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Show 468 MESSRS. B L A C K M O R E A N D ALSTON [June 16, common continental A. arvalis, and Cuvier probably never compared the fossils with the former species. Prof. Owen rightly identified the Kirkdale and Kent's-Hole specimens in the British Museum with A. agrestis, though he retained the error of giving "Mus arvalis of Pallas" as a synonym. Dr. Giebel, on the strength of Cuvier's remarks, bestowed the name Hypudaus buck-landii on the Kirkdale Vole *. In 1852 M. Pomel described A. arvaloides and A. joberti as allied to A. neglectus ( = agrestis, cf. Blasius, Siiugeth. Deutschl. p. 372), and distinguished only by slight cranial differences, to which no weight can be given. A. agrestis has been found in many bone-caves and other deposits in Britain. Mr. Sanford considers that in the Somersetshire specimens the diastema between the incisors and molars is longer, and the whole jaw straighter than in recent skulls. W e have received jaws from the fissures in the limestone rocks near Bath, which exactly agree with recent specimens. The species is widely spread throughout Northern and Central Europe, from Scandinavia and Finland to the Alps, but is most plentiful in the North. It is the commonest species almost everywhere in Britain, though A. glareolus appears to exceed it in numbers in some parts of Scotland. The teeth of A. agrestis may be recognized at a glance, by the fact that the second upper molar has five cemental spaces instead of four. The third upper molar sometimes shows a very minute supplementary angle on the outside; this we have found both in recent and fossil skulls. The pattern is:- Upper I. 5 spaces, 6 angles. Lower I. 9 spaces, 10 angles. ,, 11. O ,, 0 ,, ,, 11. O „ 0 ,, „ III. 6 „ 7 or 8 „ „ III. 3 „ 6 „ W e have examined the specimens in the British and Taunton Museums and in our own collection. 7. ARVICOLA ARVALIS (Pallas). 1873. Arvicola arvalisl, Forsyth Major, Atti Soc. Ital. Sc. Nat. xv. p. 589. Several jaws found in fissures in the limestone rocks near Bath, which have been sent to us by our friend Mr. Moore, belong undoubtedly to a small group of Voles comprising A. arvalis, A. saxa-tilis, and A. gr eg alis, none of which are now natives of Britain. These species agree so closely in dentition that it is impossible to decide positively to which the fossils should be ascribed. In size and proportions they agree very closely with Siberian skulls of A. saxatilis in the British Museum ; but they also much resemble some specimens of A. arvalis. As Dr. Forsyth Major has lately doubtfully referred similar examples (found in the Cavern of Levrange * Through a misreading of Cuvier's observations on the remains of Mures found by Buckland in the same cave, Giebel founded his Hyp. minimus (I. c. p. 88), which, consequently, is a synonym of some species of Mouse, probably M. sylvaticus (cf. Hensel, I. c. p. 484). |
