KODENTIA. 123 



We should place near the Dormice, the 



EciiiMYS, Geoff. — LoNCHKRES, Illig. 



Four grinders also, but formed in a peculiar way ; the upper ones con- 

 sisting of two blades, bent into the shape of a V, and the under ones of 

 one blade only that is bent, and of another that is simple. The fur of 

 several species is very rough, and intermixed with flattened spines or 

 prickles, like sword blades. From America. One of them, 



Ech. chrysuros; Hystrix chri/suros, Schreb. CLXX, B; Lerot a 

 queue doree, Buff. Supp. VII. 72. (The Golden-tailed Echimys). 

 More than twice the size of the brown rat; it is a beautiful animal, 

 of a chestnut-brown colour; white belly; an elongated crest of hairs, 

 and a white longitudinal band on the head ; the tail is long and black ; 

 its posterior half is yellow. From Guiana. 



Ech. rufus; Rat epineux, Azzara, Voy. pi. xiii. (The Red Eclii- 



mys). Size of a rat, and of a reddish grey ; tail shorter than the 



body. It is found in Guiana, Brazil, and Paraguay. It excavates 



long subterraneous galleries. 



Others, again, have merely the ordinary kind of hair, more or less 



rough. The most remarkable is tlie 



Ech. dactyJicus, Geoff. (The Long-toed Echimys). Which is 

 still larger than the golden-tailed one, and has the two middle toes 

 of the fore feet double the length of the lateral ones. Its scaly tail 

 is longer than .the body ; its fur is a yellowish grey, and the hairs on 

 its nose form a crest directed in front.* 



Hyrdomys, Geoff. 



The Hydromys have many external points of relation to the Echimys, 

 but they are distinguished from all other rats by their hind feet, two thirds 

 of which are palmated ; their two molars have also a peculiar character in 

 the crown, which is divided into obliquely quadi-augular lobes, whose sum- 

 mits are hollowed out like the bowl of a spoon. They are aquatic. 



* Add the Echimys of Cayenne, the Silky Echimys. I suspect the Mus. para- 

 doxus, Thomas, Lin. Trans. XI, (Heteromys, Lesson,) differs from the Echimys in 

 its cheek-pouches only. However, not having seen its teeth, I cannot arrange it. 



a door admitted, hetween its lower edge and the floor, a current of air; and, in order 

 to get rid of the inconvenience, the dormouse had previously fixed up a piece of 

 board, which it absolutely detached from a shelf, and placed against the door. But 

 this was not all. The dormouse, it was found, had untied a straw rope which encir- 

 cled some bottles that lay in the cellar; of this it made a bed, which it lastly sur- 

 rounded with a rampart curiously and ingeniously constructed; for this wall of se- 

 cui-ity was composed of the fragments of the bottles literally broken for the purpose 

 of being placed as a wall of separation between the bed of the dormouse and the rats 

 that might chance to invade it. The dormice are found in great numbers, in bur- 

 rows, on the highest of the rocks of the Alpine mountains. They come out in wet 

 weather, and generally announce the approach of rain by a shrill, and very peculiar 

 whistle. The inhabitants of the Alps regard their appearance abroad as faithful 

 indications of the weather. Dr. M. Hall, in the paper on hybernation already alluded 

 to, states, that dormice, supplied with cotton wool, make themselves nests, and be- 

 come lethargic. — Eng. Ed. 



