1853.] 411 



covered with short, silvery brown hair, not projecting over the nails. Tail scaly, 

 thinly covered with short hair, more densely on the under side. 



Length of the head and body in. 5'5; tail 4*8; head 1-6; ears 45: fore leg 1-1; 

 hind leg 2- ; foot 1-35. 



In the short synonomy attached to this species there is more to be found than 

 at first sight meets the eye. It is with much regret that I find myself compelled 

 to adopt Harlan's name, and to consider the very appropriate one proposed by 

 Dr. Bachman as a synonym. The following explanatit)n of the circumstances 

 which force me to this will, I hope, be satisfactory. May it produce an effect 

 quite contrary to what was calculated upon by the author of the name. Dr. 

 Harlan was certainly the first describer of this animal. In natural science the 

 law of priority is inflexible ; and a fact made known by a vain and ignorant pre- 

 tender, or procured, as in the present instance, by dishonorable means, 

 is entitled to the same record as one discovered by the patient and sincere 

 searcher after truth. Dr. Bachman's observations on this subject, in the third 

 volume of the Quadrupeds of North America, seem to imply that, as the name 

 of Arvicola palustris is pre-occupied by Harlan himself, in Fauna Americana, 

 p. 136, the specific name could not be given to the animal before us ; but as it is 

 by no .means an Arvicola, and as Harlan called it a Mus, (as in his day it would 

 have been called by every one,) the objection is of no avail, and the name must 

 stand. Besides, the A. palustris of Harlan is itself, with him, a synonym of A. 

 riparius, but truly a synonym of A. nasutus ; the man's ignorance defeating his 

 dishonest intention to deprive Mr. Ord of the name. 



This rat inhabits the inland rice plantations of Georgia and South Carolina ; 

 dives and swims with the most perfect ease. It makes its nest among the rice 

 about two feet from the ground, but in the winter burrows in the dams ; is 

 very carnivorous, and so nearly resembles the Mus decumanus, or house rat, as 

 at first sight to be taken for it. It is readily distinguished by the shortness and 

 hairiness of the ears. 



2. Hesp. gossypinus. Supra fuscente-badius, lateribus dilutioribus, subtus 

 cinerascente-albidus. Capite magno, naso elongato, auribus magnis, erectis, ro- 

 tundis, nigrantibus, extus subnudis. 



Hab. In Georgia. Vulg. Cotton Mouse. 



Hair dark plumbeous, above on the top of the head and back tipt with brown 

 and dusky, on the other parts with brownish tawny, lightest on the sides, be- 

 neath slightly with whitish and cinereous, so that the under side of the body 

 appears greyish, which color is rather abruptly separated from the tawny of 

 the sides, upon which it rises in a curve a little behind the fore legs. Head very 

 large ; nose long, projecting, dusky ; cheeks tawny ; lips white ; eyes large and 

 prominent ; ears large, round, erect, dusky, almost naked, with a few short, 

 brown, appressed hairs at the base. Nails covered by the hair of the toes. Tail 

 hairy, above dusky, beneath brown. 



Length of head and body 4-5; tail 3 inches ; head 1*5 ; ear length -67, breadth 

 66 ; fore leg 1*1 ; hind leg 1*9 ; tarsus '8. 



Younger individuals are not so tawny on the sides as the older. This species 

 is considered by Dr. Bachman as a variety of the next. It is, however, three 

 times as large, and lives in a different manner. It forms its nest under logs and 

 under the bark of decaying trees, generally of cotton, frequently using more than 

 a pound of this material for the purpose. 



Fifty years ago this mouse was scarcely known *to the inhabitants of the 

 southern parts of Georgia. Since then they have become extremely common,- 

 have left the fields and woods, and taken up their abode in barns and dwelling 

 houses. In the year 1809 I first saw and; for my private satisfaction, made a 

 description of this animal. The specimen was a female ; and when caught, had 

 two young ones attached to her tail, with which she was endeavoring to escape. 

 I never saw but one other for "several years after, I then found, probably in the 

 year 1822, that no animal of this kind was more numerous over the whole 

 of that part of the country. 



It differs from the next, H. leucopus, more obviously, in the nose being more 



58 



