RODENTIA. 1 1 1 



lethargy in deep holes, the entrance of which they close with a quantity of grass.* They live in society, 

 and are easily rendered tame. 



Two species are known in the Eastern continent. The Alpine Marmot {Mux. alpinvt, Lin.), as larire as a Rabbit, 

 with a short tail, and yellowish-grey fur, more ash-coloured towards the head, which Inhabits lofty mountains 

 immediately below the perpetual snow line : and the Polish Marmot, or Bobac (.'/. bobac, Lin.), the same size as 

 the other, and yellowish-grey, with a rnsset tint about the head ; it inhabits the lesser mountains and hills from 

 Poland to Kamtsehatka, and often burrows in the hardest ground. Russian travellers in Bucharia mention some 

 others, as Arct. ft< /in x, leptodactylut, and musogaricus, which are perhaps not sufficiently determined. Ami 

 likewise produces several .Marmots. 



Under the name of 



Sodsliks (SpcrmophihiR, F. Cuv.), — 



May he distinguished several Marmots which have cheek-pouches. Their superior lightness has 

 caused them to be designated Ground-squirrels, [and they connect the true Squirrels with the 

 foregoing]. Eastern Europe produces one, — 



M. dtillut, Lin.— A pretty bttle animal, of a greyish-brown, waved or mottled with white, the spots small, which 

 is found from Bohemia to Siberia. It has a particular fondness for flesh, and does not spare even its own species. 

 [There is another in Russia, Ftp. guttatus, Tem., and more, further eastward, as Sp. xanthoprymnut, a native of 

 Trebizond ; but North America produces by far the gTeater number, some of which are beautifully marked with 

 white lines along the back, between each of which is a series of white spots in the elegant Sp. Hoodii.] 



It appears that we should approximate to the Marmots, a rodent remarkable for the habit of living 

 in great troops, in immense burrows, which have even been styled villages. It is called the Prairie 

 Dog or Barking Squirrel, on account of its voice, which resembles the bark of a small Dog : the 

 Jrctomys ludovicianus of Say. M. Kafinesque, who [erroneously] ascribes to it five toes to each foot, 

 has formed of it his genus Cynomys. [It is in every respect a true Marmot. 



All the foregoing genera, with the prominent exception of Cheiromys, are simply modifications of a 

 single peculiar type, and together compose the first principal section of the Sciuridce or Squirrel family.] 



The Dormice {Myoxus, Gm.) — 



Have the lower incisors pointed, and four grinders, the crown of each of which is divided by closely- 

 folded lines of enamel. 



They are pretty little animals, with soft fur, a hairy and even tufted tail, and lively expression : they 

 inhabit trees like the Squirrels, and subsist on their produce. In the very numerous order of rodents, 

 this is the only subgenus which is destitute of a ccecuin. They become torpid in winter, like the 

 Marmots, passing that season in a very profound lethargy : and so natural is it for them to tall into 

 this state, that a species from Senegal (.1/. Coupeii), which had probably never experienced it in its 

 native country, became torpid in Europe as soon as it was exposed to cold. 



The Fat Dormouse (M. glix, Lin.) — Size of a Rat; greyish ash-brown above, whitish underneath; of a deeper 

 brown around the eyes; tail very hairy throughout its length, and disposed somewhat like that of a Squirrel, fre- 

 quently also a little forked at its extremity. It inhabits the south of Europe, and nestles in the holes of trees and 

 fissures of rocks. It sometimes attacks small birds. This is probably the Rat fattened by the ancients, among 

 whom it was considered a great delicacy. [It is still eaten by the modem Italians.] 



The Garden Dormouse (Jkf. nitela). — Somewhat less than the preceding ; irrevish-brown above, white beneath J 

 blaek round the eye, which extends spreading to the shoulder ; the tail tufted only at the end, and black, with its 

 extremity white. This species is common in gardens, where it shelters itself in boles about the walls, and I 

 much injury to the frnit-trees nailed to them. [It does not occur in Britain.] 



'iiic Bed Dormouse (M. avellanarhu, Lin.)— Size of a Mouse; cinnamon-red above, white beneath; the 

 bans ot the tail disposed somewhat like a leather. Prom the invests of all Europe. It constructs its nesl 

 on low branches, in which it rears its young i the rest of its time, and particularly during winter, it n maim 



the hollows of Im -. 



[it bai been -aid that this species cannot pierce a ripe ant shell, ami that its specific name does not correctly 



apply ; but in confinement We hare frequently seen it penetrate to the kernel of the hardest ha/el-nuts. 



Tin: (in Ai'iiYi'REs (Graphyurux, F. Cuv.) — 

 Scarcely differ from the Dormice externally, but have weaker jaws, and a longer and more slender 

 intestinal canal: their molars are of small size, and simple structure; and the] have also DO COecum to 

 the nili -line. 



• The Otonnd-SqnliTtli (ftmM), ind ma Ibt m«mtwn of tb< • 



Kn. 



