HOUSE-MOUSE. 
21 
“ White Eats ” so often kept as pets, these, singularly enough — so Mr. Oldfield 
Thomas tells me, — being albinos of the Black Eat ; and, relative to the latter 
species, I regret exceedingly that, in the ‘ Transactions of the Leicester Literary 
and Philosophical Society,’ January, 1887, p. 39, IMr. F. T. Mott has allowed 
himself to record a rather interesting, young, dark variety of the Common Eat, 
caught at “New Parks,” in the early part of 1886, and which he exhibited to 
Section “D” of the Society, on 15th Sept., 1886, as a bona-fide example 
of Mus rattus. The specimen, which, by the kindness of the owner, C. Adcock, 
I have been enabled to examine, is dark brown above and light brown underneath, 
and, except in size of body, bears not the slightest resemblance to the Black 
Eat, the length of the ears being inch as opposed to j'tj. in two of the 
latter species which I received in the flesh from London, the less breadth of 
the ears being also very marked, and the length of the tail being only 5^ in. 
as opposed to 8^ in. 
It is much to be deplored that, with the facilities afforded at the present 
time by good text-books and reliable observers, there are yet to be found 
people who prefer to rely upon their own hasty generalisations, and who will 
record species without possessing the critical knowledge to discriminate between 
allied forms, if, by so doing, they can swell the list of county faunas (already 
containing far more species than have ever occurred). Groing farther, one has 
only to compare the lists of British animals as issued by bird-stufifers, dealers, 
and criminally-careless observers, with those issued by authority, to be convinced 
that, owing to causes which those behind the scenes will readily recognize, 
the British faunal lists — especially the ornithological ones — might be still more 
curtailed than they have been in that excellent list issued under the auspices 
of the British Ornithologists’ Union. The amount of trouble and annoyance 
given by the records of unskilled observers, or of that worst class of all — 
semi-scientific people who back their own opinion rather than be guided by 
experts — is incalculable, and in these pages are to be found many such instances 
as that of the Black Eat. Indeed, I may say that the issue of this book has 
been considerably delayed by the correction of like errors, necessitating a great 
loss of time in correspondence, examination, and explanation. 
In Eutlaxd as in Leicestershire. — Mr. Horn appears to have seen a variety 
in his garden at Uppingham, in 1887, white with the exception of the tail, 
which was light grey. 
HOUSE-MOUSE. Mus niuscidus, Linnaeus. 
Far too common. 
Several specimens of a curious variety were caught at Kibworth, on 23rd 
March, 1885, in taking down a corn-stack belonging to Mr. Buzzard. One 
of them, handed to me by Mr. Macaulay, was of a dingy white, with the 
