rifed to deny the alTertion of Anftotle ; and indeed the mole 

 is not bhnd ; it is alio an animal different from the afpalax. 

 C. Olivier has brought us from the Levant an animal ac- 

 tually blind, its (kin not being even pierced at the place 

 where the eyes ought to be ; which lives mider ground like 

 the mole, and which has all the chara6lers afcribed by Ari- 

 ftotlc to the afpalax. This animal is that known lo zoolo- 

 gies imder the name of mus fyphhis and •zemni. 



C. Olivier has given us alfo fome information refpefting 

 another fmall animal known to the ancients under the name 

 of the tivo-footed rat, and to the moderns bv that of the 

 jerboa. The very (ingvdar conformation of its feet, of which 

 thofe behind are five or fix times longer than thofe before, 

 has been known for fome time, but we had no accurate 

 knowledge of the manner in which it walks. C. Olivier in- 

 forms us that it moves forwards only by jumping, but that 

 it always falls on all four. He has defcribcd alfo the organ- 

 ifation of its genitals, which arc armed with fmall points, that 

 niuft render its copulation ftill more painful than that of 

 cats. He has defcribed alfo a fmall fpecics of this genus, 

 hitherto imperfe6lly known. 



C. Beauvois has invented an inftrument for indicating the 

 refpcAive proportions of the crania of different quadrupeds- 

 He has applied it to two animals of North America, which 

 fome naturalifts ftill hcfitate to make diftin£l fpecies on ac- 

 count of their great refemblance to animals analogous to 

 them in the ohi continent. Thefe animals are the fox and 

 the rabbit of the United States. The rcfult of C Beauvois' 

 comparifons is, that they are two difiinft fpecies j and this 

 opinion is juftified by the habits of thefe animals. Tiie rab- 

 bit, in particular, does not burrow like ours, but neftles in 

 hoUow trees. 



C. L'ltrcille has prefented two memoirs, which have been 

 fince printed. The firft treats of the ferpcnts of France. 

 Thefe animals, which occafion fo much terror to the vulgar, 

 have not been fufficiently ftudicd by naturalifis. The eleven 

 fpecics found in France have often been confounded with 

 each other, but C. Lalreillc has complclcly explained the 

 nomenclature, 



The 



