352 MUSCARDINID^E— MUSCARDINUS 



op. cit. supra, p. 350). It is a highly specialised offshoot of 

 an ancient family, the absence of which from Ireland, Norway, 

 and Spain, but presence in Sweden and Great Britain, stamp 

 the present stock as recent immigrant to western Europe with 

 low powers of dispersal, since it has not yet had time to 

 occupy Norway or cross the Pyrenees. Its absence from 

 Africa and the Mediterranean islands, except Sicily (where it 

 may have been introduced), shows that it has not come from 

 the south, whereas its presence in Italy and Sweden points 

 to an existence of long-standing in central Europe antedating 

 the birth of the Alps and of the Baltic. It may thus have 

 originated somewhere in Europe, perhaps in Germany or near 

 the Alps, as suggested by Scharff. 



These dormice are all mouse-like rodents, characterised by 

 a thick, compact body, warmly clothed with soft, dense fur ; 

 long, bushy, cylindrical, slightly prehensile tail ; climbing hands 

 and feet with rudimentary thumbs and short first toes. 



They are gentle creatures, living in pairs or small colonies in 

 thickets, where they build globular nests, in which they sleep by 

 day, venturing abroad only at night. They are of more exclu- 

 sively vegetarian diet than the members of the other European 

 genera. During the summer months they produce two or more 

 litters of blind and naked young, become very fat in autumn, 

 and then fall into a deep sleep lasting, with brief intervals, until 

 spring. They are of sedentary habits, a fact which no doubt 

 accounts for their being without scent-producing glands. The 

 same quality makes them very acceptable in captivity, where 

 they thrive well and readily breed and rear young. 



The brownish or ochraceous yellow coloration recalls that 

 of the so-called "chestnut" horses, and suggests partial 

 albinism. Judging from the young, it is a development 

 from a former more mouse-like tint. It runs to bright 

 buff in the Italian M. pulcher, can hardly be protective, 

 and there is no reason to suppose that it is used for 

 warning purposes. 



In the stomach the cardiac extremity of the oesophagus has 

 thickened glandular walls. 



There are eight mammae, arranged as : — pectoral 1 — 1, 

 abdominal 1 — 1, inguinal 2 — 2. 



