PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 47 



constructed of straw and feathers, and open at both ends ; in this nest a consider- 

 able quantity of oats was laid up for their winter store (16th December, 1854) ; but 

 the animal, though at this late period of the year, displayed no symptom of 

 torpidity ; it is, therefore, to be supposed their peculiar time for hybernation had 

 not then arrived. The Hamster family is numerous, and dispersed rather widely. 

 The following list of species has been taken from the fifth volume of the " Histoire 

 Naturelle" of Lesson, in which a short and very incomplete description of each is 

 given ; it is therein stated that Buffon has described only the common Hamster 

 (Cricetus vulgaris, Cwy.), or the Marmot of Germany. 



Pallas has made us acquainted with many species from Siberia ; M. 

 Rafinesque, one from Kentucky ; and M. Gapper, one from Canada. These 

 are 



1st. Le hagri of Vicq-d'Azyr (Cricetus migratorius, Desm.}, ash gray colour 

 above ; the abdomen and feet, white ; from Siberia. 



2nd. Le Sable Vicq-d'Azyr (Cricetus arenarius, Desm.), Mus arenarius, 

 Pallas, grayish white, with abdomen very white, the ears hairy, its tail a little 

 longer than the other species ; it lives upon the seeds of the astragulus, in the sands 

 of Siberia. 



3rd. Le phe (Cricetus phseus, Desm.\ grayish brown on the back, white on the 

 abdomen, the eai'S large, and almost naked ; it lives on cereal grain, in the desert of 

 Astracan, in the north of Persia. 



4th. Le songar (Cricetus songarus, Desm.'), gray on the back, with a black line 

 running along the back, the flanks vary from brown to white, the body tapering, 

 and the tail is very short ; it lives in the most desert parts of Siberia, upon the 

 seeds of leguminous plants, which makes it very fat. 



5th. L'Orozo (Mus furunculns, Pallas), has an elongated body, pointed nose? 

 with ears large and naked ; the fur is grayish -yellow on each side, with a black 

 dorsal line ; the abdomen and the feet are white ; it is found in Daouri. 



Rafinesque describes a banded Hamster (Cricetus fasciatus), of the plains of 

 Kentucky, red on the back, with ten black transverse rays ; its cheek-pouches 

 are pendant ; but a species which is less certain is the Cricetus myoides, discovered 

 in Upper Canada, by Dr. Gapper. 



To these may be added the Cricetus accedula (Mus accedula, Pall.\ from 

 Erzeroom, described in the proceedings of the Zoological Society, for 13th August, 

 1839 ; and also the Cricetus auratus, from Aleppo, described by Mr. Waterhouse, 

 in the same journal, the 9th April, 1839. 



There is another point of interest which more especially attaches itself to this 

 peculiar species before us ; it is, that, in all probability, it is the identical species 

 described by Aristotle, over two thousand years ago ; and from his time to the 

 present has caused much perplexity to naturalists. The Stagirite calls it Mug o 

 ITOVTIKOQ 6 \SVKOQ, which has been translated the " white pontic mouse;" and 

 Agricola, from so translating Xevicot;, supposed it to be the ermine. Gesner 

 thought it was a squirrel, and this was also the opinion of Buffon. It is true that 

 Aristotle gives but a very brief description of the animal ; but still it is such as to 

 be sufficient to refute these opinions ; he says, in his "Hist. Animal," liber viii., 

 cap. 17, it is a gnawer, of a gray colour, hybernates, and lives near the Euxine. 

 These facts exclude the ermine, and also the squirrel, neither of which animals 



hybernate ; for he states the eXeitfg (dormouse) hybernates, as also does the Mvg o 

 ITOVTIKOQ 6 \tvKoc ; he also states, in " Hist. Animal," liber ix., cap. 50, that it 

 ruminates ; the same is said of the hare, as we all know. I, therefore, think that the 

 gray pontic mouse, which hybernates, may probably be no other than this animal. 



Mr. Ogilby said, that from his own observation of the allied species of rodents, 

 he could explain the mode which this little Hamster (?) may probably adopt in 

 emptying its cheek-pouches of grain, &c., these being merely formed by a thin, 

 mucous membrane : an external upward pressure of the fore feet was quite sufficient 

 to dislodge the contents, when needed for use ; and this employment of the fore feet 

 was characteristic of animals of a high order of intelligence, as it never obtains 

 among those which use them merely for prehension in locomotion. He had not, 

 however, at anytime seen them attempt to insert the claws and draw out their food. 



