

Mus. MAMMALIA. 119 



M. caraco, Pallas. Fur mixed with reddish and gray, deeper on 

 the back than the sides; feet and belly whitish; tail rather more 

 than half the length of the body; feet semipalmated. Seven in- 

 ches long. Inhabits Siberia. Pall. Glir. t. 23. 



M. decumanus, Desm. Norway Rat. Fur gray brown above, whit- 

 ish below; tail almost the length of the body; toes free. Nine 

 inches long. Shaw, ii. pi. 130. 



This well-known animal is originally from Persia or India, and was not known in 

 England previous to the year 1730. It is now naturalized in all the countries of 

 Europe, and in America, and in Britain has almost expelled the black rat 



M. Indicus, Geoff. Fur reddish gray above, gray below ; legs red- 

 dish ; tail a little shorter than the body; feet not palmated. 

 Inhabits India. Desm. Mam. 299. 



M. Alexandrlnus, Geoff. Fur reddish gray above, cinereous below; 

 tail one-fourth longer than the body ; feet not webbed. Inhabits 

 Egypt Geoff. Egijp. pi. 3. tig. 1. 



M. rattus, Lin. The Black Rat. Fur blackish above, deep ash- 

 coloured below ; tail longer than the body. Seven or eight inches 

 long. Originally from India, but spread over the civilized world. 

 Shaw, ii. pi 130. 



M. sylvaticus, Lin. The Field Mouse. Fur reddish gray above, 

 whitish below ; tail shorter than the body. Five inches long. 

 Europe. B. Shaw, ii. pi. 132. 



M. campestris, F. Cuv. The Dwarf Mouse. Ears short, rounded ; 

 fur fawn-gray above, white below. About two inches and a-half 

 long. France. Desm. Mam. 543. 



M- musculus, Lin. The Mouse. Dusky gray above, cinereous be- 

 low ; tail about as long as the body. About four inches long. 

 Sometimes found all white. Europe. B. Shaw, ii. pi. 131. 



M. messorius, Shaw. The Harvest Mouse. Fur mouse gray, mix- 

 ed with yellowish above ; belly and feet white ; tail a little short- 

 er than the body. Two inches and a-half long. Inhabits Eng- 

 land. Shaw, ii. frontispiece. 

 This is the smallest of British quadrupeds, two of them weighing about the third 

 of an ounce. They build their nests amidst the straws of corn, and sometimes in 

 thistles, and are often carried into the barn-yard with the sheaves. 



M. agrarius, Pall. Fur reddish gray, with a black dorsal line ; 

 tail half the length of the body. About three inches long. Russia. 

 Pall. Glir. pi. 24, A. 



M. subtilis, Pall. Fawn-coloured, with a black dorsal line, ears 

 folded ; tail rather longer than the body. About three inches 

 long. Inhabits Tartary and Siberia Pall. Glir. t. 22. fig. 2. 

 There are several varieties in colour of this species. They live in trees, which 



they climb with ease. They have some analogy with the dormice, and like them 



want the gall-bladder, but differ from them in having a crecum. Mr Gray has 



formed them into a separate genus under the name of Sicista, 



M. striatus, Lin. Fur reddish gray above, with lines of longitudi- 

 nal white spots. East Indies.. Shaw, ii. pi. 133. 





