CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 7. RODENT! A. 



455 



THE BARBART MOUSE. 



in Northern Africa. The M. pumilio is of Southern Africa, the stripes of which are less numer- 

 ous than those of the preceding. 



The Rat of the Nile, M. JViloticus, is seven inches long, the tail four; the color, brown mixed 

 with fawn, above ; below, it is a grayish-yellow. It lives along the borders of rivers. 



The Alexandria Rat, M. Alexandrinus, resembles the brown rat in size, color, and habit*. It 

 is a native of Egypt, and is said, within the last century, to have been introduced into Eastern 

 Europe. Hence M. Selys includes it in the European species,- under the title of M. tectorum. 



Besides the common mouse and the black and brown rats, which are the same with us in size, 

 color, and habits as in Europe, we have in America several species of this genus which deserve 

 notice. The White-footed Mouse, M. leucopus, is an exceedingly pretty animal, two and a 

 quarter inches long, with the tail a trifle longer. It is a yellowish -brown above, the feet and belly 

 white. It is believed, next to the common mouse, to be the most widely distributed species in 

 North America. It is found in every state in the TJnion, and north as far as Labrador. It is very 

 nimble, builds its nests, with an entrance from below, sometimes on shrubs, sometimes on the low 

 drooping branches of trees, and lives on seeds, grain, and grass, of which it lays up stores. It is 

 nocturnal in its habits, and avoids houses, living in woods, thickets, and fields. It generally digs 

 a burrow, but sometimes appropriates to its use the deserted nests of birds, and sometimes occu- 

 pies the vacant burrows of the smaller quadrupeds. 



The Asiatic species of this genus are numerous. Among them we might include the Black and 

 Brown Rats, already described, they doubtless having originated in that quarter of the globe. 

 Their migration from village to village, and from town to town,, until they became recognized as 

 the " old inhabitants" of Europe, was the work of centuries. There are still other species, some 

 of which belong to the genera which we shall soon notice, and where thev will be described. 



We now turn to America. The American Harvest Mouse, J/, humilis, is about two inches 

 and three-quarters long, with a tail two inches; its color is reddish-gray above, yellowish-white 

 beneath. In several respects it approaches the genus Arvicola. It is sparingly distributed from 

 New York to South Carolina. 



The Orange-colored Mouse, M. aureolus, arranged by some naturalists under the subgenus 

 Calomys, of Waterhouse, is four and a quarter inches long ; orange color above and buff beneath ; 

 found in Georgia and South Carolina. 



The Missouri Mouse, M. Missouricnsis, is four and a half inches long, light fawn above and 

 white below ; found in Missouri. 



The Carolina Mouse, M. Carolhiiensis, is two and a half inches long, of a light lead-color, 

 and is found sparingly in the low grounds of some of the maritime districts of South Carolina. 



Leconte's Mouse, M. Lecontei, is two and a half inches long, of a reddish-brown above and 

 fawn below, and is found in Georgia. 



