140 MAMMALIA. 
with white, the spots very small, which is found from Bohemia 
to Siberia. It has a peculiar fondness for flesh, and does not 
spare even its own species. 
North America has several species of them, one of which is 
remarkable by the thirteen fawn coloured stripes which extend 
along the back on a blackish ground. It is the Thirteen striped 
Souslik, Arct. 13-lineatus, Harl.; or Sciurus 13-lineatus, Mitchell ; 
or Arct. Hoodti, Sabine, Lin. Trans. XIII, pl. xxix.(1) 
There is one of the Rodentia which it appears we must approxi- 
mate to the Marmots, that is remarkable for living in large troops 
in immense burrows, which have even been styled villages. It is 
called the Prairie Dog or Barking Squirrel, the latter appellation 
arising from its voice, which resembles the bark of a small Dog. 
It is the Arct, ludovicianus, of Say, Jour. to the Rocky Mountains, 
1,451. M. Rafinesque, who states it has five toes to each foot, 
makes it the type of his genus Cynomys. 
Myoxus, Gm.(2) 
The Dormice have pointed lower incisors, and four grinders, the 
crown of each of which is divided by enamelled lines. 
They are pretty little animals, with soft fur, a hairy and even 
tufted tail, and a lively eye, which live on trees like Squirrels, and 
feed on fruit. Of the numerous order of the Rodentia, this is the 
only subgenus in which there is no cecum. They become torpid in 
winter like the Marmots, and pass through it in the most profound 
lethargy.(3) 
M. glis, L.; Buff. VIII, xxiv. (The Fat Dormouse:) Size 
of a Rat; ashy grey-brown above, whitish underneath ; of a 
deeper brown around the eyes; tail very hairy the whole of its 
length, and disposed somewhat like that of a Squirrel, and fre- 
quently a little forked at the extremity. It inhabits the south 
of Europe, and nestles in the hollows of trees and fissures of 
rocks. Itsometimes attacks small birds. This is probably the 
Rat, fattened by the ancients, among whom it was considered a 
delicacy of the very highest description.(4) 
(1) Add Arct. Parrii, Richards., App. Parry’s Voy.—Several of the Marmots 
announced in the travels of Lewis and Clarke, Parry, Franklin, &e. Arct. Frank- 
linii, Richardsonii, pruinosa, seem to belong to this subgenus. See Sabine, Lin. 
Trans. XII, pl. xxvii, xxviii, &c. 
(2) Myoxus, Rat with a pointed nose. 
(3) So natural is this to them, that a dormouse from Senegal, (M. Coupeii) 
which had never experienced it in its native country, fell into a profound sleep in 
Europe the moment it was exposed to the cold. 
(4) The M.dryas of some authors (Schreb. 220, B) does not appear to me to 
differ from the Fat Dormouse. 
