140 MAMMALIA. 



with white, the spots very small, which is found from Bohemia 

 to Siberia. It has a peculiar fondness for flesh, and does not 

 spare even its own species. 



North America has several species of them, one of which is 

 remarkable by the thirteen fawn coloured stripes which extend 

 along the back on a blackish ground. It is the Thirteen striped 

 Souslik, rct. 13-Uneatus, Harl.; or Sciurus IS-lineatus, Mitchell ; 

 or Jirct. Hoodii, Sabine, Lin. Trans. XIII, pi. xxix.(l) 

 There is one of the Rodentia which it appears we must approxi- 

 mate to the Marmots, that is remarkable for living in large troops 

 in immense burrows, which have even been styled villages. It is 

 called the Prairie Dog or Barking Squirrel, the latter appellation 

 arising from its voice, which resembles the bark of a small D.og. 

 It is the Arct. hidovicianus, of Say, Jour, to the Rocky Mountains, 

 1,451. M. Rafinesque, who states it has five toes to each foot, 

 makes it the type of his genus Cynomys. 



Myoxus, Gm.(2) 



The Dormice have pointed lower incisors, and four grinders, the 

 crown of each of which is divided by enamelled lines. 



They are pretty little animals, with soft fur, a hairy and even 

 tufted tail, and a lively eye, which live on trees like Squirrels, and 

 feed on fruit. Of the numerous order of the Rodentia, this is the 

 only subgenus in which there is no caecum. They become torpid in 

 winter like the Marmots, and pass through it in the most profound 

 Iethargy.(3) 



M. glisy L.; Buff. VIII, xxiv. (The Fat Dormouse.) Size 

 of a Rat ; ashy grey-brown above, whitish underneath ; of a 

 deeper brown around the eyes ; tail very hairy the whole of its 

 length, and disposed somewhat like that of a Squirrel, and fre- 

 quently a little forked at the extremity. It inhabits the south 

 of Europe, and nestles in the hollows 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 

 delicacy of the very highest description. (4) 



(1) Add ./2/cf. Parril, llichards., App. Parry's Voy. Several of the Marmots 

 announced in the travels of Lewis and Clarke, Parry, Franklin, &c. ,/lrct. Frank- 

 linii, Richardsonii, pruinosa, seem to belong to this subgenus. See Sabine, Lin. 

 Trans. XIII, pi. xxvii, xxviii, &c. 



(2) Myoxus, Rat with a pointed nose. 



(3) So natural is this to them, that a dormouse from Senegal, {M. Coupeii) 

 which had never experienced it in its native country, fell into a profound sleep in 

 Europe tlie moment it was exposed to the cold. 



(4) The M. dryas of some authors (Schreb. 220, B) does not appear to me to 

 differ from the Fat Dormouse. 



