ORDER RODENTIA. 157 



The fur is of a brown-red, mingled in the upper part of 

 the body with small spots of an obscure brown, arranged 

 longitudinally. The head is of a flaxen hue, particularly 

 around the eyes. All the other parts are white. 



The tail is cylindrical, slightly covered, and terminated 

 by a tuft of long and soft hairs, of an obscure brown. 



This Gerbillus was discovered in Hindostan, between Be- 

 nares and Audwan, by Lieutenant-Colonel (now General) 

 Thomas Hardwicke, in 1814. It lives on barley and wheat, 

 and forms considerable magazines of these different grains 

 in the spacious burrows which it inhabits. It cuts the grain 

 near the root, and thus carries off the entire stalk. It 

 never touches its provisions until the harvest is over, and 

 the fields no longer furnish supplies. It only goes out by 

 night, runs very swift, and often leaps ; its leaps are often 

 above five yards in length. 



The third species is the Gerbillus of the torrid zone, or, as 

 it is sometimes called, the African Gerboa, (Gerbillus Meri- 

 dianus). Some authors have considered this species as the 

 same with the Mus Longipes of Linnaeus. After the two 

 last it is the largest of the entire genus ; its hinder-feet are 

 proportionally more elongated than those of the Indian 

 Gerbillus, but much less so than those of the subsequent 

 species. 



Its size is intermediate between that of the Rat and Mu- 

 lot ; its tail is nearly the length of the body, strong, cylin- 

 drical, and covered with hairs at the extremity, which form 

 a tuft. 



The head is oblong, and the muzzle tolerably advanced ; 

 the ears are large, oval ; the mustachios very long ; the 

 incisor-teeth are yellow, the upper being marked with a 

 longitudinal furrow ; the body is thicker in proportion be- 

 hind ; the thighs are thick and fleshy; the feet elongated, 

 large, fit for leaping, and divided into unguiculated claws ; 

 the fore-paws have only four toes, and a very short thumb; 

 Vol. III. N 



