476 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HAMSTER. 



ties, forming eye-brows, we must suppose that the animal digs 

 with its eyes shut ; whereas above ground it must keep them 

 wide open, as they are the chief instruments for finding food 

 in the dusk. The smell is very obtuse, as indicated by the 

 truncated nose. The hearing is acute, as indicated by the 

 large co?ichw, and it is by the assistance of the ear that 

 the hamster is chiefly warned of the approach of its ene- 

 mies, when it will directly rise and sit in an erect posture, 

 like the hare. The taste is probably the most developed 

 of the senses, the tongue being very voluminous, and the ani- 

 mal very fond of varying its food. The touch is rather nice, 

 as the hamster will grasp nuts &c. with its fore-paws, and 

 open or eat them in the manner of the squirrel, though far 

 less skilfully. As to the common feeling , it must be extreme- 

 ly obtuse, as the hamster does not show the least pleasure in 

 being caressed, and though it flies into a passion at the least 

 touch, and screams when wounded, these are symptoms of ill 

 temper and fury rather than of sensibility. 



Movements. — The locomotion of the hamster is slow, parti- 

 cularly if compared with that of animals of the same size and 

 order, for instance, the rat. It is easily overtaken by man, 

 even when making towards its burrow with all possible speed. 

 When fighting, its movements are violent and heavy, often 

 missing their object. They are most appropriate to its sub- 

 terraneous habits, as digging, creeping, and climbing up and 

 down perpendicular tubes. » 



Anatomical peculiarities. — The buccal pouches are two 

 membranaceous sacs which have a wide communication with 

 the cavity of the mouth, from whence they extend between 

 the skin and the muscles, along the neck and the shoulders, 

 in a somewhat converging direction, so that the shut ends are 

 nearer each other than the open ones in the buccal cavity. — 

 These bladders are attached along their inner sides, by cel- 

 lular fibres and membranes, to the muscles beneath, and by 

 more delicate ones to the skin. Their posterior end is sur- 

 rounded by flat muscular fibres, which unite to form a flat 

 and rather strong muscle. These two muscles continue to 

 converge, and are attached, close under the musculus quad- 

 ratus, to the fascia of the latissimus dor si. The membrane 

 of these bladders is very thin and permeable to the air, where- 

 fore they soon become shrivelled when blown out and tied 

 by a ligature. Their outer surface is perfectly smooth, but 

 the inner one is closely covered with longitudinal and paral- 

 lel dotted lines, the dots being almost square, and constitut- 

 ing mucous cells or glandules ; wherefore the inside of the 

 bladder is constantly wet and slippery, or it would easily be 



