of food in reserve. He would have enough to
enable him to revel in abundance if he were able to reckon without his
neighbours. This diligent animal has in fact one terrible parasite.
This is Man, who will not allow him to enjoy in peace the fruits of
his long labour and economy. In Siberia, a long and severe winter
follows a very hot summer; in this season the inhabitants often lack
provisions. A moment comes when they are glad to make up for want of
bread by edible roots; but the search for these is long and
troublesome, and should indeed have been thought of during summer.
Man, during the fine weather less foreseeing than the rodent, does not
hesitate when famine has come to turn to him for help. As he is the
weaker, the Vole is obliged to submit to this vexatious tax. According
to Pallas,[48] the inhabitants seek these nests full of provisions and
dig them up. The conqueror takes all he pleases, and abandons the rest
to the unfortunate little beast, who, whether he likes it or not, has
to be content. In this region the burrows of the Vole abound;
therefore this singular tithe ensures a considerable revenue to those
who levy it, as may be understood when we remember the extent of the
stores amassed by the animal.

[48] Pallas, _Ueber d. am Volgastrome bemerkten Wanderungen
der grossen Wassermaeuse (Arvicola amphibius),
Nord--Beitr._, vol. i., 1781, p. 335.

A Vole resembling the _Arvicola arvalis_, but larger, paler, and more
rat-like, with large shining eyes and very short tail, overran in
1892-93 the classic land of Thessaly, the land of Olympus, and the
Vale of Tempe. It has always inhabited this region, and the old Greeks
had an Apollo Smintheus, or Myoktonos, the Mouse-destroying God. "At
the beginning of March," according to Prof. Loeffler, who has given an
account of this invasion,[49] "the Voles were only beginning to troop
from the slopes of the hills and the fallow-lands to the cultivated
fields. It was frequently observed that they followed regular paths
during their inroads. Thus they advanced along the railway embankment.
Their progress seemed to be rather slow. Perhaps they do not advance
further till the inhabitants of one of their strongholds or so-called
castles have become too numerous. The runs which they excavate are at
a depth of about twenty to thirty centimetres below the surface of the
ground. The extent of their runs varies, and we found them extending
in length from thirt