'326 THE ALPINE MARMOT. 



the tail. The fur on the upper parts of the body is yellowish 

 grey, with ash-coloured tints about the head, and of a rich fawn 

 colour on the belly. The head is large and depressed 5 the ears 

 are very short, round, and often nearly hid in the fur j the eyes 

 are large j the teeth, altogether, amount to twenty-two, each 

 jaw having two incisors in front, with five grinders on either 

 side of those in the upper, and four on either side of those in 

 the lower jaw. The legs are short, but strong ; the fore-feet, 

 or paws, have four toes, and a tubercle instead of a thumb ; the 

 hind-feet have five toes -, the nails are strong and compressed - 7 

 and the tail is short and bushy. 



Marmots live in societies from four to fifteen in number, 

 and pass the greater part of their lives in their subterranean 

 burrow, which consists of an oval cavity or chamber, formed 

 with great art, and spacious enough to contain several of them, 

 and having a large passage, which divaricates in such a manner 

 as to present two outlets to the surface of the earth. These 

 recesses are prepared on the declivities of elevated spots, and 

 the chamber is well lined with moss and hay.* 



citillus}. The animal sometimes called the German marmot is the common 

 hamster (Cricetus frumentarius} . In America are found the Maryland mar- 

 mot, there called woodchuck, or ground-hog (A. monax], the barking marmot, 

 or prairie dog (A. Ludovicianus), the Quebec marmot (A. empetra), A. Frank- 

 linii, A. Parrii, A. Richardsonii, and A. pruinosa. 



* Authors have been very kind to the marmot, for they have given it credit 

 for more ingenuity than it is probably aware of; and I only wish it could read 



