M AMMALI A— D O R A O U S E . . . R A T . 237 



other trees; and in a scarcity of other fruit, they eat almonds, nuts, and 

 even leguminous plants. These they carry in great quantities to their 

 holes, where they make a bed of herbs, moss, and leaves. The cold stupi- 

 fies, the heat revives them ; and sometimes there are eight or ten found in 

 one place, all in a state of torpor, all huddled together, and rolled up in a 

 ball, in the midst of their hoard of provisions. Their flesh is not eatable, 

 and has even the disagreeable smell of the house rat. This animal s to be 

 found in all the temperate climates of Europe. 



THE COMMON DORMOUSE, i 



This animal has eyes sparkling, full, and black ; its tail is tufted, and its 

 hair of a tawny red. The throat is white. It never lives in houses, is 

 seldom to be found in gardens, but chiefly frequents the woods, where it 

 finds a shelter in the hollow of some old tree. 



The species is by no means numerous, yet they seem to be tolerably com- 

 mon in Italy, and to be not unknown even in the northern climates ; but it 

 does not appear to be an English animal ; for Ray, who had seen it in Italy, 

 observes, that the small dormouse which is found in England, is not red upon 

 the back, like the Italian, and that it probably belongs to another species. 



The dormouse becomes torpid by the cold, and rol!s itself up in a ball ; it 

 revives in mild weather, and hoards up nuts and other dry fruits, for future 

 sustenance. It forms its nest in trees, like the squirrel, though generally in 

 a lower situation, among the branches of a nut tree, in a bush, &c. The 

 nest is composed of interwoven moss, leaves, and grass ; is about six inches 

 in diameter ; has no aperture but at the top, and contains three or four 

 y-jung ones. 



THE NORWAY RAT.2. 



This well known animal came originally from Persia or India, and was 

 not known in England, previous to 1730. It is now naturalized in all the 

 countries of Europe and America. 



1 Myorus avellanarius, Desm. 



2 Mus decumanus, Desm. The genus Mus has two upper and two lower incisors ; 

 canines, none ; molars, three above and three below, on each side. Molars with tubercu- 

 lous crowns ; four toes, and rudimentary thumb on the fore feet ; hind feet with four 

 unguiculated toes ; ears oblong or round, naked ; tail long, naked, and scaly ; fur with 

 scattered hairs, longer and suffer than the others, sometimes forming a kind of spines. 



