M0S, 
Ing it with ft good microscope, by which 
they will obtain a clear idea of this’ curious 
: appearance. 
in Aldrovandus, who relates die circum- 
stance from Gesner, we meet with a direc- 
tion for changing, as it were, a mouse into a 
cat, by making it the incessant persecutor 
and enemy of the rest of its species. This is 
to be effected by placing several mice toge- 
ther in a vessel without food, when, after a 
I certain space, they will be so stimulated by 
| hunger as to destroy each other: the suf- 
| viving animal being then liberated, will, ac- 
,j cording to this author, become the most de- 
; structive enemy of his own tribe, and will kill 
I every one he meets. Another singular and 
j most cruel experiment is quoted by Aldro- 
| vandus from Mizaldus, who tells us’, that if 
i two or three mice are shut up in an earthen 
pot, and placed over a lire, the shrill cries 
; which they utter will attract the mice" in the 
j. other parts of tl-a house, and cause them to 
I precipitate themselves into the lire. What- 
| ever truth there may be in this experiment, 
[ it is certain that, on the shrill cry of distress 
■ uttered by one of these animals kept with 
| several others in a cage, the rest will fre- 
i quently attack and destroy it. 
5. Mus sylvaticus, wood mouse. This 
i animal chiefly frequents dry and elevated 
I grounds, and is found in woods and fields in 
| great plenty. It appears to be common in 
f all the temperate parts of Europe, and even 
{ in Russia. It sometimes varies in size, indi- 
| viduals being occasionally met with which 
I exceed the rest in magnitude, though differ- 
ing in np other respect. Its general length 
' is about four inches and a half from nose to 
: tail, and the tail, which is slightly covered 
| with hair, measures four inches. The colour 
! of the animal is a yellowish brown above and 
whitish beneath; the colours being pretty 
distinctly marked or separated; the eyes are 
i full and black, and the snout rather blunt. 
| These animals retire into holes among bri-ish- 
| wood, and under the trunks of trees, where 
they amass great quantities of acorns, nuts, 
j and beech-mast. According to Button, a 
whole bushel has sometimes been found in a 
I single hole. These holes are about a foot or 
j more under ground, and are often divided 
I into two apartments; the one for living in 
alone with their young, the other for a ma- 
gazine of provisions. Considerable damage 
is often done to plantations by these animals, 
| which carry off new-sown acorns, & c. The 
I count de Button affirms, that in France more 
j mischief is done by these creatures than by 
f all the birds and other animals put together ; 
and adds, that the only way to prevent this 
I is by laying traps, at ten paces asunder, 
! through the whole extent of the sown 
ground. No other apparatus, he says, is 
necessary than a roasted walnut, placed un- 
der a stone supported by a stick: the ani- 
mals come to eat the walnut, which they 
/prefer to acorns ; and as the walnut is fixed 
?to the stick, whenever they touch it, the 
| stone falls and kills them. The same expe- 
Idient may be as successfully used for the 
/destruction of the short-tailed field mouse, 
[which likewise commits great havoc in fields 
land plantations. When the count de Button 
.first practised this experiment, he desired 
that all the field mice thus taken in traps 
might be brought to him, and found with 
astonishment, that above 100 were taken each 
1 day from a piece of ground consisting only of 
about 40 of our acr. s. From the 1 jtft of 
November to the 8 th of December, above 
2000 were destroyed in this manner. When 
the frost becomes severe, they retire into 
their holes, and feed on the stores they have 
collected. They abound, like many other 
animals of this genus, chiefly in autumn, and 
are far less common in the spring ; for if pro- 
visions happen to fail them in the winter, it 
is thought that they destroy each other; a 
circumstance which is known occasionally to 
take place in many other species. 
The long-tailed field mouse is a very pro- 
lific animal, breeding more than once a year, 
and often producing litters of ten at a time. 
In one of their holes have been found two 
females, with 20 young. Specimens have 
sometimes been seen perfectly white, with 
red eyes. 
6. Mns inessorius, harvest mouse. This 
small species seems to have escaped the no- 
tice of British naturalists till it was observed 
by the late Mr. Gilbert White, of Selburne 
in Hampshire, in which county it is frequent. 
Mr. White, in the year 17G7, communicated 
the animal to Mr. Pennant, who introduced 
it into the British Zoologv. 
“ These mice,” says Mr. White, “ are 
much smaller and more slender than the mus 
domesticus medius of Ray, and have more 
of the squirrel or dormouse colour; their 
belly is w bite ; a straight line along their sides 
divides the shades of their back and belly. 
