ; head, 1 inch ; 

 tail, 10 lines ; ears, 2 lines. — F. M. 



In its habits it much resembles the A. arvalis, the com- 

 mon Short-tailed Field-mouse of England and the North 

 of Europe, and is equally numerous and destructive. The 

 Prince of Musignano relates, that on one farm alone, in the 

 neighbourhood of Eome, 11,000 were killed in a single 

 season. 



It is the only species among the lesser Voles which 

 has been observed in Italy. De Selys Longchamps, as 

 quoted by Gervais, 'Zool. et Paleontol. Frangaise,' says 

 that the "A. Savii, as A. incertus, is ftmnd in Provence 

 (Var) and Languedoc, at Montpellier." M. Crespon has 

 found both A. Savii and A. incertus in the Gard, and 

 considers them to be distinct species (see his ' Faune Me- 

 ridionale') ; the former is very abundant there in culti- 

 vated plains. 



Arvicola subterraneus. 



Arvicola subterraneus, De Selys, Mioromm. ; Blasius, Wirbelth. 



Deutsch. 

 Lenimus pratensis, Baillon. 



Description. — Eather less than A. arvalis. Ears a little 

 shorter, as long as the fur, almost naked, surrounded at 

 base by long hairs, which, in the live animal, almost con- 

 ceal them ; eyes very small, less than in A. arvalis ; tail 

 rather less than one-third of the length of the body, covered 

 with blackish hairs above, with white or whitish beneath. 

 Fur almost entirely of different shades of greyish black, 

 except on the throat, which is dark ash ; and on the belly, 

 where they are ash tipped with white. In some speci- 

 mens the hairs beneath the body are earthy brown at their 

 tips, thus resembling some individuals of A. arvalis ; but 

 they never, like the latter, have a tinge of yellow on the 



