RODENTIA. J 29 



/I. arvalis; Mas arvalis, L. ; Buff. VII, xlvii. (The Campag- 

 nol, or Little Field-Mouse, called also Mulot in some provinces, but 

 improperly). Size of a mouse ; of a reddish-ash colour ; tail not so 

 long as the body. It inhabits holes which it excavates in the earth, 

 where it collects corn for the winter. The multiplication of this 

 animal is sometimes so excessive as to cause much injury. 



A. oeconomicus, Mus oeconomicus, Pall. Glir. XIV, A. ; Schreb. 

 cxc. (The Meadow Campagnol). A little darker coloured, and 

 the tail somewhat shorter. It lives in a sort of oven-shaped cham-' 

 ber, dug under the turf, from which several narrow and ramifying ca- 

 nals run in various directions ; other canals communicate with a se- 

 cond cavity, where it accumulates its provisions. From all Siberia. 

 It is thought to have been found in Switzerland and in the south of 

 France, particularly, as we are assured, in the potato fields.* 



Georyciius, Illig. 



Or the Lemmings, Cuv., have very short ears and tail, and the toes of 

 the fore feet peculiarly well formed for digging. 



The two first species have five very distinct nails to each of the 

 fore feet, like the rat-moles and the jumping-hares. 



G. lemmus; Mus lemmus, L. ; Pall. Glir. XII, A. B. Schreb. 

 cxcv. (The Lemming). A northern species, as large as a rat, with 

 a fur varied with black and yellow ; very celebrated in consequence 

 of the migrations which it makes from time to time, at periods alto- 

 gether unsettled, and in bodies infinite in their number. It is said, 

 that, on such occasions, they proceed in a straight line, without any 

 river, mountain, or other obstacle impeding them, and that they de- 

 stroy every thing on their route. Their usual residence appears to 

 be the shores of the Arctic Ocean. 



G. vulgaris; Mus aspalax, Gm., Pall. Glir. X, Schreb. CCV. 

 (The Zocor). Reddish-grey; the three middle nails of the fore 

 feet long, arcuate, compressed, and trenchant, for cutting earth and 

 roots. The limbs are short; there is scarcely any tail; and the 

 eyes are excessively small. From Siberia; where it always lives 

 under ground, like the mole and rat-mole. It feeds principally on 

 the bulbs of different liliaceaj (plants of the lily tribe). The third 

 species, like the other animals comprised in the great genus of rats, 

 has merely the rudiment of a thumb on the fore feet. 



G. hudsonius; Mus hudsonius, Gm., Schreb. CXCVI. (The 

 Lemming of Hudson's Bay). A light pearly-ash colour ; without 

 tail or external ears ; the two middle toes of the fore foot of the male 

 seem to have double nails, because the skin of the end of the toe is 



* Here, most probably, would come the M. saxatilis, aUiariis, rutilus, gregalis, and 

 socialis, Pall. Glir. But the M. lagurus and lorquatus come nearer to the Lemmings. 

 There are several field-rats, or campagnols, in North America, such as the Jrvicola 

 xanthogiiatha. Leach, Miscel. T, pi. xxvi. — Arvicola pe/msylvanica, Wilson, Amer. 

 Ornith. VI, pi. 1, F. 3. — .4rr. palustris, Harl.&c. Better figures, and new and com- 

 parative descriptions of tlie preceding species, are much wanted. 



Vol. I. K 



