86 



HARD Wl CKE ' S SCIENCE-GO SSI P. 



" ring " about the lines and the sentiments and con- 

 tlusionsj.which proved that there was a new " chiel 

 amongst us, takin' notes. "Extinct Monsters," 

 whether from a literary, scientific, or artistic point of 

 view, is the best book and most interesting book on 

 popular geology since Hugh Miller's time. We 

 should have noticed it before but that the publishers 

 kindly offered us the loan of a few artistic blocks, 

 and we could not obtain them before for the reason 

 that the public required a re-issue of the book. The 

 public is evidently growing wiser ! 



Annals of B?-itish Geology, 1 89 1, by J. F. Blake 

 (London: Dulau & Co.). With six plates. This is 

 the second year's issue of one of the most useful 

 books a geologist could place on his shelf. It is 

 brimful of conscientious and careful work. It contains 

 the pith and marrow of the matter of nearly seven 

 hundred books, papers, and pamphlets relating to 

 geology, published during the year 1891, besides 

 illustrations of all the new species of British fossils 

 discovered during that period. Professor Blake's 

 name alone will be a sufficient guarantee for the 

 accuracy and fairness of the notices and summaries. 



British Jurassic Brachiopoda, by W. H. Hudle- 

 ston, Pres. G.S., and Edward Wilson, F.G.S. 

 (London: Dulau & Co.). A most important work, 

 which nobody but enthusiasts would undertake, and 

 yet an absolutely necessary work for palaeontologists 

 all over the globe, for the genera and species 

 described are not necessarily British. It is es- 

 sentially a work of authoritative reference, from 

 which there can be no appeal. Mr. Hudleston, the 

 president of the Geological Society of London, is 

 responsible for the Oolitic portion of the work, and 

 Mr. Edward Wilson (of the Bristol Museum) for the 

 Liassic part. Over a thousand species of fossil 

 Jurassic Gasteropoda are herein classified and cata- 

 logued, and their bibliography detailed as well. It 

 is a monument of solid, patient, and valuable 

 scientific learning, and the volume is bound to be 

 appreciated at the high value it deserves. 



THE LONG-TAILED AND SHORT-TAILED 

 FIELD MICE. 



By K. HURLSTONE JONES. 



THEY are both very great friends of mine, es- 

 pecially he of the short tail, albeit he is not 

 so good-looking as his relation. The long-tailed is, 

 indeed, one of the most beautiful mammals inhabiting 

 this island. His body and limbs are long and agile ; 

 his tail, too, is very long and tapering, as his name 

 implies, whilst his ears are large and round, and of a 

 very delicate texture. His colour, too, is very beauti- 

 ful, the bright fawn of his head and back contrasting 

 most tastefully with the spotless white of the thorax 

 and abdomen. The beautiful full, round, liquid black 

 eye is, however, perhaps the most striking feature of 



this truly pretty creature. Indeed, it is marvellous 

 how the Great Creator has lavished his gifts upon 

 apparently the smallest and meanest of His creatures, 

 as those who take the trouble to investigate them can 

 show. 



The short-tail, although he does not approach^his 

 second cousin in point of looks, is far from wanting 

 in beauty. His bright chestnut back and head, and 

 his grey thorax and abdomen, although not so 

 striking as regards colour, still might be preferred 

 by some to those of his long-tailed kinsman. His 

 limbs and body are more or less short and bunched 

 up, his tail also is absurdly curtailed for the length of 

 the trunk. His head is large and round, and his 

 nose short and stumpy in the extreme. His eye is 

 small, black, and oval. His ears are very small and 

 round, and lie pressed closely against the sides of the 

 head, in which respect he resembles his big first 

 cousin the water-rat, of whom, indeed, he forms a 

 most perfect miniature, differing widely from him, 

 however, in nature, as I shall presently endeavour to 

 show. Altogether I think one might well say, that 

 the long-tail and short-tail are, respectively, the 

 patrician and plebeian of their race. 



Both these little creatures are great enemies to the 

 farmer, and both make a summer and a winter nest, 

 but on these points I shall say nothing, as they have 

 repeatedly been brought under notice by abler people 

 than myself. The food of both consists of grain and 

 fruit of any kind, markedly the fruits of the wild 

 rose, of which they are very fond. The mice, how- 

 ever, eat the seeds of the above fruit, rejecting the 

 rind, which seems to point out a peculiarity either 

 in the way they eat them, or in the mucous membrane 

 of the mouth and pharynx, for the fluffy envelopes of 

 the seeds cause most intense irritation of those parts 

 in the human subject. I fancy the mice must peel 

 off the outside envelope of the seed, for the mucous 

 membrane of the mouth and pharynx does not 

 present, at any rate so far as I am aware, any pecu- 

 liar structure. 



I once saw one of the short-tailed species very 

 actively engaged in a thorn-hedge running up and 

 down and nipping off the sprouting buds of the 

 honeysuckle. For the most part he carried the 

 buds away into the centre of the hedge, doubtless to 

 be eaten there in some old bird's nest (a favourite 

 salon) at his leisure and convenience. From time 

 to time, however, he sat up and nibbled up a sprout 

 on the bush itself. This is the more peculiar, in that 

 the buds of the honeysuckle have, I understand, a 

 very nauseous taste, and I should loe interested to 

 learn if anybody has noticed a similar occurrence. 



These mice — I say advisedly " mice," for I do not 

 know if the term applies to both, or either — also eat 

 snails, the empty broken shells of which may be seen 

 in considerable quantity in their runs. There is, 

 however, one species of snail which follows these 

 little rodents, feeding upon their excrementa, and 



