RODENTIA. 121 



but their grinders, like those of the squirrel, amount to five on each side 

 above, and four below, all bristled with points ; accordingly, some species 

 are inclined to eat flesh, and feed upon insects, as well as grass. There 

 are four toes and a tubercle in place of a thumb to the fore feet, and five 

 toes to the hind ones. In other respects these animals are nearly the 

 direct reverse of the squirrels, being heavy, having short legs, a middle- 

 sized or short hairy tail, and a large flat head, passing the winter in a 

 state of torpor, and shut up in deep holes, the entrance of which they close 

 with a heap of grass. They live in societies, and are easily tamed. Two 

 species are known in the eastern continent. 



Arct. alpinus; Mus. alpinus, L.; Buff". VIII. xxviii. (The Al- 

 pine Marmot). Large as a hare; tail short; fur yellowish-grey, 

 with ash-coloured tints about the head. It lives in high mountains, 

 immediately below the region of perpetual snow. 



Arc. hobac; M. bobac, L. ; Pall. Glir. V; Schreb. CCIX. (The 

 Bobac). Size of the preceding; of a yellowish-grey, tinted with 

 red about the head. Inhabits low mountains and hills, from Poland 

 to Kamschatka, and frequently digs its burrow in the hardest soil.* 

 America also produces some species. 



Arct. monax, Buff". Supp. III. xxviii. (The Maryland Marmot). 

 Grey ; tail blackish, as well as the top of the head. 



Arct. empetra, Pall.; Schreb. CX. Less than the preceding; 

 grey; red beneath. 



Spermophilus, Fred. Cuv. 

 We apply this name to those Marmots that have cheek pouches. The 

 superior lightness of their structure has caused them to be called Ground 

 Squirrels. Eastern Europe produces one species. 



M. citillus, L. ; Buff". Supp. III. xxxi. (The Souslik or Zizel). 

 A pretty little animal, of a greyish brown, watered or mottled with 

 white, the spots very small, which is found from Bohemia to Siberia. 

 It has a peculiar fondness for flesh, and does not spare even its own 

 species. 



North America has several species of them, one of which is re- 

 markable by the thirteen fawn-coloured stripes which extend along 

 the back on a blackish ground. It is the Thirteen-striped Souslik, 

 Arct. IS-lineatus, Harl. ; or Sciurus 13-lineatus, Mitchell; or Arct. 

 Hoodii, Sabine, Lin. Trans. XIII. pi. xxixf . 

 There is one of the Rodentia which it appears we must approximate to 

 the Marmots, that is remarkable for living in large troops in immense 

 burrows, which have even been styled villages. It is called the Prairie 

 Dog, or Barking Squirrel, the latter appellation arising from its voice, 



* Russian travellers in Bucharia mention some other Marmots, /irct.fiilvus, Arct. 

 lepto-daclylus, Arct. miisogaricus, which are not yet perhaps sufficiently distinguished 

 from the Boubak or from the Souslik. 



t Add Arct. Parrii, Richards. App. Parry's Voy.— Several of the Marmots an- 

 nounced in the travels of Lewis and Clarke, Parry, Franklin, &c. Arct. Franklinii, 

 liichardsonii, pruinosa, seem to belong to this subgenus. See Sabine, Lin. Trans. 

 XI n. pi. xxvii, xxviii, Sec. 



