U4 Op an AMERICAN SPECIES 



N". XII. 



Some account of an American Species ofD i p u s , oy J £ R B o A . 

 By Benjamin Smith Barton, M. D. 



Rcadoa.TT'^^^ ^^ the native quadrupeds of North- 

 2. I79J- _|j America have been defcribed with lufficient 

 accuracy. Several fpecies, which are well known to the 

 inhabitants of the country, have not been defcribed at 

 all, and good figures of mofl of them are yet wanted. 



To remedy, in fome meafure, thefe defedls in the 

 natural hiftory of an extenfive portion of the globe, 

 1 began, a few years fmce, to colledl materials tor an 

 hiftory of the quadrupeds, and other vianwialia^ of the 

 United-States of America. In this difficult undertaking, 

 I have now made confiderable progrefs ; and I hope to 

 be able to prefent to the public, in the term of four or 

 live years, if not the full refult, at leaft a pretty compre- 

 henfive view, of my labours in this interefting depart- 

 ment of zoological fcience. In the meanwhile, it is my 

 intention to prefent to the Philofophical Society, from 

 time to time, among other communications relative to 

 the natural hiftory of the United-States, a feries of papers 

 on iome of thofe native American quadrupeds, which 

 are either undefcribed, or which have been but imperfedly 

 defcribed, by preceding naturalifts. 



In the prefent communication, I propofe to give the 

 fcciety fome account of a fmall quadruped, belonging 

 10 the order Glires^ which 1 difcovered, in the month of 

 May, laft, near the river Schuylkill, a few miles from 

 Philadelphia. 



I am of opinion, with the late Mr. dc Buffon, that 

 elaborate dcfcriptions of animals are by no means ne- 

 ceflary, when we arc enabled to give accurate repre- 



fentation.*? 



