255 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



ROBENTS continued — dormice — squirrels — marmots. 



Dormouse (MYOXI^'Us). — (Map 87.) This family is confined to the Old World, where it has been 

 in existence since the Miocene epoch. Remains of three extinct species have been found in France, 

 two of them in the gypsum of Montmartre, and one in the middle tertiary beds of Sansans, in the 

 south of France. The living sjoecies are few in number, and are confined to the Old World. The 

 commonest, oiu' small English species, (Muscaruixus aveluanarius), is found throughout temperate 

 and northern Europe, and a nearly allied species, still smaller and prettier, is found in Japan. The 

 Glis vulgaris (Seven-sleeper of the Germans) has a more southerly range, living in the south of 

 Europe, as far east as the Wolga, and extending into Georgia. It is it that the ancients so 

 highly prized as a dainty, and fed for the table in separate hutches, as we do turkcj's now. It 

 comes nearer to the squirrels than any other member of this family. Of the remaining genera, 

 Eliomys extends from the south of Europe into Africa and Arabia, and Graphiurus inhabits the 

 Cape of Good Hope. A singular form (Platac^anthomys lasiurus,) said by its describer, !Mr. 

 Blyth, to be alKed to the African Graphiuri, occurs on the Malabar coast of India. It has sharp 

 flat spines on its back, and it is possible ought more properlj^ to be referred to the Xeri, or spiny 

 Squirrels. Another remarkable aberrant form half-way between the Squirrel and Dormouse 

 (Anomalurus) from West Africa, may also be taken in here with the Dormice. 



SciURlD^. 



Anatomically and physiologically considered, the best classification of the Squirrels is into 

 true Squirrels and Marmots; a division which, with the exception of a single genus (Tamias)> 

 corresponds very nearly to terrestrial and arboreal Squirrels. The terrestrial Squirrels consist 

 of the Marmot (Arctomys), the Prairie Dog (Cyngmys), and the Spermophile (Spermophilus). 

 The genus Tajiias is also terrestrial, but in structure and affinity belongs to the arboreal 

 section, which, besides it, contains the true Squirrels (Sciurus), the Spiny Squirrels (Xerus), and 

 the Flying Squirrels (Pteromys). Like the Hamsters, and some other Rodents, a considerable pro- 

 portion of the Sqiurrels possess cheek-pouches. All the species of Spermophilus and Tamias have 

 largely developed internal cheek-pouches, and Arctomys has traces of them. 



he only fossil remains of Squirrels are of recent date. An Arctomys has been found in 

 the alluvium of Auvergne, and remains of another animal allied to the Marmot (Plesiarctomys 

 Gervaisii) have been met with in the recent fresh-water calcareous deposits of Apt near the mouth 

 of the Rhone. Remains of the living species of Squirrels have also been found in bone-caves, 

 but nothing indicating its presence in Europe, or indeed anywhere else at a more ancient date. 

 In a family containing such an army of species as the Squirrels, one is glad to be able to break 



