THE HIGHLAND GRASS MOUSE 439 



THE HIGHLAND GRASS MOUSE. 



MICROTUS AGRESTIS NEGLECTUS (Thompson in Jenyns). 



1841. Arvicola NEGLECTA, William Thompson in Leonard Jenyns, Ann. and Mag. 



Nat. Hist., 270, June ; described from moors near Megarnie {sic\ i.e., Meggernie 



Castle, Perthshire, Scotland. 

 1857. Arvicola agrestis (b.), Arvicola neglecta, J. H. Blasius, Sdugethiere 



Deutschlands, 369 (part). 

 tSge. MiCROTUS AGRESTIS NEGLECTUS, G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton, Proc. Zool. Soc, 



London, 598 and 606 (part) ; Trouessart (part) ; Miller, Catalogue. 



Local names (non-Celtic) : — grass mouse, hill mouse, meadow mouse, 

 water mouse (the Xz-Vitx fide E. R. Alston), i.e., earth hound (Taylor). 



(Celtic): — luch-fheoir or hich-an fheoir=" grz.ss mouse," is used 

 indiscriminately for all mice in Scotland, as is fiolagan in Arran 

 (C. H. Alston). 



History : — Although described by Thompson in a paper by Jenyns 

 in 1841, it cannot be said that the original description added anything 

 to knowledge. In fact the name neglectus, although first applied to the 

 highland form of true agrestis, was actually transferred by de S61ys and 

 many subsequent writers, including myself, to the small southern 

 hirtus. The synonymy and relationships are now, however, clear, 

 mainly as the result of the work of Miller and of Hinton in different 

 fields of mammalogy, and of Ogilvie-Grant in organising a collection 

 of Scottish mammals. 



Distribution: — This is the Grass Mouse of the Highlands of 

 Scotland, where it is widely distributed and common in all suitable 

 localities to the highest summits of the mountains, as, for instance, 

 around and in the observatory buildings on Ben Nevis at 4400 feet 

 (Bruce, Ann. Scott. Nat. Hist., 1896, 187). It is not definitely known 

 exactly where neglectus ends and hirtus begins. Service's {Journ. cit., 

 1903, 68) and W. Evans's remarks on the distinctness of hill and 

 lowland specimens in the Solway and Edinburgh districts suggest that 

 neglectus ranges to the hills of south Scotland, and I have seen 

 specimens from Lanarkshire taken by Kinnear. Millais probably 

 alludes to these two forms when he states that, although English 

 specimens vary very little in colour, immediately the Border is crossed, 

 beginning with Wigtownshire and the Cheviots, two very distinct types 

 are found, one larger and greyer on the hills, the other smaller and 

 redder and with thinner coat on the low ground. Millais believes 

 that the distinctions are accentuated as one goes north, but that the 

 succession of "intermediate varieties is so continuous and so well- 

 connected that it is impossible to create a dividing line." The question 



