MUSICAL MICK 323 



of all things ; and that the religious sentiment may find a higher 

 sphere in the belief that the Ultimate Power is no more representable 

 in terms of human consciousness than human consciousness is repre- 

 sentable in terms of a plant's functions. 



Other parts of Mr. Martineau's argument I pass over as being met 

 by implication in the above replies. I will now add only that, should 

 any further explanation be required, I must postpone it until I am free 

 from present special engagements. 



-**- 



MUSICAL MICE. 



By Eev. SAMUEL LOCKWOOD, Ph. D. 



THE study of geographical range is of extreme interest as affect- 

 ing the life, forms, and functions of animals. In this way has 

 come about that convenient division of the Monkey order into two 

 great sections the Simiadae, or Old-World monkeys and the Cebidre, 

 or New-World monkeys. And this distinction is based on differences 

 easy to be understood. The monkeys of the Old World have their 

 nostrils so nearly terminal, and so near to each other, and their teeth 

 in sort and number so much like those of man, as to give them traits 

 more human-like than those of the New World. They have also 

 cheek-pouches, but none of them have prehensile tails. The New- 

 World monkeys have their nostrils wide, lateral, and sprawling ; they 

 have more teeth than man has ; they have no cheek-pouches ; and 

 with many the tail is prehensile. But does this law of geographical 

 distribution, whatever it may be, affect " mice, and such small deer ? " 

 It does. A very large order is that known as the Rodents, or 

 Gnawers, well represented by the squirrels and rabbits. These ani- 

 mals are all characterized by two chisel-shaped teeth in the front of 

 each jaw. The order contains several well-marked families, and some 

 six hundred species. Of these families, one is known as the Muridoe, 

 which embraces the rats and the mice, and their allies. Now, it is in- 

 teresting to know that the Muridse, namely, the true rats and mice, as 

 well as the monkeys, naturally divide into two geographical groups : the 

 one called the Mures, or Old-World rats ; and the other known as the 

 Sigmadontes, or New- World rats. Each of these divisions includes the 

 true rats and mice, indigenous to the New and the Old World, re- 

 spectively. And these distinctions are founded on a real difference in 

 anatomical structure. Let it suffice to mention the most striking;, that 

 of the teeth. The Mures, or Old- World rats and mice, have compar- 

 atively " large, broad molars, and those of the upper jaw have three 

 tubercles : the Sigmadontes, or New- World rats and mice, have narrow 



