72 Quadrupeds. 



of the mouse tribe, the harvest mouse [Mus messorius), the long-tailed 

 field mouse {Mus sylcaticus), the common mouse (Mus muscuhis), the 

 black rat {Mus rattus) and the brown rat {Mus decumanus) : all these 

 species are well-known animals, and nothing new occurs in their his- 

 tory : the others are called voles ; the water rat {Arvicola amphihius), 

 the short-tailed field mouse {A. agrestis)^ and the bank vole or bank 

 mouse iA.pratensis); the last is a recent addition to our British quad- 

 rupeds for which we are indebted to Mr. Yarrell, by whom it was de- 

 scribed in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1832, p. 109, 

 under the name of Arvicola riparia. There appears to be a fourth 

 species of vole indigenous to this country : it is described by 

 Mr. Thompson under the name of Arv. neglect a, (Ann. and Mag. 

 Nat. Hist. vii. 274). Mr. Jenyns thinks this may prove to be the 

 Mus agrestis of Linneus, while our short-tailed field mouse he sup- 

 poses to be the Arv. arvalis of Pallas. 



In the hare tribe Mr. Bell describes four species, the common hare 

 {Lepus timidus), the Irish hare (Z. hibernicus), the varying hare {L, 

 variabilis), and the rabbit {L. cuniculus). The Irish hare is an addi- 

 tion to our British animals, brought into notice by the Earl of Derby. 

 " In the year 1833, the Earl of Derby, then Lord Stanley, and President of the 

 Linnean Society, sent to that society a specimen of the hare of Ireland, which his 

 lordship had obtained at Liverpool. It was described by Mr. Yarrell at that time, and 

 subsequently at a meeting of the Zoological Society in the same year. A careful ex- 

 amination of several specimens has assured me that it is not merely a variety of the 

 common hare of England, but that it is specifically distinct. The characters in which 

 it principally differs from the latter are as follows : — It is somewhat larger ; the head 

 is rather shorter ; the ears are even shorter than the head, while those of the English 

 hare are fully an inch longer ; the limbs are proportionally rather shorter ; and the 

 hinder legs do not so much exceed the fore legs in length. The character of the fur 

 is also remarkably different : it is composed exclusively of the uniform soft and short- 

 er hair which in the English species is mixed with the black-tipped long hairs, which 

 give the peculiar mottled appearance of that animal ; it is therefore of a uniform red- 

 dish brown colour cm the back and sides. The ears are reddish grey, blackish at the 

 tip, with a dark line near the outer margin. The tail is of nearly the same relative 

 length as in the common species. The numerous discrepancies in the colour and tex- 

 ture of the fur, and in the form and proportion of the different parts of the animal, ap- 

 pear to me to be too important to constitute merely the characters of a variety. 



" It cannot be confounded with the alpine hare, although the relative length of the 

 ears is nearly the same ; the size and form of the body, the tail, and the texture and 

 colour of the fur being strikingly different. 



" It is certainly a very remarkable circumstance that it should have remained un- 

 noticed until so late a period ; and can only be accounted for by the fact that it is the 

 only hare found in Ireland, and that therefore the opportunity of comparison did not 

 froHiently occur. The fur of this hare, from the absence of the long fine dark hairs 

 whicli constitute the beauty of the common species, is considered of no value.'' — p. 341 



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