132 FAUNA AMERICANA. 



Anterior feet, four-toed; the thumb rudimenta- 

 ry ; the posterior, five-toed ; all very distinct, with 

 their borders furnished with stiff hairs, which 

 serve in place of the membranous feet of aquatic 

 maramifera. 



Tail long, linear, laterally compressed, the skin 

 of which is naked and granular, with a few scat- 

 tering hairs ; glands near the pubis, secreting a 

 whitish odoriferous matter, which is discharged 

 by two ducts, either at the base of the glans of 

 the male, or in the ureter of the female. 



Six ventral mammae. 



Species. 



1. Fiber zibethictis, Desm. Mamm. p. 279. Sab. 

 Append, p. 659. 



Rat mils que, Sarrazin, Mem. de PA cad. Roy. 

 des Scien. de Paris, 1725. Rat musque dii Ca- 

 nada, Briss. regn. Anim. Castor zibitheciis, Linn. 

 Erxleb. Bodd. Ondatra, Buff. (Encycl. pi. 67, 

 fig. 7.) Ondatra of Canada. Mus zibethecus, 

 Gmel. vulgarly, Musk-rat. 



Char. Essent. General colour brown, tinged 

 with red above ; cinereus beneath. 



Dimensions. Total length, one foot seven lines ; 

 of the tail, nine inches. 



Description. In external appearances very 

 analogous to the water-rat, but differing in the 

 compressed form of the tail; snout short and thick; 

 eyes large and lateral ; ears short, oblique, round- 



