234 



THE DORMOUSE. 



Myoxus avellanarius. DESMAR. 

 PLATE XXII. 



Ujjper parts light yellowish-red, lower paler ; tail as long 

 as the body, flattened, with the hairs distichous. 



Mus avellanarius. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. ; Sciurns avellanarius, 

 Erxleb. Syst. 433 ; Myoxus avellanarius, Desmar. Mammal. 

 295; Jenyns, Brit. Vert. Anim. 30; Bell, Brit. Quadr. 295. 



THIS beautiful little animal is very intimately allied 

 to the Squirrels, among which it has been placed 

 by several authors, but from which it differs chiefly in 

 wanting the anterior small grinder in the upper 

 jaw, in having the tail less bushy, and the hind 

 legs less elongated. It is also said, like the other 

 species referred to the same genus, to have no 

 coecum, nor any enlargement of the colon. Its 

 form is compact and full ; the neck short ; the head 

 rather large, the nose prominent, the eyes of mode- 

 rate size, the ears rather short, and broadly rounded ; 

 the feet of delicate structure, the anterior with four 



