AND LOWER EGYPT. 153. 



things: first, that the jcrbo and the alagtaga are 

 one and the same animal ; secondly, that the de- 

 scriptions which have been given of the jerbo are 

 not very accurate. What chiefly suggested doubts 

 to Burton's mind, respecting the identity of the 

 jerbo and the alagtaga, was the disparity of the 

 climates which each inhabited, the former being 

 resident in Africa, and the alagtaga being found 

 in the cold regions of Siberia. But this is not the 

 only instance which might be adduced to the same 

 effect. Many species of animals are scattered over 

 the icy countries of the north, and over the sultry 

 districts of the south. Rats take pleasure to reside 

 in very hot climates, and they live very comfort- 

 ably in the north of Sweden. Hares inhabit with 

 equal convenience the burning sands of Africa, 

 and the snows of Lapland, of Siberia, of Green- 

 land, &c. &c. 



It is likewise certain that the gerboise of Cyre- 

 naVs, or the desert of Barca, described by Mr. Bruce, 

 in vol. v. of his Travels in Nubia and Abyssinia, is 

 only a variety in the tribe of the jerbo ; the slight 

 differences remarked not being, by far, sufficient to 

 constitute two distinct species. To the researches 

 of Mr. Bruce we are farther indebted for the exact 

 knowledge of another animal, which had very im- 

 properly been confounded with the jcrbo, and to 

 which he has given the name of danian-israil, or 



Iamb 



