188 The Zoologist. 



wonderful stories of Mice ; and if anyone had leisure to collect and com- 

 pare them, they would afford material for an extremely interesting article. 

 We commend this to the consideration of the Rev. W. Houghton, whose 

 interesting little book on the ' Natural History of the Ancients ' (post 8vo, 

 London, Cassell & Co., 1879) lies before us as we write, and who, with the 

 knowledge of a naturalist, combines a familiar acquaintance with Greek 

 and Latin authors. Apropos of this subject, we may direct attention to a 

 brief article entitled " Field Voles and the Apolline Worship," by the Rev. 

 W. Warde Fowler, of Oxford, published in the ' Classical Review ' for 

 November, 1892, and to a longer one with the title " Apollo the Mouse 

 God," in the ' Stonyhurst Magazine ' (December, 1892), which emanates 

 from the well-known college in Lancashire, the article in question being 

 attributed by report to the pen of a young but promising student of 

 zoology, Mr. C. D. Plater. That there is a good deal of misconception 

 and some exaggeration in the accounts of Voles given by the ancients is of 

 course admitted, but that a good deal of ignorance still prevails on the 

 subject is evident from what is stated in a long article headed " The Plague 

 of Voles," in a London newspaper, published as recently as the 15th of 

 April last. The writer of this article informs his readers that Voles, 

 " though small, are really more of a cross between Squirrels and 

 Beavers " (!) ; that " their molars, if they have flat tops, have transverse 

 sides"; that " they run up trees, squirrel-like, and nibble at the tender 

 bark up high "; that " they are partially dormant in winter," and "lay up 

 stores which contain bits of carrots and potatoes, and among these often 

 cherry-stones." This is a curious jumble of the habits of the Squirrel, 

 Dormouse, Long-tailed Field Mouse, and Short-tailed Vole, which, it need 

 hardly be said, is not to be found in the lately -issued Report of the Com- 

 mittee on Field Voles which the writer pretends to review. — Ed.] 



CETACEA. 



Hump-backed Whale on the Coast of Sligo.— On March 21st a 

 specimen of the Hump-backed Whale, Mega^tera longimana (Rudolphi), so 

 rare in the British Seas, came ashore on the Enniscrone sands, Co. Sligo. 

 The animal had probably been feeding too close to shore iu the shallow 

 water, and on grounding was overpowered by the surf and cast upon the 

 sands. It lived for some hours, and at times lashed the water furiously 

 with its tail and spouted from its blow-holes, occasionally opening and 

 shutting its mouth. The body whs very clumsy, and so thick as to look 

 quite out of proportion to its length, being probably between twenty and 

 thirty feet in circumference ; black in colour all over the upper parts (the 

 under parts, being buried in the sand, could not be seen), except the long 

 narrow flippers, which were white, with a few black spots on upper side, 

 and a few patches of white on the margin and under side of flukes, and 



