MAMMALIA—DORMOUSE...RAT. p57 i 
other trees; and in a scarcity of other fruit, they eat almonds, nuts, and 
even leguminous plants. These they carry in great quantities to their 
holes, where they make a bed of herbs, moss, and leaves. The cold stupi- 
fies, the heat revives them; and sometimes there are eight or ten found in 
one place, all in a state of torpor, all huddled together, and rolled up ina 
ball, in the midst of their hoard of provisions. Their flesh is not eatable. 
and has even the disagreeable smell of the house rat. This animal s to be 
found in all the temperate climates of Europe. 
’ 
THE COMMON DORMOUSE.1 
Tuts animal has eyes sparkling, full, and black; its tail is tufted, and its 
hair of a tawny red. The throat is white. It never lives in houses, is 
seldom to be found in gardens, but chiefly frequents the woods, where it 
finds a shelter in the hollow of some old tree. 
The species is by no means numerous, yet they seem to be tolerably com- 
mon in Italy, and to be not unknown even in the northern climates ; but it 
does not appear to be an English animal; for Ray, who had seen it in Italy, 
observes, that the smal! dormouse which is found in England, is not red upon 
the back, like the Itatien, and that it probably belongs to another species. 
The dormouse becomes torpid by the cold, and xolis itself up in a ball; it 
revives in mild weather, and hoards up ruts and other dry fruits, for future 
sustenance. It forms its nest in trees, like the squirsel, though generally in 
a lower situation, among the branches of a nut tree, 1a a bush, &¢. The 
nest is composed of interwoven moss, leaves, and grass; 1s about six inches 
in diameter; has no aperture but at the top, and contains three or four 
yuung ones. ° 
THE NORWAY RAT? 
Tis well known animal came originally from Persia or India, and was 
n>t known in England, previous to 1730. Itis now naturalized in all the 
countries of Europe and America. er 
1 Myoxus avellanarius, Desm. 
2 Mus decumanus, Desm. The genus Mus has two upper and two lower incisors ; 
canines, none; molars, three above and three below, on ait side. Molars with tubercu- 
lous crowns; four toes, and rudimentary thumb on the fore feet; hind feet with four 
unsuiculated toes; ears oblong or round, naked ; tail long, naked, and sealy; fur with 
scattered hairs, longer and stiffer than the others, sometimes forming a kind of spines. 
