142 FAUNA AMERICANA. 



lomat. Decern. 1818. Mns floridamis, Hay, hon^''s 

 Exped. to the Rocky Mountains, vol. 1. p. 54. 



Char. Essent. Body robust, black plumbeous ; 

 sides, rump, and origin of" the tail, ferruginous- 

 3 ellow ; fur plumbeous near its base ; all beneath 

 white. 



Dimensions. Total length including the tail, 

 nearl}^ sixteen inches ; tail, seven inches; ear, nine- 

 tenths ; greatest breadth, one inch. 



Description. Head gradually attenuated to the 

 nose, plumbeous, intermixed with gray ; ears 

 large, prominent, patulous, obtusely rounded, 

 naked or furnished with sparse hairs behind, and 

 on the margin within; eyes moderate, prominent; 

 whiskers, some white, some black bristles, the 

 longest surpassing the tip of the ears, arranged 

 in six longitudinal series ; tail hairy, as long as 

 the body, above brown; legs subequal, robust; 

 feet white ; toes annulate beneath; thumb minute; 

 palm with five tuberculous prominences; nails 

 concealed by the hairs ; sole with six tubercles ; 

 the three posterior ones distant from each other. 

 (Saj-.) 



Habit. Feeding on vegetables, such as the 

 green bark of trees, and the young shoots of 

 plants ; their nests are large, and composed of a 

 great quantity of brush. This species is well 

 known in some districts under thp name of large 

 hairy tailed rat, and is by no means rare in Flori- 



