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Show 1900.] MUS SYLVATICUS AND ITS ALLIES. 401 Monsieur F. Lataste seems to have got upon the track of some such subspecies when he wrote l that in the park of M . Foucassis, Department Gironde, France, he had taken individuals " dont les teintes foncees, meme en dessous, se rapprochaient beaucoup de celles de la souris." This variety he contrasts with one from the dependencies of the observatory of Pic du Midi, at an altitude of nearly 3000 metres, " et dont la robe est d'un roux vif eclatant. Plusieurs sujets de cette deruiere m'ont ete envoyes par M. Vaussenat;" but I suspect that, in the case of the first of these varieties, M . Lataste had to deal with immature mice. 2. Mus SYLVATICUS CELTICUS, subsp. nov. (Plate XX V. fig. 2.) Type. A female, No. 0.3.11.1 (British Museum Collection), from Caragh Lake, Co. Kerry, Ireland: collected by Colonel J. W. Yerbury, on Nov. 27, 1894. Distinguishing Characteristics. A small-bodied Field-mouse, with a very dark upperside, caused by a great increase in tbe number of black-tipped hairs. The underside, unlike that of M. s. hebridensis and M. s. hirtensis, is clear white, although not so clear as in M. s. wintoni, and the line of demarcation between the coloration of the two surfaces is sharply defined. The dimensions of ear and hind foot seem to show that these are slightly larger in proportion to the general body-size than is the case with 31. s. intermedins. This subspecies no doubt intergrades with Irish examples of 31. s. intermedins. Thus Col. Yerbury's specimens are the most and Mr. Pussingham's the least accentuated specimens which I have seen. Skull as in 31. s. typicus; total length about 25 mm. Distribution. West of Britain, I have seen specimens from Caragh Lake, Co. Kerry (Col. J. W . Yerbury), from Fermoyle, Castlegregory, in the same county (Mr. G. A. Passingham), as well as from Woodpark, Co. Gal way (Mr. B. F. Hibbert). These specimens are matched exactly in colour and size by three from Eisken, in Lewis, Outer Hebrides (Major H. D. Thornycroft), and one from Skye (Mr. J. Steele Elliott). A similar one from Oporto, Portugal, collected by Mr. James Searle, may be an accidental variety or may indicate the occurrence of this small dark form in other parts of Western Europe. General Remarks. So long ago as 1841 the late Bev. Leonard Jenyns (afterwards Blomefield) received from the County of Kerry Ireland, some long-tailed Field-mice, one of which was taken at an altitude of 2500 feet. He at once noticed that they differed from the typical 31us sylvaticus " in being of a darker colour smaller, and with some of the relative proportions rather less "2' and suggested the occurrence of an interesting local race in these mountains. Not being, however, in possession of a satisfactory series, he wisely refrained from giving a name to bis specimens. Then followed the age of inexactness, during which Jenyns's mice 1 Act. Soc. Linn, de Bordeaux, xxxviii. p. ^3 (1884). 2 Ann. & Mag. Nat, Hist. vol. vii. p. 268, June 1841. |
