ibO LLOYDS NATURAL HISTORY. 



chairs, and when I attempted to secure it, it leaped from chair 

 to chair with astonishing agility for so small a creature. On 

 taking it into my hand, it showed not the least disposition to 

 resent the liberty ; on the contrary, it was very docile. On 

 being set at liberty, it sprang at least two yards on to a table. 

 In the evening I placed my little stranger, with its original 

 domicile, in a box, of which on the following morning I found 

 it had taken possession, and again relapsed into a state of 

 torpidity." 



Even if fully adult when captured, Dormice are readily tamed; 

 and in this state form, it is almost superfluous to add, favourite 

 pets of children. 



THE MICE AND VOLES. FAMILY MURID^L 



The members of this extensive and cosmopolitan Family 

 differ from all the other British representatives of the Rodent?, 

 in having only three pairs of cheek-teeth in each jaw, owing to 

 the absence of pre-molars. These molar teeth are very variable 

 in structure, being sometimes furnished with roots and sur- 

 mounted with tubercles, while in other cases they grow through- 

 out life and thus never develop roots, while their tall crowns 

 are divided into semi-detached prisms by angular infoldings of 

 enamel. The first toe of the fore-foot is rudimentary; the 

 tail is generally nearly naked and scaly ; and complete collar- 

 bones are present. The general bodily form of the more 

 typical members of the family is so well known that the term 

 " rat-like " forms a recognised standard of comparison in zoo- 

 logical, if not in popular, language. 



The British representatives of the Family are divided into 

 two great sections or sub-families, readily distinguished by the 

 character of their molar teeth ; the first of these including the 



