54 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



were composed in about equal proportions of the remains of cray-flsh and 

 small fishes. — Miller Christy (Pryors, Broomfield, near Chelmsford). 



Unusual abundance of the Bank Vole in 1893. — The Bank or Red 

 Vole, Microtus glareolus, is generally supposed to be a somewhat rare 

 animal, at least as compared to its brown relative the Short-tailed Field 

 Vole, Microtns agrestis, and its occurrence in this or that county has been 

 from time to time noticed in * The Zoologist,' a distinction which has 

 probably never befallen agrestis. During the past year, however, it seems 

 to have been surprisingly abundant everywhere, for of a large number of 

 Voles trapped and sent to the Natural History Museum by various friends 

 who are aiding in the formation of a better collection of British small 

 mammals, the majority have proved to belong to the Red species. Thus, 

 beginning northward, of about thirty Voles sent from Elgin by Mr. W. R. O. 

 Grant, all but two were glareolus; all those obtained in Cumberland by 

 Mr. J. Paul, by Mr. E. W. H. Blagg in Staffordshire, by myself in 

 Middlesex, and by Mr. R. J. Pocock in Dorsetshire, proved to be the same, 

 while in the Isle of Wight I found the two species apparently equally 

 numerous. All these collectors were trying to procure as many specimens 

 as possible, irrespective of species. This reversal of the usual relative 

 frequency of the two species seems worthy of mention in ■ The Zoologist,' 

 even though it may possibly be explained by the presumption that in order 

 to conceal the traps more effectually they may have been placed oftener in 

 hedges and copses than in the open fields, where agrestis is generally to be 

 found. A second disturbing factor may be a difference in the readiness 

 with which the two species will enter traps. The relative frequency of the 

 different small terrestrial species may be a little gauged by the fact that 

 the above-named five collectors, without special local knowledge, setting 

 traps hap-hazard in likely places, caught about sixty Mus sylvaticus, fifty 

 M. glareolus, ten Microtus argrestis, thirty Sorex vulgaris, one S. pygmaus, 

 and one Crosopus fodiens, in the course of the summer and autumn. No 

 dormice or harvest mice were obtained. Any readers of ' The Zoologist* 

 who may be able and willing to contribute specimens to the National 

 Collection should send them to the Museum by post as soon as possible 

 after they are caught. — 0. Thomas (Natural History Museum, Cromwell 

 Road, S.W.). 



Bank Vole in Oxfordshire. — Last December (1893) one of my 

 nephews, at my instigation, began to trap field mice at Bodicote, and on 

 the 29th he caught a male Bank Vole. Some time ago I picked up a 

 partly-decomposed specimen at Bloxham ; but I have never hitherto made 

 any especial search for this species in Oxfordshire, and although, from 

 its distribution in England, there is every probability of its being fairly 

 common with us, I believe this is the first published record of its 

 occurrence in this neighbourhood. — 0. V. Aplin (Bloxham, Oxon). 



