86 THE INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS. 



burrows of the Vole abound ; therefore this sin- 

 gular tithe ensures a considerable revenue to 

 those who levy it, as may be understood when we 

 renaember the extent of the stores amassed by the 

 animal. 



A Vole resembling the Arvicola arvalis, but larger, 

 paler, and more rat-like, with large shining eyes and 

 very short tail, overran in 1892-93 the classic land 

 of Thessaly, the land of Olympus, and the Vale of 

 Tempe. It has always inhabited this region, and the 

 old Greeks had an Apollo Smintheus, or Myoktonos, 

 the Mouse-destroying God. "At the beginning of 

 March," according to Prof Loeffler, who has given an 

 account of this invasion,i " the Voles were only begin- 

 ning to troop from the slopes of the hills and the 

 fallow-lands to the cultivated fields. It was frequently 

 observed that they followed regular paths during their 

 inroads. Thus they advanced along the railway em- 

 bankment. Their progress seemed to be rather slow. 

 Perhaps they do not advance further till the inhabit- 

 ants of one of their strongholds or so-called castles 

 have become too numerous. The runs which they 

 excavate are at a depth of about twenty to thirty 

 centimetres below the surface of the ground. The 

 extent of their runs varies, and we found them ex- 

 tending in length from thirty to forty metres and 

 more. These runs are connected with the surface by 

 vertical holes of about five centimetres in diameter. 

 In many places four, five, and more holes have led to 

 the same run. In such cases there is generally, not 

 far off, an enlargement for the nest, lined with finely- 

 ground vegetable material, where the young are pro- 



' Ctntralblatt f. Bak. u. Parasitenkunde, July 1892, and Zoologist, 

 September 1893. 



