937 



MURID^E. 



MURID.E. 



938 



their lives in the Western Ocean, which they enter and there perish. 

 Others, taking a direction through Swedish Lapland, are drowned in 

 the Gulf of Bothnia. Their march is stated to be in parallel lines 

 about 3 feet apart, without stop or stay, unless the obstacle is in- 

 surmountable : rivers and lakes they cross without deviation, and they 

 are said to gnaw through corn and haystacks. (' Phil. Trans.,' ii.) 

 Pennant, who states that they appear in numberless troops in Norway 

 and Lapland, where they are the pest and wonder of the country, thus 

 graphically describes one of these irruptions. " They march like the 

 army of locusts so emphatically described by the prophet Joel; 

 destroy every root of grass before them, and spread universal desola- 

 tion : they infect the very ground, and cattle are said to perish which 

 taste of the grass which they have touched ; they march by myriads 

 in regular lines ; nothing stops their progress, neither fire, torrents, 

 lake, nor morass. They bend their course straight forward, with most 

 amazing obstinacy ; they swim over the lakes ; the greatest rock gives 

 them but a slight check, they go round it, and then resume their march 

 directly on, without the least division : if they meet a peasant, they 

 persist in their course, and jump as high as his knees in defence of 

 their progress ; are so fierce as to lay hold of a stick, and suffer them- 

 selves to be swung about before they quit their hold : if struck, they 

 turn about and bite, and will make a noise like a dog." 



The Ctirnivora are close attendants upon these wandering multi- 

 tudes, which Olaus and others believed to have been generated in the 

 clouds and to have fallen from thence in storm and tempest. They 

 are, says Pennant, " the prey of foxes, lynxes, and ermines, who 

 follow them in great numbers : at length they perish, either through 

 want of food or by destroying one another, or in some great water, or 

 in the sea. They are the dread of the country : in former times 

 xpiritual weapons \, ere exerted against them ; the priest exorcised 

 and had a long form of prayer to arrest the evil : happily it does 

 not occur frequently ; once or twice in 20 years : it seems like a vast 

 colony of emigrants from a nation overstocked ; a discharge of animals 

 from the great northern hive, that once poured out its myriads of 

 human creatures upon Southern Europe. Where the head-quarters 

 of these quadrupeds are is not very certainly known ; Linnaeus says 

 the Norwegian and Lapland Alps ; Pontopiddan seems to think that 

 Kolens Hock, which divides Nordland from Sweden, is their native 

 place ; but wherever they come from, none return : their course is 

 predestinated, and they pursue their fate." 



When seeking the reindeer lichen in the winter, the Lemmings 

 get under the snow, making lodgment*, and opening spiracles to the 

 surface to secure air. The Arctic Fox pursues them in these retreats. 

 It does not appear that they lay up any magazines of food, and to 

 this improvidence perhaps, as Pennant observes, may be traced the 

 great migrations that they are compelled to make in certain years ; 

 hunger urging them to quit their usual residences. 



They breed often in the course of a year, producing five or six 

 young at a birth, and they bring forth sometimes on their migrations. 

 They are said to carry some of their young in their mouths and some 

 on their backs. 



The Laplanders, who compare their flesh to that of squirrels, eat 

 them. 



Echimyt (Geoff. ; Loncheres, III part). Four unguiculate toes and a 

 vestige of a fifth on the anterior feet. Tail very long, scaly, and 

 nearly naked. Hairs, especially those on the upper parts, flat and 

 nciculated. Molars with transverse lamina;, united to each other by 

 two* at one end, or isolated. 



2 4 4 



Dental Formula : Incisors, _; Molars, = 20. 



Teeth of Echimyi daclyl'miu (young), onlarg.-d. F. Cuvicr. 



E. ckryiurwi (E. criilaliu, Desm.?), Lerot a Queue dor<5c of Alia- 

 mand ; the Gilt-Tail Dormouse of Pennant. 



The ea>-8 are short and broad, whiskers strongly developed, a gold- 

 coloured line extending longitudinally from the nose to the space 

 between the ears; head, body, and upper part of tail, marone or 

 shining purplish chestnut, ruddy marginate bristles being scattered 

 between the hairs, which give the splendour to the animal ; lower 

 part of tail, which is thick at the base and longer than the body, 

 golden. Length from nose to tail 5 inches. This species is said to 

 climb trees, and live principally on fruits. 



It is a native of Surinam. 



Cercomys (F. Cuvier). In shape ressmbling the Black Rat, but 

 with the chanfrein more arched and the ears larger. Anterior limbs 

 considerably shorter than the posterior, which are terminated with 

 five toes, the three middle ones longest ; the anterior with four toes 

 only, and the rudiment of a thumb with a small flat nail ; all the 

 other toes with compressed nails curved and pointed, and seeming 

 more proper for climbing than burrowing. Tail very long, and like 

 that of the Brown Rat. Fur composed of long straight firm hairs of 

 a uniform texture, and of hairs which are finer, softer, and much 

 thicker ; no bristle as in Echimys. Molars with distinct roots of equal 

 size, and their slightly elevated crown nearly circular, presenting at 

 the surface a notch and three ellipses surrounded with enamel, as is 

 the tooth itself. The notch is on the internal side in the upper 

 molars, and on the external side in the lower molars. Great sub- 

 orbital hole considerably extensive. 



Dental Formula : Incisors. ; Molars, _^_ = 20. 

 ' 2 44 



C. cunicularius. It is deep brown above, paler on the sides and 

 the sides of the cheeks ; jaws and neck beneath, as well as the under 

 parts generally, whitish. Eyes and ears large. 



It is a native of Brazil. 



Cercomys cuniculur'uts, 



The genera Echimys and Cercomys are included in the tribeEcliymyina 

 of Mr. Waterhouse's family Jlystricidte. [HYSTRICID.E.] 



Jt/yo.nw(Schreber; Gmelin). Four toes and the vestige of a fifth 

 on the anterior feet ; five toes behind. Fur very soft and fine. Tail 



Teeth of ITi/oxus, enlarged. F . Cuvicr. 