They never enter into houses, are carried 
into ricks and barns with the sheaves, abound 
in harvest, and build their nest amidst the 
straws of corn above ground, and sometimes 
in thistles. They breed as many as eight at 
a litter, in a little round nest composed of the 
blades of grass or wheat. One of these nests 
was procured in the autumn of 1767, most 
artificially platted, and composed of the 
blades of wheat, perfectly round, and about 
the size of a cricket-ball, with the aperture 
so ingeniously closed, that there was no dis- 
covering to what part it belonged. It was 
so compact and well filled, that it would roll 
across the table without being discomposed, 
though it contained eight little mice that 
were naked and blind. As this nest was per- 
fectly full, how could the dam come at her 
litter respectively, so as to administer a teat 
to each ? Perhaps she opens different places 
for that purpose, adjusting them again when 
the business is over ; but she could not pos- 
sibly be contained herself in the ball with her 
young, which moreover would be daily in- 
creasing in bulk. This wonderful procreant 
cradle, an elegant instance of the effect of 
instinct, was found in a wheat-field, suspend- 
ed in the head of a thistle.”' 
Mr. White adds, that “ though these ani- 
mals hang their nests for breeding up 
amidst the straws of standing corn, above 
ground, yet in the winter they burrow deep 
in the earth, and make warm beds of grass ; 
but their grand rendezvous seems to be in 
corn-ricks, into which they are carried in 
harvest.” A neighljour of Mr. White’s 
housed an oat-rick, in which were some hun- 
dreds assembled under the thatch. The 
measure of the animal is just two inches and a 
quarter from nose to tail, and the tail is just 
two inches long. Two of them in a scale 
just weighed down a copper halfpenny, which 
23 7 
: was a’ out (he third of an ounce avoirdupois; 
j so that they may be considered as the small- 
est ot the British quadrupeds. 
7. Mus minutus, minute mouse. This 
species, according to Dr. Pallas, is frequent 
in the birch-woods of Siberia, as well as in 
many of the temperate parts of Russia, fre- 
quenting corn-fields and barns. Its general 
colour is a deep tawny above and white be- 
low ; the nose is sharpish and of a dusky co- 
lour, with a whiteness at the corners of the 
mouth ; the ears are hid in the fur; the feet 
grey ; the length from nose to tail is little 
more than two inches, and the weight not 
halt a drain. Those found in Siberia are of a 
richer or more fulvous colour than those of 
other regions. This animal, Dr. Pallas says, 
is very frequent in autumn and winter in 
corn-ricks and about granaries, and is often 
found intermixed with the mus agrarius, in- 
habiting similar places. It seems extremelv 
nearly allied to die harvest mouse, and it is 
not impossible that it may in reality be the 
same animal, the differences appearing al- 
most too slight for a specific distinction. 
8. Mus amphibius, water rat. The water- 
rat is a general inhabitant of the temperate, 
and even the colder, parts of Europe and 
Asia, and occurs also in North America, fre- 
quenting rivers and stagnant waters, and 
terming its burrows in the banks. It is of a 
thicker and shorter form than many others 
of this genus, and has somewhat of the shape 
of a beaver. Mr. Ray, following an error of 
Willughby, describes it as having the fore- 
feet webbed; and Linnaeus, in his Systema 
Naturae, characterizes it from that very cir- 
cumstance, but acknowledges that he had not 
himself examined the animal. In reality, 
however, there is no such appearance in the 
feet of the water rat, and the notion seems to 
have been hastily adopted from observing the 
facility with which it swims and dives. The 
general length of the water rat is about seven 
inches, jand the tail about five. Its colour is 
blackish-ferruginous above, and deep cine- 
reous beneath ; the nose is thick and blunt, 
the eyes small, the ears rounded and hid in 
the fur. In colour it appears to vary in dif- 
ferent regions, being sometimes nearly black, 
and sometimes paler than usual. It also va- 
ries as to size, and the varieties have been 
mistakenly considered as distinct species. 
'I bis animal never frequents houses, but con- 
fines itself to the banks of waters, and is sup- 
posed to live on fish, frogs, &c. and probably 
on various roots and other vegetable sub- 
stances.. Dr. Pallas, however, is unwilling 
to admit that it preys at all upon fish, though 
reported so to do bv the count de Button and 
others. At some seasons of the year it is 
observed to have a musky scent. The fe- 
male produces her young in April, and ge- 
nerally brings about five 6r six at a time. 
The measures of this species, as given by 
Mr. Schreber, are as follow, viz. from nose 
to tail six inches and a half, and of the tail 
three inches. 
9. Mus leinmus, lemming rat. The won- 
derful migrations of this species have long 
rendered it celebrated in the annals of natural 
history. It is remarkable, however, that no 
accurate figure of it was published till Dr. 
Pallas caused it to be engraved 1 in his excel- 
lent work on the Glues-. 
The first describer of the lemming seems 
to have been Olaus Magnus, from whom 
