EARLESS MARMOT. 231 



cient to remove every doubt with regard to the 

 diverfity of their fpecies, though they refemble 

 one another in the Ihortnels of the tail and legs, 

 in having teeth like thofe of the rat, and evea 

 in natural habits, fuch as diging retreats in the 

 earth, laying up magazines of provifions, de- 

 ftroying the corn, &c. Befides, what muit re- 

 move every doubt on this lubjed:, Agricola, an 

 exa6t and judicious writer, in his treatife on fub- 

 terraneous animals, gives a defcription of both 

 tliefe animals, and diftinguifhes them fo clearly, 

 that it is impuflibie to confound them*. Hence 

 we may conclude, that the hamfter and zifel are 

 very different fpecies, and perhaps as remote 

 from each other as the weafel from the rat. 



V. 



* Ifliiis (viverrae fcilicet) ferocitatis eft etuim agr! vaftator 



et cereris hoftis hamfter, quera qiiidam cricetum nominant. 



Exlftit iracundus et mordax. In terrae cavernis habitat 



non aliter atque cuniculus, fed anguftis, et idcirco pellis qua 

 parte utrinque coxam tegit a pilis eft nuda. Major paulo 

 quam domeftica muftcla exiftit; pedes habet admodem breves: 

 Pilis in dorfo color eft fere leporis, in ventre iiiger, in lateribus 

 rutilus ; fed utrinque latus maculis albus tribus numero diftin- 

 guitur. Supiema capitis pars, ut etiam cervix, eundem quern 

 dorfum habet colorem ; tempora rutila funl ; guttur eft candi- 

 dum. Caudae quae ad tres digitos tranfverfos longa ut fimili- 

 ter leporis color. Pili autem fic inhaerent cuti ut ex ea diffi- 

 culter eveili poffint. Ac cutis quideni a came facilius avellitur 

 quam pili ex cute radicitus.extraliantur, ?,.*que ob hanc caufam 

 et varietatem pelies ejus funt preiofae ; Georg. Jigricol. de aiihn. 

 fttbt. l>c!g. 490. This defcription of the hamfter, when com- 

 pared with that of the zifel given by the fame author, and 

 which the reader will find in a note on the preceding page, is 

 fufficient to demonftate that thefe animals are very diiferent 

 from one another. 



