965 



MURID.E. 



966 



A. Empetra is the Quebec Marmot of Pennant and Godman ; the 

 Common Marmot of Langsdorff; the Thick-Wood Badger of the 

 Hudson's Bay residents ; the Siffleur of the French Canadians, who 

 apply the same name to th other species of Marmot and to the 

 Badger ; Tarbagan of the Russian residents on Kodiak ( ?) ; Weenusk of 

 the Crees ; Kath-hillco-Kooay of the Chepewyans ; M us Empetra of 

 Pallas ; Arctomys Empetra of Sabine and others. It is hoary above, 

 mixed with black, and bright brown shining through ; reddish-orange 

 beneath; head and feet blackish-brown; cheeks whitish; cars flat, 

 round, moderate ; tail about half the length of the body, black at the 

 tip. Length of the head and body, from 17 to 20 inches; of tail 

 vertebra;), 5 J inches. 



Quebec Marmot (Arctomys Empelra). 



Sir John Richardson, who gives the above synonyms, states that the 

 Quebec Marmot inhabits the woody districts from Canada to 61 N. lat., 

 and perhaps still farther north. He says that it appears to be a solitary 

 animal, inhabit burrows in the earth, but ascends bushes and trees, 

 probably in search of buds and other vegetable productions, on which 

 it feeds. Mr. Drummond killed two, one on some low bushes, and 

 the other on the branch of a tree. According to Mr. Graham it 

 burrows perpendicularly, selecting dry spots at some distance from 

 the coast, and feeding on the coarse grass which it gathers on the 

 river-rides. The Indians capture it by pouring water into its holes. 

 The flesh is considered delicate when the animal is fat. The fur is 

 valueless. It much resembles the Bobac of Poland in form and 

 general appearance. (' Fauna Boreali-Americana.') Pennant says, 

 "Mr. Brooks had one alive a few years ago; it was very tame, and 

 made a hissing noise." 



This species has a slight folding of the lining of the mouth, forming 

 the rudiment of a cheek-pouch. (Richardson.) 



Pouched. 



SpermophUut (F- Cuvier). Dental formula as in Arctomys; the 

 molars are narrow. Cheeks with large pouches; toes narrow and free; 

 heel covered with hair ; hind toes naked. 



A. (Spermophiliu) Parryi. This, according to Sir John Richardson 

 who first named the species, is the Ground Squirrel of Hearne ; the 

 Quebec Marmot of Forster; the Seek-Seek of the Esquimaux; the 

 Thce-Thiay (Rock-Badger) of the Chepewyans; and the ArctomyiAlpina 

 of Parry's ' Second Voyage." 



Ears very short ; body thickly spotted above with white on a gray 

 or black ground, pale rust-coloured beneath ; face chestnut-coloured 

 the tail one-third longer than the hind feet, stretched out flat, black 

 at the extremity, with a narrow white margin, rust-coloured beneath 

 Length of head and body, 8 inches 6 lines ; of tail (vertebnc), 1 inch 

 6 lines. 



