IRote on tbe occurrence of tbe Hlpine IDole 
(Microtus nivalis) in tbe (Xleveboii Cave 2)epo6it. 
By Martin A. C. Hinton. 
HE occurrence of remains referable to the group of Alpine Voles 
i (of which Microtus nivalis is to be regarded as the type) in the 
Clevedon cave deposit is of great interest. The group is known to 
have had a much more extensive range in late Pliocene and early 
Pleistocene times than it at present possesses. At the present day it is 
found inhabiting the mountain peaks of Southern Europe and Asia 
from heights of 3000 or 4000 feet to levels far above the snow line. 
Its frequency increases as we ascend, and in the Alps we find it living- 
most abundantly in such situations as are covered for nine or ten 
months in the year with snow. It must be borne in mind, too, that 
these little mammals actually live under the snow covering throughout 
this long period. 
In 1902 Hr. 0. I. Forsyth Major first detected a vole of this group 
among the voles from the Upper Freshwater Bed of West Runton, a 
deposit of late Pliocene Age. The voles with which this ancient 
member of the group is associated are all southern forms. The only 
section of the High Terrace Drift of the Thames Valley which has 
yielded a tolerably representative fauna has also afforded us with 
remains of some of these southern rodents, although, unfortunately, 
the nivalis group was not obtained. In the still later Middle Terrace 
Drift of the Thames, to which the well known Grays and Crayford 
Brickearths belong, numerous forms of the nivalis group have now been 
found. At Clevedon, too, we have several forms of nivalis comparable 
with the existing recent races or species known as M. leucurus and 
M. peti'Oj^hilus, and besides these a very large and distinct nivaloid vole 
to which I have given the name of M. malei. A full account of these 
discoveries will be found in my paper, lately published in the 
Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, vol. xx., p. 39. 
It might reasonably be argued from the remarkable habitat of 
this group of voles that at the time it so abundantly peopled the South of 
England the climate was an extremely severe one. But notwithstand- 
ing the fact that this view seems to be supported by the occurrence in 
Britain at about the same time of other Alpine and Arctic species, I 
think this conclusion is really a false one. We must consider not 
merely this Alpine and Arctic element, but the whole of the fauna and 
flora preserved in the deposits mentioned above. In the two older 
deposits, that of West Runton and the High Terrace Drift, the 
mammals are practically all southern forms, while in the Middle 
Terrace Drift the occurrence of the Hippopotamus and Ape (an animal 
most intolerant of cold), to mention only two species, teach us that the 
climate must have been a genial one. Therefore M. nivalis was 
originally an animal with a temperate habitat, and the real question to 
be solved is as to why it should now chose to live in the vicinity of 
perpetual snow. 
