i2 4 RODENTS. 



American forms these appendages are considerably longer. The Cricetines are 

 distributed nearly all over the world, with the exception of Australia, and include 

 the only representatives of the Rodent order found in Madagascar. In structure 

 they appear to be the most generalised group of the entire murine family, and it is 

 accordingly believed that they represent the ancestral stock from which came the 

 more specialised rats and mice constituting the murine subfamily. This hypothesis 

 is supported by the circumstance that the hamsters are some of the oldest types of 

 the family with which we are acquainted, their remains being comparatively 

 common in the Miocene strata both of Europe and North America. 



Common The common hamster (Cricetus frumentarius), of Europe and 



Hamster. Northern Asia, is the typical repiesentative of the genus under 

 consideration ; the leading characters of the genus being that the incisor teeth are 

 not marked by grooves, while the first upper molar tooth generally has six 

 tubercles on its crown. Cheek-pouches, which may be of large size, are frequently 

 present ; and the tail is often very short. 



The hamster itself is a decidedly handsomely-coloured Rodent, and is by far 

 the largest member of the group, measuring about a foot in length, of which some 

 2 inches are taken up by the tapering hairy tail. It is stoutly built, with a 

 thick neck, a rather pointed muzzle, medium-sized membranous ears, large and 

 brilliant eyes, short legs, and small claws. The thick glossy coat is composed of 

 hair and a woolly under-fur. The general colour of the upper-parts is usually 

 light brownish-yellow, but the upper surface of the snout and the region of the 

 eyes, as well as a band round the throat, are reddish brown. There is a yellow 

 patch on the back, the mouth is whitish ; and the under-parts, the greater portion 

 of the legs, and a stripe on the forehead are deep black, but the feet are white. 

 There is, however, great individual variation with regard to colour, many examples 

 being entirely black, while others are pied, and others, again, wholly white. 



The hamster inhabits suitable localities from the Rhine in Germany to the 

 Obi in Siberia ; but its distribution is somewhat partial. In Germany it is wanting 

 in the south and south-western districts, and also in East and West Prussia, but it 

 is abundant in Thuringia and Saxony. Its favourite haunts are in soft dry soils, 

 but it avoids those of a sandy nature as being unsuitable for its burrows, although 

 it will sometimes select gravelly ground. 



The hamster has always attracted a considerable amount of interest, from the 

 elaborate structure of its burrows, and the provident nature of its habits. The 

 burrow always comprises a large dwelling-chamber, situated at a depth of from one 

 to two yards below the surface of the ground, with a nearly perpendicular entrance- 

 passage and an oblique exit. There is also a store-chamber or granary communi- 

 cating with the dwelling-chamber by means of a gallery ; and it appears that the 

 young, the females, and the males generally occupy distinct burrows, which may be 

 distinguished by the size of their entrance-passages, those of the males being the 

 largest. When a burrow is tenanted, the passages are kept scrupulously clean, 

 and the presence of any litter in them would at once proclaim that the habitation 

 was deserted ; chaff and straw may, however, be generally seen near the entrance 

 of a burrow. Although the entrance-passage goes nearly straight down into the 

 earth, it also has a turn before opening into the dwelling-chamber ; and in old burrows 



