CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 7. RODENTIA. 



437 



Kay; the Dipus Americanus of Barton ; Dipus Canadensis of Davies, and Canadian Gerbooi Shaw. 

 It is about two inches and a half long, with a tail four and three-quarters; the color is reddish- 

 brown above and white beneath ; its hind-legs are very long, and the fore ones short, as in the 

 jerboa. It is found in the Atlantic States as far south as Virginia, and north to the latitude of 

 62°, but is nowhere abundant. It produces several times in the summer, three or four at a birth, 

 and as in the case of some other mice, the female may sometimes be seen dragging her young by 

 her teats along the ground. It feeds on seeds and grain, and is often met with in fields of wheat 

 or rye, and is not unfrequently turned up by the plough of our farmers. It runs by long jumps 

 or leaps, in a zig-zag manner, with great speed, on its hind-legs, putting its fore-legs to the ground 

 at each bound. It lives in burrows, the nest being composed of fine grass mixed with feathers, 

 wool, or hair, eight inches below the surface. Its haunts are usually in cultivated fields, though 

 it is often met with in the woods. It is strictly nocturnal, lays up stores, and hibernates, becom- 

 ing dormant in cold regions during the rigors of winter. It is on the whole a gentle, timid, mi- 

 nute creature, living often on the labors of man, but it is not so numerous or so greedy as to take 

 beyond what he can well spare. 



Genus OTOMYS : Otomys. — The animals of this genus, which is called Euryotis by Brandt, 

 have the aspect of the true rats, but have larger ears and shorter tails. The Caffrarian Otomys, 

 0. unisulcatus, is of a grayish-fawn, six inches long, with a tail two and a half inches. It is 

 found at the Cape of Good Hope. The other species named are the 0. bisulcatus and the 0. al- 

 bicaudatus. 



CUMMING S PHLEOMYS. 



Genus PHLEOMYS : Phleomys, comprises a single species, resembling the Capromys in exter- 



