-'"'1 ZOOLOGY. 



in Paris, and is to be found chiefly in barns, where if ! 

 grains and vegetables of all sorts it finds there; but it has 

 a decided taste for animal food, and it pursues young animals. 

 In country-houses it is a destructive plague, by the damage 

 it does to linen, harness, lard, and, in short, to everything 

 eatable which falls in its way. 



The sunnulot is the largest of the rats ; it is of a reddish - 

 brown colour. Introduced into Europe in tin- eighteenth 

 century, it has multiplied exceedingly. Brought from India 

 to England by sea, it spread into France, and thence into 

 Europe, America, and all the colonies. In the neighbour- 

 hood of Paris they abound in the common sewers, and dig 

 burrows just sufficient to hold the animal. 



The mouse is the smallest of the species of ruts which 

 infest our houses ; it was known to the ancients. It forms 

 galleries for itself in the timbers of houses in which it lives, 

 and feeds on whatever animal or vegetable substance it meets 

 with, but prefers suet, lard, and generally fatty bodies. 

 When inhabiting the woods in a wild state, it lives on 

 acorns, roots, and fruits. 



Fig. 206. TheLer..t. 



The lerots are agreeable little animals, with soft hair, tail 

 velvety and even tufted, a lively look, and live in trees ; they 

 feed on fruits. Like marmots, they hvheniate. rolling them- 

 selves up like a ball. They may be known by the number of 

 their molar teeth, which are four on either side and in each jaw. 



The jerboas (Fig. 207) are small rodents, remarkable for 

 the development of their hinder limbs, and this enables them 

 to leap with great agility. 



The squirrel (Fig. 100) is also a rodent, and is known by 



