318 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Description, &c. 



claws ; it is very mild in its disposition, and may 

 be tamed with tolerable facility. 



This animal is found in the interior parts of 

 Africa, at a considerable distance from the Cape 

 of Good Hope. 



The gilt-tailed dormouse is a beautiful little 

 animal, and a native of Surinam : it is of a pur- 

 plish chesnut: a gold-coloured line runs down 

 the face between the eyes ; an d nearly half the 

 tail is also of a gold colour, from which distinc- 

 tion it seems to have received its name. 



THE SYRIAN HYUAX. 



THIS animal, according to the most accurate 

 accounts, is found in Ethiopia, in the caverns of 

 the rocks, or under the great stones, in the 

 mountains of the sun, behind the palace at Kos- 

 cam. It is also frequent in the deep caverns in 

 the rocks, in many other parts of Abyssinia. It 

 does not burrow, or make holes as the rat and 

 rabbit; nature having interdicted this practice, 

 by furnishing it with feet, the toes of which are 

 perfectly round, and of a soft, tender substance ; 

 the fleshy part of the toes project beyond the 

 nails, which are rather broad than sharp, much 

 similar to a man's nails ill grown ; and these ap- 

 pear rather given for the defence of the toes, 

 than for any active use in digging, to which they 

 are by no means adapted. 



