110 



DAURIAN RAT. 



Mus Aspalax. M. brachyitnts, indsoribus supra infraque cunea- 

 tis, avricttlis nitllis, vnguibus palmarum elongatis. Lin. Syst. 

 Nat. Gmel.p. 140. Pall. Glir. p. 16$. 



Short-tailed, earless, yellowish-cinereous Rat, with large cu- 

 neated front-teeth, and long claws on the fore-feet. 



Daurian Rat. Pennant Quadr. 2. p. 216. 



THIS species in form and manner of life agrees 

 with the Mus Typhlus or Blind Rat, but is, in 

 general, of smaller size, and of a yellowish ash- 

 colour; and in some specimens a whitish line, or 

 longitudinal streak appears on the top of the 

 head : the upper fore-teeth are naked, but the 

 lower are covered with a moveable lip : there is no 

 appearance of external ears, and the eyes are ex- 

 tremely small and deeply seated : the head is flat 

 and blunt, the body short and somewhat depress- 

 ed, the limbs very strong, especially the fore-legs, 

 the feet of which are large, naked, and well 

 adapted for burrowing in the ground, having five 

 toes, the three middle of which are furnished with 

 long and strong slightly-curved claws : the hind- 

 feet are also naked, and have five toes with small 

 claws : the tail is very short. 



This animal burrows, like the rest of this divi- 

 sion, raising numerous hillocks in its progress. 

 It is a native of the Altaic mountains, and of the 

 country beyond Lake Baikal. It differs consider- 

 ably in size in different regions ; those of the 

 Altaic mountains sometimes measuring near nine 

 inches in length. 



