RODENTIA. 127 



the body, and blackish towards the end. To this species should be 

 approximated the 



G. meridianus ; D, meridianus, Schreb. 231. (The Torrid or 

 Sand Gerbil). Which is about the same colour, but a little smaller. 



G. tamaricinus ; D. tamaricinus, Schreb. 232. (The Tamarisk 

 Gerbil). The tail is annulated with brown. 



G. pyramidum ; D. pyramidum, Oliv. (The Gerbil of the Pyra- 

 mids). The hind feet more elevated; size of the Garden Dormouse; 

 its fur is red above, whitish beneath. 



There is one in Senegal of a livelier red and a purer white. 



Another at the Cape, a little larger, reddish, and the tail less 

 hairy at the end. 



A third in Nubia, nearly half the size, of a light red above, and a 

 beautiful white beneath. The 



Meriones, Fred. Cuv. 



The Meriones, which we separate from the other Gerbils, have the 

 hind feet still longer, the tail nearly naked, and a very small tooth fronts 

 the superior molars; characters which approximate them to the Jerboas. 

 Their upper incisors are grooved, like those of the Gerbils, and their toes 

 also are similar. There is a small species in North America, the 



Mus canadensis, Penn. ; Dipus canadensis, Sh. II, Part 1, pi. 

 IGl; Dipus americanits. Barton. Size of a mouse; fawn-coloured 

 grey ; tail longer than the body. An animal of the greatest agility, 

 that shuts itself up in the earth, and passes the winter in a state of 

 lethargy.* 



Cricetus, Cuv. 



The Hamsters have nearly the same kind of teeth as rats, but their tail 

 is short and hairy, and the two sides of their mouth are hollowed, as in 

 certain of the species of Simis, into sacs or cheek pouches (a), in which 

 they transport the grain they collect to their subterraneous abodes. 



C. vulgaris; M. cricetus, L.; Marmotte d'AUemagne, ^'c; Buff. 

 XIII, xiv. (The Common Hamster, or German Dormouse). It is 

 larger than the rat; of a reddish-grey above, black at the flanks and 

 underneath, with three whitish spots on each side. The four feet 

 are white, as are also a spot under the throat, and another under the 

 breast; some individuals are all black. This animal, so pleasingly 

 diversified in its colours, is yet one of the most destructive that lives, 

 on account of the quantity of corn which he collects, and with which 

 he fills his burrow — a receptacle sometimes no less than seven feet 

 deep. It is common in all the sandy regions that extend from the 

 north of Germany to Siberia. 



* Add Gerhilhts lahradorius, Harl., ov M. lahrad., Sabine, Frankl. \'oy. p. C61. 



1^^ (a) The cheek-pouches are bags situated between the cheeks and the jaws 

 of several genera of animals belonging to the Quadrumana, as well as tliat now un- 

 der consideration. These pouches, which are particularly fomied in the Hamsters, 

 are destined to be receptacles for the food which the animals take in, and ultimately 

 chew at their leisure. — Eno. Ed. 



