NATURAL HISTORY OF SEL BORNE 
35 
Mus medius domesticus weighs, I find, one ounce lumping weight, 
which is more than six times as much as the mouse above ; and 
measures from nose to rump four inches and a qua?:ter, and the same 
in its tail. We have had a very severe frost and deep snow this 
month. My thermometer was one day fourteen degrees and a half 
below the freezing-point, within doors. The tender evergreens were 
injured pretty much. It was very providential that the air was still, 
and the ground well covered with snow, else vegetation in general must 
have suffered prodigiously. There is reason to believe that some days 
were more severe than any since the year 1739-40.* 
I am, &c. &c. 
LETTEE XIV. 
TO THE SAME. 
Selborne, March 12th, 1768. 
Dear Sir, — If some curious gentleman would procure the head of a 
fallow-deer, and have it dissected, he would find it furnished with two 
spiracula, or breathing-places, besides the nostrils ; probably analogous 
to the puncta lachrymalia 
in the human head. When 
deer are thirsty they plunge 
their noses, like some horses, 
very deep under water, while 
in the act of drinking, and 
continue them in that situa- 
tion for a considerable time : 
but, to obviate any incon- 
veniency, they can open two 
vents, one at the inner cor- 
ner of each eye, having a 
communication with the 
nose.t Here seems to be 
an extraordinary provision 
of nature worthy our atten- .'y- m/fmmi '■ ''/' / 
tion ; and which has not, ^ Wmiji'' 
that I know of, been noticed r' 
by any naturalist. For it orifice in fallow-deer. 
looks as if these creatures 
would not be suffocated, though both their mouths and nostrils were 
stopped. This curious formation of the head may be of singular service 
* See Letters LXI., LXII. to Mr. Barrington. 
+ This short letter is devoted entirely to one subject, to which White's attention 
was most probably directed by his visits to the deer in Woolmer Forest ; it 
is one of those which requires explanation, especially in a popular work so much 
read as "Selborne," and the very error into which White has fallen with his 
remarks will lead to the future explanation of a structure which even at this 
time is not completely understood. The statement in the letter, "When deer 
D 2 
