Order 5. 



PiODENTIA. 



103 



progress, they devastate the country through which tney pass. Tlieir ordinary residence appears to be the shores 

 of the Arctic Ocean. 



The Siberian Lemming', or Zocor (7I/!M aspalar, Gm.)— Reddish-g-rey ; the three middle nails of the fore-feet 

 long, arcuated, compressed and trenchant, fcr cutting earth and roots. The limbs are short ; there is scarcely 

 any tail; and the eyes are exceedingly small. From Siberia, where it lives under-ground, like the Moles and 

 Mole-rats, and subsists chiefly on the bulbs of different Liliacece. 



The third species, like the other ^nimals comprehended under the great genus of Rats, has only the rudiment 

 of a thumb to its fore-feet. It is the Hudson's Bay Lemming (Mus Iludsonicus, Gm.) ; of a pearl-grey colour, 

 without any tail or external ears : the two middle toes of the fore-feet of the male seem to have double 

 claws, the skin at the end of the toe being callous, and projecting from under the nail ; a variety of con- 

 f9iTnation unknown except in this animal.* It is as large as a Rat, and lives under ground in North 

 America. 



The Otomyds {Otomys, F. Cuv, ; \_Euryotis, Brandt] ) — 



Are nearly allied to the Voles, and have also three grinders, but composed of slightly arcuated laminae, 

 which are arranged successively in file, so as to present an exact miniature resemblance to the grinders 

 of the Elephant. Their incisors are grooved longitudinally, and the tail and ears are haiiy, the latter 

 being also large. 



The only kno^^•n species, the Cape Otomyd (O. capensis, F. Cuv.), inhabits Africa, and is of the size of a Rat, 

 with fur annulated black and fulvous. Tail a third shorter than the body. 



The Jerboas {Dipus, Gm.) — 



Have nearly the same teeth as the Rats properly so called, differing only in the occasional presence of 

 a very small tooth, placed before the superior molars. Their tail is long and tufted at the end, the 

 head large, and eyes large and prominent ; but their principal character consists in the immoderate 

 length of the hinder Umbs, as compared with the anterior, and above all, in the metatarsus of the three 

 middle toes, which is formed of a single bone, as in what is termed the tarsus of birds. This dispro- 

 portion of the limbs caused them to be designated txvo-footed Rats by the ancients : and in fact their 

 ordinary gait is by great leaps on the hind-feet. Their fore-feet have each five toes ; and in certain 

 species, besides the three great ones to the hind-feet, there are [one or two] small lateral toes. These 

 rodents live in burrows, and become profoundly torpid in winter. 



[There are numerous species, inhabiting Asia and Africa. Those with five toes have been brought together by 

 some under the name Alectaga.] 



The Helamyds {Helamys, F. Cuv. ; Pedetes, 111.), — 



Which are commonly termed Jumping Hares, have, like the Jerboas, the head large, as are also the eyes, a 

 long tail, and very short fore-legs in comparison with the hinder ; the disproportion, however, being much 

 less than in the true Jerboas. Their peculiar cha)'^cers consist in having four grinders, each com- 

 nosed of two laminae ; five toes to the fore-feet, armed with long and pointed nails, and four only to 

 the hind-feet, all separate, even to the bones of the metatarsus, and termmated by large claws almost 

 resembling hoofs. The number of their toes is accordingly inverse to that of the ordinary Rats. Their 

 inferior incisors are truncated, and not pointed as in the Jerboas, and as in the majority of other 

 animals which have been comprised in the great genus of Rats. 



One species only is known, as large as a Rabbit, 

 and pale fulvous, with a long tufted tail black at the 

 tip (Mus caffer, Pallas ; Dipits caffer, Gm.) — It inha- 

 bits deep ^burrows near the Cape of Good Hope. 

 [The affinities of this curious animal are by no 

 means obvious.] 



The Mole-rats {Spalar, Guldenstedt) — 



Have also been very properly separated from 

 the genus of Rats, although tlieir grinders are 

 three iu number, and tuberculated as in the 

 Bats properly so called, and also the Hamsters, 

 and are merely a little less unequal ; their in- 

 cisors being too large to be covered by the lips, and the extremities of those of the lower jaw 



• The Plovers, and se\eral other birds belonging to the tame group, present a somewhat analogous conformation.— Ed. 



fig. 40. — Moie-rat. 



