REPTILIA, BATKACHIA, AND MAMiSlALIA. 475 



strikingly different from the ordinary kind, but I have not as yet seen 

 specimens. 



Long-tailed Field Mouse. (Local name, as for the common mouse, 

 Soio-is.) Abundant in all the islands, and no doubt indigenous, at least 

 in Jersey. Its origin in Guerosey I have already discussed. Specimens 

 from inland districts are dark-coloured, but those on the coast, especially 

 among the sand dunes at St. Ouen's Bay and at Herm, are very light- 

 coloured, almost of the same tint as the sand. 



Field Vole. (Local name Jl/dot, but this term Mulot is very misleading, as 

 in Guernsey it is applied to the species before us, in Jersey to the " Bank 

 Vole," and in France to the " Continental Vole. ") As far as I can 

 ascertain the Field Vole is confined to Guernsey, but is there represented 

 by a form which differs so considerably from that of the Continent, and 

 of Great Britain (viz , Jlicrotus agrcstis) as to render it apparently a 

 distinct species, ne^v to science. It has not yet been described or named, 

 but j\Ir. Bunting informs me that it is at this moment receiving the 

 attention of sjDecialists at the British Museum. 



Bank Vole. (Local name Mulot.) This is confined to Jersey, and although 

 for some years known to represent a distinct species, has only just been 

 determined and named Evotomijs ccesarms* It is endemic, and th e question 

 arises : Has Jersey been insular for a period sufficiently long to evolve a 

 distinct species, or does it represent an ancient type of which the conti- 

 nental ancestors have disappeared ? Scharff , in his ' ' Origin of the 

 European Animals," states that the Orkney Islands have evolved a species 

 of their own, and so perhaps the former alternative is possible. Mr. 

 Bunting informs me that the species most closely allied to this vole is one 

 found in Skomer Island and named Ecotomys Kkomerensis, but this is of 

 lighter colour, and also presents other points of difference. Our Jersey 

 vole is a very beautiful little animal of a rich chestnut brown colour above, 

 sometimes transversely barred with still darker brown, and paler beneath, 

 with a round, squirrel-like head, and its ears, although ample, are out of 

 sight, buried in the soft fur. It is very abundant, and a great pest to 

 the market gardener, attacking not only recently sown peas and beans 

 but the soft portion of the stems of most growing plants. It frequents 

 banks, wooded slopes and old walls, rarely open ground. A freshly 

 caught specimen at my elbow, awaiting taxidermic attention, gives the 

 follo^\T-ng measurements : Length from nose to root of tail, four and a 

 half inches, or tail inclusive six inches ; girth in mid-body, three and a 

 half inches. There are specimens in the Guille-AUes Museum and in the 

 3Iuseum of the SocieU Jersiaise. 



Water Vole. (Local name Rat cVeau.) Occurs in Jersey and Guernsey. I 

 have no record as to the other islands. In Jersey it is not nearly so 

 common as in former years, a fact difficult to account for, as the condi- 

 tions necessary for it have, as far as can be seen, nowise altered. 



Squirrel. Occurs in Jersey only, and even if originally indigenous, it is 

 pretty certain that those now present are from introduced stock. Num- 

 bers have been brought from France and liberated here to my knowledge 

 several times within the last twenty years. But I remember that when 

 a lad I had a conversation with one of the then "oldest inhabitants," 

 who told me that he and his companions had often chased squirrels in 

 some wooded land occupying the site where now stands St. Luke's 

 Church and neighbourhood. This would have been during the first 

 quarter of last century. AVhether they had already then been introduced 

 or were reaUy the survivors of an original race, it is not possible to say 

 now. At present they are fairly numerous in the north and north-west 

 of the island, and are spreading towards the centre, some being now seen 

 as close to the town as VaUey des Vaux. 



* It is described by Dr. Miller in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History 

 for February, 1908. 