Sir John Richardson tells us that this Spermophile inhabits the Barren 

 Grounds skirting the sea-coast from Fort Churchill in Hudson's Bay 

 round by Melville Peninsula, and the whole northern extremity of the 

 continent to Bent-ing's Straits, where specimens precisely similar wer< 

 procured by Captain Beechey. It is abundant in the neighbourhooc 

 of Fort Enterprise, near the southern verge of the Barren Grounds, ii 

 65 N. lat, and is also plentiful on Cape Parry, one of the mos 

 northern parts of the continent It is found generally in stony dis 

 tricts, but seems to delight chiefly in sandy hillocks amongst rocks 

 where burrows, inhabited by different individuals, may be oftei 

 observed crowded together. One of the society is generally observer 

 sitting erect on the summit of a hillock, whilst the others are feedin 

 in the neighbourhood. Upon the approach of danger he gives th 

 alarm, and they instantly hurry to their holes, remaining howeve 

 chattering at the entrance until the advance of the enemy oblige 

 them to retire to the bottom. When their retreat is cut off the 

 become much terrified, and, seeking shelter in the first crevice, the 

 not unfrequently succeed only in hiding the head and fore part of th 

 body, whilst the projecting tail is, as is usual with them under th 

 influence of terror, spread out flat on the rock. Their cry in thi 

 season of distress strongly resembles the loud alarm of the Hudson ^ 

 Bay Squirrel, and is not very unlike the sound of a watchman 

 rattle. The Esquimaux name is an attempt to express this sounc 

 Hearne states that they are easily tamed, and very cleanly and playfi 

 when domesticated. They never come abroad during the winte 



'heir food appears to be entirely vegetable ; their pouches being 

 enerally filled, according to the season, with tender shoots of herba- 

 eous plants, berries of the alpine arbutus, and of other trailing 

 irubs, or the seeds of grasses and leguminous plants. They produce 

 bout seven young at a time. (' Fauna Boreali-Americana.') Sir John 

 lichardson's figure, from which the cut is taken, was drawn from a 

 pecimen procured from the banks of the Mackenzie River. 



Ground Squirrel (Arctomyi (Spermophilus) Parryi}. 



The genus Avlacodus of Temminck is placed by Dr. Fischer between 

 Dipus and Arctomys. 



Mr. Waterhouse, in his interesting ' Observations on the Rodentia, 

 with a view to point out the Groups, as indicated by the Structure of 

 the Crania, in this order of Mammals' (' Mag. Nat. Hist.,' 1839), states 

 the following as the principal genera of his section M urina .-Sciurus, 

 Arctomys, Myoxus, Dipus, Mus, Anicola, Geomys, and Castor. The 

 principal genera in the section Hystritina are, according to the same 

 luthor, Bathyergus, Poephagomys, Octodon, Babrocoma, Myopotamus, 

 Capromys, Echimys, Aulacodws, Hyslrix, Dasyprocta, Chinchilla, and 



In^the'^ology of H.M.S. Beagle ' (Sept, 1839), Mr. Waterhouse 

 says that he has been induced, by the differences there pointed out in 

 the molar teeth of the two groups, to separate the South American 

 Mice from those of the Old World, or rather from that group of which 

 Mm decumanus may be regarded as the type ; and to place them, 

 together with such North American species as agree with them in 

 dentition, in a new genus bearing the name of Jfesperomys. Mr. 

 Waterhouse will not venture to say whether this group be confined 

 to the western hemisphere or not ; but he thinks that he may safely 

 affirm that that portion of the globe is their chief metropolis. In 

 the species of Hesperomys, he observes, the molar teeth are always 

 rooted ; and in the form of the skull and lower jaw they agree with 

 the Muridce, and do not present the characters pointed out by him as 

 distinguishing the Arvicolidce ; and, as regards the cranium and lower 

 iaw it 's only in the genus Neotoma that any approach is evinced, in 

 his opinion. Under the family Octodontidce he places the genera 

 Ctenomys, Poephagomys, Octodon, and Abrocoma, which last he states 

 to be allied on the one hand to the genera Octodon, Poephagomys, and 

 Clenomys, and on the other to the family Chinchittidai. The Octo- 

 dontida: appear to him to bear the same relation to Echimys as the 

 ArvicolcB do to the Mwidce. [RODENTIA ; HYSTRICIM; SciuBias.] 



In the collection of the British Museum the student will find speci- 

 mens of nearly all the Mnridcs at present known. The following is a 

 list of the species found in that collection, with the countries in which 

 the specimens were found : 



Family Muridas. 

 a. Mttrina. 



1. Acanthomys CaUrirMs, the Cairo Hat Egypt. 



2. A. affinis, the Allied Acanthomya. Egypt. 



3. Mus Bandicota (Bechstein), the Bandicoot, or Pig-Rat Nepaul. 

 4 M. nitidus (Hodgson), the Shining Rat Nepaul. 



5. M. setiger (Horsfield), the Wirok. Van Diemen s Land. 



6. M. gigas, the Egyptian Bandicoot Egypt. 



7. M. decumanus (Pallas), the Norway Rat Great Britain and India. 



8. M. Rattus (Linnams), the Black Rat Great Britain. 



9. M. pmicillatus (Gould), the Pencilled Rat Van Diemeu's Land: 

 10. M. Decumanoides (Hodgson), the Indian Rat Nepaul. 



