Ml'RID.E. 



MURID.*. 



a new gram provided with the nuiie teth u the rat, confer* on thow 

 teeth a more elevated rank than they bad previously held, and begin* 

 to form the character of a family. The following is a copy of F. 

 CuTier'i plate, and he inform* u* that the specie* which cave him this 

 dentition are if. Kattta, M. decuman**, if. UtuciUiu, .. Pumilio, Ac. 



Teeth of Uut. 



In endeavouring to give a sketch of the swarms of this group, we 

 shall treat of them according to their geographical distribution. 



European Rats and Mice. 



The Long-Tailed Field-Mouse, Wood-Mouse, or Mui tylraliciu, ami 

 the Harvest-Mouse, J/. iiiinimtu of White, and M. meaorint of Shaw, 

 may be considered as indigenous in Kurope. Whether the old English 

 or Black Hat (if. Hal lot) and Domestic Mouse are aborigines, or im- 

 ported, is not so clear. The latter is only found in inhabited 

 countries ; and, like the Black Hat and Brown Rat, is a cosmopolite, 

 following civilised man wherever he is to be found. 



Jkfiu lylraticui, the Long-Tailed Field-Mouse. It is the LJygoden 

 Gauolig and Llygoden y Maes of the Welsh ; Le Mulot of the French ; 

 and Voed of the Danes; M, tylraticut (Linn.), M. agratit major 

 (Bri**.), and U. domaticut mcdiut of liay. The length of the head 

 and body, a* given by Mr. Bell, is 3 inches 8 lines, and that of the 

 tail S inches and 6 lines. Pennant makes its measurement from the 

 note to the setting on of the tail 4 J inches, and the tail 4 inches. If 

 the last-mentioned dimensions are correct, they must have been taken 

 from a very large individual. Mr. Macgillivray gives the dimensions 

 of three individuals ; tho length (to the end of the tail) of the largest 

 was inches 8 lines, that of the next 6 inches 6 lines, and that of the 

 least 6 inches only. 



The animal is w<41 described by Mr. Bell as larger than the Com- 

 mon Field-Vole, but varying considerably in size ; the head long and 

 raised, the muzzle tapering ; the whiskers very long ; the eyes remark- 

 ably large and prominent; the ears large, oblong, oval, with the 

 anUrior margin turned in at the base, and a projecting lobe arising 

 within the ear, near the base of the posterior margin ; the tail nearly 

 a* long as the body, slender and tapering ; the legs long. The upper 

 part and aide* of the head, neck, and body, and the outer surface of 

 the leg*, of a yellowish-brown, darker on the back, each hair being 

 gray or ash-coloured at the base, then yellow, and the tips of some of 

 them black ; under parts whitiib, with a very slight grayinh tint in 

 some part*, and a yellowish gray patch on the breast Tail brown 

 above, white beneath. (' British Quadruped*.') 



This i* a mo*t destructive species, and a bitter enemy to the 

 horticulturist, the agriculturist, and the planter. It is very prolific, 

 bringing forth from seven to ten at a birth, and is not always stinted 

 to one brood in a year. The boards that it collects in its subterranean 

 retreats (which are sometimes the result* of it* own labour, but more 

 frequently excavation* which it find* ready made, but which it 

 rnlargen, such as those under root* of trees, old mole-runs, tc.) 

 are enormous for the size of the animal, and Pennant U of opinion 

 that the great damage done by hog* in rooting up the ground, or 

 mooting.' a* it i* called in some counties, i* caused chiefly by the 

 srarch of the swine for the concealed treasure of this Field-Mouse. 



It is an inhabitant of the whole of temperate Europe. 



Hut ateaoriut, the Harvest Mouse. White of Selborne, who suggests 

 the name of Miu minimtu, appear* to be the first who drew the 

 attention of naturalUU to this the smallest of British quadruped*. 

 He wrote an account of it to Pennant, who culled it the Less Long- 

 Tailed Field-Mouse and the Harvest Moute. It is the M<u mcaoriui 

 of Shaw, and Mr. Bell adds the following synonyms :ifui minulut 

 (Palhu) ; Mulot Nain (?) and Rat de* Moisaona (F. Cuvier, 'Mamm.'); 

 Minute Mouse of Shaw. 



IIirvnt-Muute (ilia meuoriia}. Ne*t in background. 



White thus introduces hie discovery to Pennant : " I have procured 

 some of the mice mentioned in my former letter, a young one and a 

 female with ynuupr, both of which I have preserved in brandy. From 

 the colour, size, shape, and manner of nesting, I make no doubt but 

 that the species is nondescript. They are much smaller and more 

 slender than the Mat dometticut median of Ray, and have more of the 

 squirrel or dormouse colour ; their belly is" white ; a straight line 

 along their sides divide* the shades of their back and belly. They 

 never enter into houses ; are carried into ricks and barns with tl.r 

 sheaves ; abound in harvest ; and build their nests amidst the straws 

 of the com above the ground, and sometimes in thistles. They breed 

 as many as eight at a litter, in a little round nest composed of the 

 blades of grass or wheat. One of these I procured this autumn, most 

 artificially platted, and compose:! of the blades of wheat, perfectly 

 round, and about the size of a cricket-ball, with the aperture so inge- 

 niously closed that there was no discovering to what part it belonged. 

 It was so compact and well fitted that it would roll across the table 

 without being decomposed, though it contained eight little mice that 

 were naked und blind. AH this nest was perfectly full, how could the 

 dam come at her litter respectively so as to administer a teat to each .' 

 Perhaps she opens different places for that purpose, adjusting them 

 again when the business is over ; but sho could not possibly be con- 

 tained herself in the ball with her young, which moreover would be 

 daily increasing in bulk. This wonderful procreant cradle, an elegant 

 instance of the efforts of instinct, was found in a wheat-field suppendeil 

 in the head of a thistle." And again: "As to the small i 

 have further to remark that, though they bang their nests for brt i-din.- 

 up amidst the straws of the standing corn above the ground, yet I 

 find that in the winter they burrow deep in the earth, and make warm 

 bed* of grass ; but the grand rendezvous seems to be in corn-rick-, 

 into which they are carried at harvest A neighbour housed an oat- 

 rick lately, under the thatch of which were assembled near an hundred, 

 mo*t of which were taken, and some I saw. I measured them, and 

 found that from nose to tail they were just two inches and a quarter, 

 and their tails just two inches long. Two of them in a scale weighed 

 down just one copper halfpenny, which is about tho third of an ounce 

 avoirdupois; so that I suppone they are the smallest quadrupeds in 

 this island. A full-grown Mta mtdint dumttlica* weighs, 1 tin, I, 

 one ounce lumping weight, which i* more than six times as much as 

 the mouse above ; and measures from nose to rump four inches and a 

 quarter, and the same in its taiL ... As my neighbour was bousing 

 a rick he observed that his dog devoured all the little red mice they 

 could catch, but rejected the common mice ; and that bis cats ate the 

 common mice, refusing the red." Thus far White. Dr. Uloger 



