288 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Wiltshire. — The Rev. A. P. Morres writes from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Salisbury that he has only noticed the brown form : 

 — " They vary rather in colour, but I have never come across a 

 really black one." 



Hertfordshire. — Macpherson resided chiefly in Herts from 

 1869 to 1876, during which period he saw a yellow and a white 

 variety of the Water Rat, but never came across a black 

 specimen. Mr. M. Vaughan shares in his belief in the absence 

 of this form. 



Surrey. — Our correspondents only report the brown form, 

 and Macpherson has spent many weeks in Surrey without seeing 

 any other. 



Shropshire. — Mr. Beckwith writes from Shrewsbury : — " The 

 Black Water Rat is a local form here. I have always thought it 

 rather more common about pools than by streams. Round the 

 Ellesmere meres I have often seen it, but not on the Severn." 



Staffordshire. — Mr. E. W. H. Blagg writes to say that his 

 local evidence is " entirely of a negative character. He has never 

 met with, heard of, or read of, the black form in this county." 



Lincolnshire. — Mr. H. F. Allison has " never come across 

 the black form of the Water Rat, either along the Witham bank 

 in this part of the county or in the marsh district between 

 Louth and the sea." Mr. G-. H. Caton Haigh writes : — " In 

 North-Eastern Lincolnshire — where from the nature of the 

 country the common variety of the Water Rat is very abundant — 

 I some few years ago made many enquiries from keepers, rat- 

 catchers, and men employed on the drains, with a view to 

 ascertain whether the black race ever occurred, but in every 

 case without result ; and as I never met with it myself, I think 

 I may safely say that it is absent from that district." But the 

 Black Water Vole occurs in some parts of this county, for 

 Mr. Cordeaux writes:— " In North Lincolnshire it is not un- 

 common in the neighbourhood of the river Ancholme near Brigg, 

 and it has been reported to me as seen in one or two other 

 localities. I think all I can report about it is ' local, but rare.' " 

 Mr. W. Hopwood reports that on April 20th, 1890, he shot a 

 distinctly black Water Vole at South Thoresby, a village about 

 nine miles south [norih ?] of Louth. In the summer of 1874 a 

 black Water Vole was observed by Mr. C. M. Prior near Horn- 

 castle. 



