THE ZOOLOGIST 



THIRD SERIES. 



Vol.XVL] AUGUST, 1892. [No. 188. 



ON A BLACK VARIETY OF THE WATER VOLE, 



ARVICOLA AMPH1BIUS. 



By H. A. Macpherson and 0. V. Aplin. 



The scope of the present paper is limited to an attempt to 

 trace, however imperfectly, the distribution in Great Britain of 

 the black variety of the Water Vole. This form of Arvicola 

 amphibius has long been known, and has been recognised by 

 continental naturalists, including Pallas, who found it in Siberia ; 

 but it was first brought into notice in Great Britain by William 

 Macgillivray, in a paper entitled " Description of a species of 

 Arvicola common in Aberdeenshire," read before the Wernerian 

 Society on May 1st, 1830. On that occasion Macgillivray claimed 

 specific rank for this variety, on the strength of " having seen 

 several hundred individuals, and handled at least a dozen."* At 

 a later date he abandoned this position, stating : — '* At one time 

 I felt pretty confident that this Black Water Rat is specifically 

 distinct from the common or brown kind ; and even now I do 

 not consider it impossible that it may be so, but the form, 

 structure, proportions, and pile are so similar, and the skeletons 

 present so little difference, that until better distinctions than 

 I can point out are obtained, it may be as well to consider it 

 merely as a variety." t 



Accepting Macgillivray's later views as agreeing most closely 

 with those of modern zoologists, we may proceed to detail 



* Mem. Wern. N. H. S. vi. p. 425. f Nat. Libr.' xiii. p. 203-5. 



ZOOLOGIST.— AUGUST, 1892. Z 



