60 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 



" When first aroused it ran a short distance, then re- 

 turned, and stood close by us, allowing us to touch it 

 with a gun before it again retreated. It was mild, or 

 without that suspicious and cunning air so remarkable in 

 the common brown rat. We have reason to think that 

 the species is not uncommon in Florida, as several indi- 

 viduals were seen by Mr. Say, in an old mansion, but 

 he was unprovided with the means of capturing them." 

 Specimens are preserved in the Museum of the Zool. 

 Soc. A second species was discovered by Mr. Drum- 

 mond in the Rocky Mountains, and is described by Dr. 

 Richardson under the title of N. Drummondii. This 

 animal " makes its nest in the crevices of high rocks, and 

 seldom appears in the daytime. Its food most probably 

 consists of herbage of various kinds, and of small branches 

 of pine-trees, because there is generally a considerable 

 store of those substances laid up in the vicinity of its 

 residence. It is very destructive. In the course of a 

 single night the fur-traders who have encamped in a 

 place frequented by these animals have sustained much 

 loss by their packs of furs being gnawed, the blankets 

 cut in pieces, and many small articles carried entirely 

 away. Mr. Drummond placed a stout pair of English 

 shoes on the shelf of a rock, and as he thought in perfect 

 security, but on his return after an absence of a few 

 days he found them gnawed into fragments as fine as 

 saw-dust." This species is nine inches in the length of 

 the head and body, its tail being seven inches and a half. 

 Its general colour is yellowish brown above, and white 

 beneath : the fur is full and soft, and the tail is bushy 

 and densely hairy, instead of being round, taj)ering, and 

 thinly covered with hair, as in the Florida rat. (Speci- 

 men in Museum of Zool. Soc.) With respect to the 

 genus Sigmodofi, the dentition of which is characterized 

 by the flexures which the folds of enamel on the molar 

 teeth present, one species only is described, viz., the 

 rough-haired Sigmodon (S. hispidum). This animal is 

 very numerous in the deserted plantations lying on the 

 river St. John in East Florida, particularly in the 

 gardens. Its burrows are seen in Qsery direction. 



