Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/100

72 of the mouse tribe, the harvest mouse (Mus messorius), the long-tailed field mouse (Mus sylvaticus), the common mouse (Mus musculus), the black rat (Mus rattus) and the brown rat (Mus decumanus): all these species are well-known animals, and nothing new occurs in their history: the others are called voles; the water rat (Arvicola amphibius), the short-tailed field mouse (A. agrestis), and the bank vole or bank mouse (A. pratensis); the last is a recent addition to our British quadrupeds for which we are indebted to Mr. Yarrell, by whom it was described in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1832, p. 109, under the name of Arvicola riparia. There appears to be a fourth species of vole indigenous to this country: it is described by Mr. Thompson under the name of ''Arv. neglecta,'' (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vii. 274). Mr. Jenyns thinks this may prove to be the Mus agrestis of Linneus, while our short- tailed field mouse he supposes to be the ''Arv. arvalis'' of Pallas.

In the hare tribe Mr. Bell describes four species, the common hare (Lepus timidus), the Irish hare (L. hibernicus), the varying hare (L. variabilis), and the rabbit (L. cuniculus). The Irish hare is an addition to our British animals, brought into notice by the Earl of Derby.