144 
NATURE NOTES. 
THE HARVEST MOUSE AT METAPONTUM. 
N my Notes on a Harvest Mouse in the May number, 
I stated, over-boldly perhaps, my belief that the mouse 
on certain coins of Metapontum is a representation of 
the harvest mouse (dAis whnhws). The idea first occur- 
red to me when once happening to see my pet mouse standing on 
the broad over-turned leaf of a green oat, the remembrance of 
the coin came to my mind, for the real mouse and the mouse of 
the coin were in exactly the same position and attitude. 
This coin of Metapontum may be roughly dated about 450 
B.c. — a time when the Greek cities round the Gulf of Tarentum 
were very prosperous ; among them Metapontum specially owed 
her wealth to her fertile corn-lands. A large number of her 
varied and beautiful coins have been preserved to our day. 
The coin I propose to comment on just from one limited 
point of view is No. 123 in the British IMuseum catalogue ; it is 
about the size of a sixpence, but thicker. I only note in 
passing the beautiful head of Demeter on the obverse ; on the 
reverse is a stalk of barley, the ear in high relief. Ear and stalk 
fill one diameter of the coin, the letters m e t a are on the right ; 
on the left is a barley leaf starting from the stalk a little below 
the ear ; this leaf turns back, and on it stands a little mouse. 
The whole length of the mouse is about one-third that of the ear 
of corn; the length of this, not including the awns or “beard,” 
is f in. It will be seen that the mouse is a very small object on 
the coin ; I do not think stress is to be laid on the actual pro- 
portion of mouse to ear of corn. 
Now the barley ear is so finely marked that the outer glumes 
can be traced round each corn and the roughness of the awns 
is distinctly marked by fine and regular indentations — indeed 
it is evidently such a transcript of nature that the species has 
been determined to be Hordeum hcxastichon (see Imhoof and 
Blumer, Animals and Plants on Classic Coins and Gems, 1889). 
This is in favour of our attempt to identify the species to which 
the mouse on the same coin belongs, in so far as it shows that a 
very close copy of nature was not alien to the art of Greek coins. 
It may here be remarked that the hletapontum coins furnish 
such a rich and varied series of natural objects, treated with 
minute detail, as to show that the designers were keen, apprecia- 
tive, and practised observers of nature. The mouse in question 
stands on its leaf in such a natural attitude for that position as 
to make it highly probable that the artist had seen one just so 
placed. If so, the mouse must have been very light and small, 
and a grain feeder — all characters of Mus minutus. This, how- 
ever, is a presumption, not an argument in favour of the identi- 
fication. 
The attitude of the little animal must now be considered. It 
is standing firmly on the leaf on its hind legs ; the fore paws 
