30 MAMMALIA GLIRES. [Mvoxus. 



GEN. 15. MYOXUS, Gmel. 



40. M. avellanarius, Desm. (Dormouse.) Fur tawny 

 red above ; white beneath : tail bushy, the length of the 

 body. 



M. avellanarius, Desm. Mammal, p. 295. Flem. Brit. An. p. 22. 

 Dormouse, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. i. p. 110. Shaw, Gen. Zool. 

 vol. ii. p. 167. pi. 154. 



DIMENS. Length of the head and body two inches ten lines ; of the 

 head eleven lines and a half; of the ears four lines ; of the tail two inches 

 eight lines. 



DESCRIPT. Head broad; nose blunt; eyes black, large, and pro- 

 minent ; ears broad, oval, rounded at the extremity : body plump : hind 

 legs not disproportionably longer than the fore ; toes four in front with 

 the rudiment of a thumb, five behind : tail very long, somewhat flattened 

 horizontally, thickly clothed with hair on every side. Colour of the upper 

 parts bright tawny red ; under parts white, with here and there a yellow 

 tinge: tail red throughout. 



Not uncommon in some parts of the country, frequenting woods and 

 thick hedges. Less active than the squirrel: food similar. Builds in 

 the hollows of trees, and produces from three to four young. Becomes 

 torpid in the Winter. 



GEN. 16. MUS, Linn. 



41. M. sylvaticus, Linn. (Field Mouse.) Fur yel- 

 lowish brown above ; whitish beneath, with a ferruginous 

 spot on the breast : ears more than half the length of the 

 head. 



M. sylvaticus, Desm. Mammal, p. 301. Flem. Brit. An. p. 19. Field 

 Mouse, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. i. p. 120. Wood Mouse, Shaw, 

 Gen. Zool. vol. n. p. 58. pi. 132. 



DIMENS. Length of the head and body three inches nine lines ; of the 

 head one inch one line ; of the ears seven lines ; of the tail three inches 

 seven lines. 



DESCRIPT. Forehead somewhat convex ; nose blunt ; eyes black, large 

 and prominent ; ears oblong-oval, with the anterior margin doubled in at 

 the base, and a projecting lobe opposite to it, this last arising within the 

 auricle near the base of the posterior margin ; whiskers very long, mea- 

 suring one inch two lines. Upper part of the head and body, cheeks, 

 sides, and external portion of the legs, of a tawny gray or yellowish brown 

 colour, each hair being dusky ash from the root upwards throughout two- 

 thirds of its length, then tawny yellow, and lastly (more particularly some 

 longer ones than the others) black at the extremity ; under part of the 

 head and body, and inside of the legs, whitish, with here and there a tinge 

 of dusky ash, the hair on these parts being dusky from the root upwards 

 the same as above, but the extremities white ; the line of separation be- 

 tween the above colours is tolerably well defined, and the red tinge is 

 most prevalent just at that part; there is also a faint tawny spot upon the 

 breast: tail a little shorter than the body, more slender and tapering 



