THE HARVEST MOUSE. 
85 
roughly or disturbed him oftener than he considered reasonable, 
he opened his mouth menacingly, uttered a considerable squeak, 
and even gave me a warning bite ; I cannot imagine what tiny 
creature of the fields he was wont to keep in check by these war- 
like demonstrations. 
Like all his family he spent much time in the care of his fur, 
his fingers and his nails ; he was untiring in his efforts to keep 
every hair in order and to keep his little paws free from every 
particle of sand or dust. On one occasion I saw him standing 
on a corn-stalk supported by one hind leg and his tail while the 
two fore paws were dragging the other hind leg to his mouth to 
be cleaned. 
So far as my experience went his only food was grain, wild 
or cultivated ; he was quite indifferent to the colours of juicy 
fruits, while every part of a grass seemed familiar to him, either 
as furnishing food or pastime. He held a grain of wheat by the 
ends, one in each hand, the furrow generally kept outward, that 
is, away from the teeth ; a little strip or bar containing this 
furrow was left when the grain was eaten ; judging by the num- 
ber of these little “ bones ” that I daily cleared from his cage 
he must be a destructive little creature in the corn-field and the 
barn. He was as fond of millet as of wheat, and very deftly 
fetched the small seeds out of their envelopes. I saw him once or 
twice lap water from a little dish, but he seemed much more to 
enjoy licking wetted leaves. He died when I was from home, 
and I cannot tell whether the cause was directly the lightning, 
or indirectly from fright ; he was probably unable to shelter as 
he would have done in a wild state. 
Before concluding I will make one remark bearing on the 
distribution of the species. I am strongly inclined to believe 
that the mouse which appears with the ear of corn on certain 
coins of Metapontum of the fourth century b.c., represents Mus 
jumutus, although the southern limit of the species is now about 
four degrees north of this city. I should have liked to enter 
into more detail and to describe the coins in question, giving my 
reasons for the identification, but I fear the point may be con- 
sidered rather of archaeological interest, than belonging to natural 
history. If, however, any of your readers should think the point 
worth further inquiry, I would very gladly give these details. 
Constance Garlick. 
