THE CANADA POUCHED RAT, OR MULO. 609 
The CanapA Poucnep Rar is sometimes known by the name of “ Mulo,” and 
occasionally by that of “ Gopher.” 
The incisor teeth of this animal are extremely long, and project beyond the lip, so 
as to be visible even at a profile view. The cheek-pouches are of great dimensions, 
measuring nearly three inches in depth, and reaching from the sides of the mouth to the 
insertion ‘of the shoulder. They are lined with a eat covering of short fine hairs. The 
total length of the Canada Pouched Rat is about one foot, the tail being two inches long. 
The weight of an ordinary sized adult specimen is about fourteen ounces. In shape, 
it is heavily made and very clumsy, bearing no slight resemblance to the ordinary 
mole of our own country. Its fur is about half an inch in length upon the back, 
and much shorter upon the abdomen. Its colour is a reddish-brown on the upper 
parts of the body, fading into ashy-brown upon the abdomen, and the feet are white. 
The first third of the tail is clothed with short hair of the same colour as that of the 
back, but the remaining two-thirds are devoid of hairy covering. 
This animal is a isemrowen and is most destructive among ‘plantations, as it is in the 
habit of eating the roots which happen to intereept the course of its tunnel, and has been 
known thus to destroy upwards of two hundred young trees in a few days and nights. 
Its ravages are not solely restricted to young plants, but are often extended to old and 
fullgrown fruit-trees. It continues its labour by day as well as by night, but is not 
readily discovered at its work, as it always ceases its labour at the least sound from above. 
The burrows of the Mulo are rather complicated, and are well described in the following 
extract from Audubon and Bachman. 
“ Having observed some freshly thrown up mounds in M. Chouteaw’s garden, several 
servants were called and set to work to dig out the animals if practicable alive; and we 
soon dug up several galleries worked by the Muloes, in different directions. 
One of the main galleries was about a foot beneath the surface of the ground, except 
when it passed under the walks, in which places it was sunk rather lower. We turned up 
this entire gallery, which led across a large garden-bed and two walks into another bed, 
where we discovered that several fine plants had been killed by these animals eating off 
their roots just beneath the surface of the ground. The burrow ended near these plants 
under a large rose-bush. We then dug out another principal burrow, but its terminus 
was among the roots of a large peach-tree, some of the bark of which had been eaten 
off by these animals. We could not capture any of them at this time, owing to the 
ramification of their galleries having escaped our notice whilst following the main 
burrows. On carefully examining the ground, we discovered that several g¢ galleries existed 
that appeared to run entirely out ‘of the garden into the open fields and woods beyond, so 
that we were obliged to give up the chase. This species throws up the earth in httle 
mounds about twelve or fifteen inches in height, at irregular distances, sometimes near 
each other, and occasionally ten, twenty, or even thirty paces asunder, generally opening 
near a surface well covered with grass or vegetables of various kinds.” 
The burrow was probably sunk lower wherever it crossed a path, because the sense of 
hearing in this animal is so extremely acute, that it would be much annoyed by the 
continual sound of human footsteps immediately over its head. 
Although it spends the greater part of its existence beneath the earth, it is frequently 
seen above the surface of the ground, as it resorts to the open air for the purpose of 
basking in the sun, or procuring leaves which have been brightened and vivified by the 
rays of the sun, as a change from the roots on which it chiefly depends for subsistence. 
When it revisits the regions of upper day, it emerges from the earth in some hitherto 
unbroken spot, pushing “the soil upwards and causing a kind of miniature earthquake 
before it makes its appearance. Presently the head and shoulders of the animal emerge 
from the lump of earth, and shaking the loose mould from its fur, it draws itself entirely 
out of its burrow. It then runs forward for a yard or two, searching for food, nibbling 
off the green blades with its teeth, and stowing them into its cheek- pouches with the 
aid of its fore-paws. When it has filled the pouches, it runs back to the hole through 
which it had issued, and vanishes immediately from sight. 
Should it be alarmed while out of its tunnel, it plunges precipitately into its strong- 
il. RR 
