422 MURID^— EVOTOMYS 



25 to 26-2 mm.), and has a narrow dark mantle moderately in contrast 

 with the dull greyish flanks. E. n. hallucalis (Thomas), of the 

 Aspromonte Mountains and Monte Pellino, southern Italy (Basilicata 

 and Calabria), is a well-marked form, closely resembling E. n. nageri 

 externally, but with a longer, narrower brain-case, shorter rostrum, 

 short wide incisive foramina, and larger teeth. Miller's E. casarius 

 {Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., February 1908, 194), first taken by me at 

 St Helier, Jersey, has rich dark colour, short tail and ears, and very 

 large and massive skull; the head and body averages iii, tail 51, 

 hind foot 19-3, ear 11-4, and condylo-basal length of skull 25 to 27-4. 



Origin : — There can be no doubt that the Skomer Mouse is the 

 descendant of ancestors formerly inhabiting a region extending at least 

 from Raasay Island, Scotland, to Skomer Island and Jersey. As stated 

 above, they have been driven out by glareolus, and isolation has pro- 

 duced local differentiation, so that there are now four known forms, of 

 which skomerensis and C(ssarius are more distinct than the representa- 

 tives of the same stock inhabiting the mountainous regions of western 

 Europe. The recent discovery of the Scottish members of the group 

 remarkably fulfils Stejneger's prophecy {Smiths. Misc. Coll., 4th May 

 1907, 478) that he "would not be surprised if they also were to be 

 found in the northern highland of Scotland." 



Very little is known about the habits of this mouse. Mr Robert 

 Drane always took it about or inside farm buildings, and Dr Y. H. 

 Mills in the heaps of swedes in which it was feeding. Mr Drane kept 

 five alive, and these soon became tame, and increased to forty-seven 

 between June and October. He mentions a litter of five. 



ALSTON'S BANK MOUSE. 



EVOTOMYS ALSTON!, Barrett-Harailton and Hinton. 



1913. EvOTOMYS ALSTONI, G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton and M. A. C. Vi\n\.on, Abstract 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. (London), No. 119, 15th April 1913, 18; and Proc. Soc. cit, 

 1913, 827; described from Mull, Scotland (type specimen No. i4.i.30.4of British 

 Museum collection). 



Distribution: — This mouse is at present known only from the 

 Island of Mull, Scotland, where five specimens were taken by R. W. 

 Sheppard in June 1912, during a trip managed by Ogilvie-Grant and 

 financed by many subscribers.^ 



' This first attempt at systematic examination of the mammals of the western 

 islands of Scotland, carried on, in spite of many difficulties, under the superin- 

 tendence of Ogilvie-Grant, by R. W. Sheppard in 1912, and by D. Anderson, 

 P. D. Montague, and C. H. B. Grant in 1913, resulted in the discovery of one new 

 species of Shrew {Sorex grantii), two new species of Evotomys {E. alstoni and 

 erica) ; and three new sub-species of the Northern Grass-Mouse, Microtus agrestis 



