( 571 ) 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



Trapping Shrews and Voles. — I can fully endorse Mr. Pocock's 

 remarks on the abundance of Microtus glareolus as regards my own 

 county. I have trapped numbers of them, had many brought to me 

 during haytime and harvest, and the cats often bring them into the house ; 

 but still, in districts that I have worked, M. agrestis is the preponderating 

 species. Sorex minutus I have only succeeded in trapping once, though I 

 am anxious to obtain specimens. S. araneus swarms, and Crossopus 

 fodiens is common in suitable localities. Mus messorius I have never yet 

 seen in the county. M. sylvaticus is ubiquitous, but though my friend Mr. 

 James Backhouse and myself have examined a great number, we have not 

 yet come upon the variety, as we consider it, M. flavicollis, though we are 

 anxious to obtain a few specimens. Muscardinus avellanarius is very 

 local. — Oxley Grabham, M.A. (Chestnut House, Heworth, York). 



CARNIVORA. 



Common Seal in the River Arun, Sussex. — In September last a 

 Seal made its appearance off the mouth of the Arun at Littlehampton, and 

 finally ascended the river above Arundel, at a distance of about seven miles 

 from the sea. It was eventually shot, and whilst in the flesh I was afforded 

 an opportunity of noting the following particulars. It was a male 

 specimen of the Common Seal, Phoca vitulina, about three parts grown, 

 measuring 3 feet 7 inches in length, girth 27 inches, front flapper 7 inches 

 long, weight 40 lb., with the molar teeth placed obliquely, one of the 

 characteristics of this species. With an acquaintance of the neighbourhood 

 for over fifty years, this is, I believe, the first instance of such an occurrence ; 

 the animal, in this case, being no doubt attracted by the shoals of Bass 

 which in the early autumn are taken here in considerable numbers. 

 Within the last two seasons I have seen two brought on shore, both 

 of them exceeding 12 lb. in weight — one caught on light roach tackle, 

 after nearly an hour's tussle of a most exciting kind. — Percy E. Coombe 

 (Surrey House, Arundel). 



AVES. 



Local Name of the Sheldrake—Mr. C. B. Horsbrugh does not 

 remember (ante, \). 508) seeing the name St. George's Duck iu any book ; 



