MVRID.E. 



They never appear by day, neither do they commit .depredation* within 

 doors. 1 have observed their manner* by night, in moonlight night*. 

 taking my station on a plain, and remaining for iome time with u 

 little motion aa potable. I wai soon t urrounded by hundreds at the 

 distance of a few yards ; but on rising from my seat the whole dis- 

 appeared in an instant, nor did they venture forth Again for tea minutes 

 after, and then with much caution and circumspection. 



Egyptian Jerboa (THpui /Kgyptiut, Hcmpr. and Khrcn.). 



" A tribe of low Hindus, called Kunjers, whose occupation u hunt- 

 ing, go in quest of these animals at proper seasons, to plunder their 

 hoards of grain ; and often, within the space of twenty yards square, 

 find as much corn in the car as could be crammed into a common 

 bushel They inhabit dry situations, and are often found at the 

 distance of some miles out of the reach of water to drink. In con- 

 finement this animal soon becomes reconciled to its situation, and 

 docile ; sleeps much in the day, but when awake feeds as freely as by 

 night. The Hindus above mentioned esteem them good and nutritious 

 food." (' Linn. Trans.,' voL viii.) 



A Jerboa has been discovered in Australia by Sir Thomas Mitchell. 

 "The arid deserts of Asia and Africa, the solitary steppes of Southern 

 Siberia, and the boundless prairies of America, have been long known 

 to be inhabited by numerous species belonging to this or the closely 

 allied genus of Gerbilles ; in short, wherever extensive and open plains 

 were found to exist, whether in the Old World or in the New, there 

 likewise were found these little two-legged rats, hopping along or 

 running with great velocity upon their hind legs, and appearing as if 

 nature had expressly intended them to occupy such a situation. 

 Australia alone was believed to form an exception to the general rule 

 in this instance, as in so many others. Who will undertake to say 

 that the progress of discovery may not destroy ita anomalous character 

 in many other instance*, as it has done in this?" ('Linn. Trans.,' 

 yoL xviii.) Mr. Ogilby has named this species Diput MitcheUii, after 

 iU meritorious discoverer, and given a detailed description of the 





Diftu JJitcMlii. 



species in the ' Linnean Transactions ' last above quoted The animal 

 was found on the reedy plains near the junction of the Murray ami 

 the Murrumbidgee, on the northern boundaries of Australia Krlix. 

 The cut is taken from the figure in Sir T. Mitchell's account of ' Three 

 Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia.' Sir T. Mitchell 

 states that its fore and hind legs resembled in proportion those of the 

 Kangaroo ; and it used the latter by leaping on iln hind quarters in 

 the same manner. It was not much larger than a common field-mouse, 

 but the tail was longer in proportion even than that of a Kangaroo, and 

 terminated in a hairy brush about two inches long. 



Mr. Ogilby has characterised another new genus of Australian 

 Rodents, which he thinks most probably belongs to the extensive and 

 complicated family of the Mv.rid.tt. In some of the characters the 

 genus very much resembles the Campagnola (Aii-icola) and Qerbilles 

 (Meriotui), to the latter of which genera Mr. Ogilby says that C'cmiVuriu 

 is more particularly related by the length and development of the 

 posterior members. 



itervmtt (Illiger and F. Cuvier). Differing from the other Rats 

 with long feet in the form of ita molars, which are composite. 



O j I 



Dental Formula : Incisors, - ; Molars, _ 12 = 18. 

 2 3 '3 



Teeth of Jfa-iona. K. Cuvier. 



if. Labradoriui, the Labrador Jumping Mouse. It has the back 

 and upper parts of the head dark liver-brown mixed with brownish- 

 yellow ; sides brownish-yellow slightly sprinkled with black ; margin 

 of the mouth, chin, throat, and all the lower parts of the body white : 

 yellowish-brown of the sides joining the white of the belly by a 

 straight line extending between the fore and hind extremities. Kur 

 not so long or so fine as that of the common or meadow mice. Total 

 length 9 inches 9 lines, of which the tail measures 5 inches 3 lines ; 

 this last tapers slightly, is scaly, and thinly set with short hairs. 



Labrador Jumping Motue (Uerionct ia'/rorfoniw). 



