RODENTIA. 12% 
the body, and blackish towards the end. To this species should be 
approximated the 
G. meridianus; D. meridianus, Schreb. 231. (The Torrid or 
Sand Gerbil). Which is about the same colour, but a little smaller. 
G. tamaricinus; D. tamaricinus, Schreb. 232. (The Tamarisk 
Gerbil). The tail is annulated with brown. 
G. pyramidum; D. pyramidum, Oliv. (The Gerbil of the Pyra- 
mids). The hind feet more elevated; size of the Garden Dormouse; 
its fur is red above, whitish beneath. 
There is one in Senegal of a livelier red and a purer white. 
Another at the Cape, a little larger, reddish, and the tail less 
hairy at the end. 
A third in Nubia, nearly half the size, of a light red above, and a 
beautiful white beneath. The 
Merwones, Fred. Cuv. 
The Meriones, which we separate from the other Gerbils, have the 
hind feet still longer, the tail nearly naked, and a very small tooth fronts 
the superior molars; characters which approximate them to the Jerboas. 
Their upper incisors are grooved, like those of the Gerbils, and their toes 
also are similar. There is a small species in North America, the 
Mus canadensis, Penn.; Dipus canadensis, Sh. II, Part 1, pl. 
161; Dipus americanus, Barton. Size of a mouse; fawn-coloured 
grey; tail longer than the body. An animal of the greatest agility, 
that shuts itself up in the earth, and passes the winter in a state of 
lethargy.* 
Cricetus, Cuv. 
The Hamsters have nearly the same kind of teeth as rats, but their tail 
is short and hairy, and the two sides of their mouth are hollowed, as in 
certain of the species of Simi, into sacs or cheek pouches (a), in which 
they transport the grain they collect to their subterraneous abodes. 
C. vulgaris; M. cricetus, L.; Marmotte d’ Allemagne, &c.; Buff. 
XIII, xiv. (The Common Hamster, or German Dormouse). It is 
larger than the rat; of a reddish-grey above, black at the flanks and 
underneath, with three whitish spots on each side. The four feet 
are white, as are also a spot under the throat, and another under the 
breast; some individuals are all black. This animal, so pleasingly 
diversified in its colours, is yet one of the most destructive that lives, 
on account of the quantity of corn which he collects, and with which 
he fills his burrow—a receptacle sometimes no less than seven feet 
deep. It is common in all the sandy regions that extend from the 
north of Germany to Siberia. 
* Add Gerbillus labradorius, Harl., or M. labrad., Sabine, Frankl. Voy. p. 661. 
aS" (a) The cheek-pouches are bags situated between the cheeks and the jaws 
of several genera of animals belonging to the Quadrumana, as well as that now un- 
der consideration. ‘These pouches, which are particularly formed in the Hamsters, 
are destined to be receptacles for the food which the animals take in, and ultimately 
chew at their leisure.—Ene. Ep. 
