THE POUCHED RATS. 699 



themselves up with several of their companions, and long before the cold 

 weather comes, fall asleep. 



The Fat Dormouse is six inches long in the body, with a tail five 

 inches long. Its soft, thick fur is of a uniform ashy-gray, the tail is 

 bushy, the hairs falling in two rows, of a brownish-gray color, with a 

 white stripe on its under surface. It is the smallest of all hibernating 

 animals. 



The Common Dormouse, Myoxits avellanus, or Muscardinus avclla- 

 narms (Plate LIV), is found all through Central Europe from Sweden 

 and England to the borders of Turkey. 



The total length of this pretty little animal is rather more than five 

 inches, the tail being two inches and a half long. The color of its fur is 

 a light reddish-brown upon the back, yellowish-white upon the abdomen, 

 and white on the throat. The tail is thickly covered with hair, which is 

 arranged in a double row throughout its length, and forms a slight tuft 

 at the extremity. The head is rather large in proportion to the body, the 

 ears are large and broad, and the eye full, black, and slightly prominent. 



Like the rest of its tribe, it lays in a stock of provisions in the fall, and 

 becomes exceedingly fat toward the end of autumn. This hoard is not 

 gathered into the nest, but is hidden away close to the spot where the 

 nest is placed. Comparatively little of the store is eaten during the 

 winter, but it is of very great service in the earlier part of the spring, 

 when the Dormouse is awake and lively, and there are as yet no fresh 

 fruits on which it could feed. 



THE POUCHED RATS. 



The family Saccomyid^e or Pouched Rats, are almost wholly con- 

 fined to the Rocky Mountains and the elevated plains of Central North 

 America. It is divided into eight genera and thirty-three species. They 

 are remarkable for the possession of long and deep cheek-pouches open- 

 ing from without, and lined with short hair. The mouth is, as it were, 

 double, the outer portion being very wide and hairy, behind which is the 

 small inner mouth. 



GENUS DIPODOMYS. 



The five species of this genus are found in Mexico, California, up to the 

 Columbia River, with one specimen in South Carolina. They have slen- 

 der bodies, long hind-legs, and a long tail with a brush at the extremity. 



