608 THE FUR COUNTRY POUCHED RAT. 
the surface that the earth gives way under the tread of any moderately heavy animal. 
Mr. Burchell, the well-known African traveller, narrates that in traversing the great sand 
flats of Southern Africa he was often endangered by his feet sinking into the burrows of 
the Coast Rat, which had undermined the light soil in every direction. The animal is 
rather slow of foot upon the surface of the ground, but drives its subterranean tunnels 
with marvellous rapidity, throwing up little sandy hillocks at intervals, like those of the 
common mole. On account of this propensity it has received the name of Zand Moll, or 
Sand Mole, from the Dutch Boers who inhabit the Cape. 
The colour of the Sand Mole is a uniformly light greyish-brown, rather variable in 
tinting. As it is very soft and full in texture, and can be obtained in great quantities, 
it might be profitably made a regular article of trade. The Sand Mole is as large as our 
ordinary wild rabbit, being about fifteen inches in total leneth, the tail measuring about 
three inches. 
FUR COUNTRY POUCHED RAT.—Sacedphorus boredlis. 
THERE has been much confusion between the two following animals, which have been 
by several authors considered to be identical with each other. They are, however, to be 
easily distinguished from each other by the deep longitudinal grooves which run along 
the upper incisors of the present animal, and the smooth or slightly grooved incisors of 
the succeeding species. 
The Fur Country PoucuEp Rat is a native of Canada, and is remarkable for the 
enormous size of the cheek-pouches. The colour of this animal’s fur is generally of a 
pale grey washed with yellow, fading into a slaty-blue towards the base of each hair. 
The interior of the pouches, the abdomen, and the tail, are covered with white hair, that 
which lines the pouches being very short and fine. A dusky spot is observable behind 
each ear, the teeth are yellow and the claws white. The central claw of the fore-feet 
is almost deserving of the title of talon, as it is powerfully made and nearly half an inch 
in length. The total length of this animal is nearly ten inches, the tail measuring about 
two inches in length. 
It is rather gregarious in its habits, associating together in moderately large bands, 
and undermining the ground in all directions. It is a vegetable feeder, preferring the 
bulbous roots of the quamash, or camas (Sezlla esculenta), to any other diet, and is 
therefore called by some writers, the Camas Rat. This title is, however, given to several 
allied animals. It also feeds on nuts, roots, grain, and seeds of various kinds. The 
burrow of this animal is not very deep, but runs for a considerable distance in a 
horizontal direction, and along its course occasional hillocks are thrown up, by means 
of which it may be traced from the surface. 
