DORMICE. 



107 



ability of their being two litters in a year. Brehm, however, states that on the 

 Continent the young are not born till August. The young are born blind and 

 naked : the usual number in a litter being three or four. They are produced in 

 a nest very similar to the one used for the winter sleep, which is always placed at 

 a height of a yard or so above the ground. In Germany this species is known as 

 the hazel-mouse (haselmaus). 



The Squirrel-Tailed and Garden Dormice. 



Genus Myoxus. 



By many zoologists the two larger species of European dormice are each 

 referred to distinct genera, while certain African representatives of the group 

 constitute another pair of generic groups. Although clearly entitled to be separated 



THK SQUIRREL-TAILED DORMO0SE AND GARDEN DORMOUSE (I nat. size). 



genericallv from the common dormouse, all these species are, however, so intimately 

 allied, that it seems preferable to include' the whole of them in the single genus 

 Myoxus, "listinguished from Muscardinus by the simple structure of the stomach, 

 squirrel Tailed Of the European species the largest is the squirrel-tailed dor- 



Dormouse, mouse (M. glis), — the siebenschlafer of the Germans and the loir of 

 the French. — easily recognised by its thick, bushy tail (as shown in the left-hand 

 figure of our illustration), in which the hairs are arranged in two rows. This 

 species is further characterised by the large size of its cheek-teeth, in which the 

 grinding surfaces of the crowns are flat, and the foldings of the enamel complex. 

 The length of the head and body is a little over 6, and that of the tail rather less 

 than 5, inches. The thick and soft fur is of an ashy-grey colour, more or less 

 shaded with dark brown above, while on the under-parts and the inner sides of 



