NOTES ON CORNISH MAMMALS. 417 
The Water Vole (Microtus amphibius, L.) is common in suit- 
able habitats throughout the county. The Field Vole, too 
(M. agrestis, L.), is abundant, especially in low-lying, damp 
srass-land. The Bank Vole (Hvotomys glareolus, Schreb.) was 
apparently overlooked by the older naturalists. Though probably 
nowhere common, it is widely distributed. The first local speci- 
men seen by the writer was killed in Restormel Valley in May, 
1901. The following month two were captured as the result of 
a systematic search.in an ivy-covered hedgebank at Budock, Fal- 
mouth. Single specimens have been obtained at Constantine 
after much hunting, at Pencalenick, at Trerice, near Newquay, 
and in the neighbourhood of Luxulyan. On Whit-Monday, 
1906, one was picked up running across the road at the entrance 
to Carnanton Woods at Mawgan. In spite of frequent and 
repeated search none have been found around Padstow or in the 
neighbourhood of Poundstock and Millook. In a miscellaneous 
collection formed by R. O. Waters, of Truro, was the skin of a 
Bank Vole that had been killed in the spring of 1900, about 
fifty yards beyond the Truro Viaduct in the direction of Idless. 
The Hare (Lepus ewropeus, Pall.), though formerly common 
over the greater part of Cornwall, is now local and somewhat 
scarce. The Rabbit (ZL. cuniculus, L.) is abundant almost 
everywhere. 
The geographical.position of Cornwall and the long extent of 
seaboard raise great expectations as to the occurrence of Cetacea, 
but in the past their identification has been too often a matter of 
assumption rather than of systematic diagnosis. During the 
past nine years, though Whales have several times been reported, 
none have been identified. 
The Grampus (Orca gladiator, Lacépéde) appeared in Mount’s 
Bay in 1902, and again in 1905. In 1902 it was identified off 
Meyagissey and at Fowey. In the autumn of 1904 a young 
specimen about fourteen feet long was caught in a drift-net near 
the Wolf Rock. Risso’s Grampus (Grampus griseus, Cuv.) has 
not been recorded since 1870, or the Pilot or Ca’ing Whale 
(Globicephalus melas, Traill) since 1874. The Porpoise or 
Sniffer of the Cornish fisherman (Phocena communis, Less.) is 
common along the south coast, and is frequently observed on the 
Zool. 4th ser. vol. XII., November, 1908, 2k 
