ON A BLACK VARIETY OF THE WATER VOLE. 291 



himself have ever come across a black Water Vole in Suffolk, 

 though expending much time in studying the habits of this small 

 quadruped. Mr. F. Kerry writes : — " A friend of mine (who 

 has been with me trying to find the black form) tells me that 

 he used to find it on the Barsham Marshes, in Suffolk, that it 

 was not so large as the brown form, and had a shorter tail." 

 The Eev. Julian G. Tuck writes from Tostock Rectory, Bury 

 St. Edmunds, " I do not think we have this variety here ; last 

 winter (1892) I shot one on the ice which looked very black, but 

 it was only a common one." 



Essex. — Dr. Laver and Mr. Kerry both assure us that the 

 brown form is the only one found, to their knowledge, in Essex. 

 Mr. Kerry most obligingly forwarded what he considered a typical 

 specimen. Mr. Miller Christy writes : — " All I can say is that 

 I can't prove its non -occurrence, as it is proverbially difficult to 

 prove a negative ; but I have never seen it myself, nor have I any 

 note of its having ever occurred in the county ; nor have I ever 

 seen it personally elsewhere." 



Kent. — Mr. E. Bartlett informed Macpherson last year that 

 he had never met with this variety near Maidstone. Neither has 

 Macpherson himself, though fairly acquainted with this and other 

 southern counties. But Mr. Charles Gordon says that black 

 Water Voles do exist in Kent — i. e. in Gavington Marsh, near 

 Littlebourn — and he is disposed to think that they frequent the 

 banks of the Stour. He adds that this melanotic form does not 

 occur near Dover. 



Sussex. — Mr. W. Borrer, of Cowfold, near Horsham, informs 

 us that he has not met with it in his neighbourhood ; but we 

 learn from Mr. Harting that the late Mr. William Jeffery, of 

 Ratham, near Chichester, a frequent correspondent at one time 

 to ' The Zoologist,' obtained two or three at different times on 

 the mill-stream near Bosham. [See Zool. 1865, p. 9706, and 

 1876, p. 5177.— Ed.] 



Hampshire. — Mr. G. B. Corbin writes:— "I had never seen 

 the form myself, so have made enquiries of several persons whose 

 knowledge of both the Avon and the Stour would place them in 

 a position at least to give an opinion, but I can obtain no single 

 instance of the black form having been seen near here (Ring- 

 wood)." The Rev. J. E. Kelsall writes that he has never met 

 with the black form near Fareham, and the extensive enquiries 





