ORDER RODENTIA. 



197 



genus of Sciurus ; but whether the Baron did so on a suffi- 

 cient consideration of the bony parts of the animal, we are 

 not able to say ; M. Geoffroy has made a distinct genus of 

 it, under the name of Daubentonia ; and Shaw has referred 

 it, as have most of the subsequent systematic writers, rather 

 to the Lemurine than the Squirrel tribe, among which 

 Gmelin had placed it. It appears, like many other species, 

 to partake of double analogies ; but is, perhaps, more 

 nearly allied to the Lemurs, or the Tarsiers, close to which 

 we have placed it in the table. 



The upper jaw of this curious-looking animal has four 

 cheek-teeth ; the lower jaw but three ; the head is thick, 

 spherical, and large; the muzzle is short and pointed, and 

 not arched, as in the Rodentia in general ; the nostrils are 

 terminal; the upper lip is entire; the eyes are large, di- 

 rected forward, and not laterally, as in the Squirrels; the 

 eye-lids are cleft ; the ears are large and naked ; and the 

 mouth is large. By a longitudinal section of the head, it 

 appears that the area of the brain is much larger than that 

 of the face ; the contrary of which is the case with the 

 Rodentia generally, and the orbits are distinct. 



The fore-legs are very short, compared with the hind ; 

 the bones of the arm and the hand are similar to those of 

 the Lemur. All the feet have five toes, which, on the ante- 

 rior feet, are extremely long and thin ; with these the ani- 

 mal obtains the larvae and insects that lie under the bark 

 of trees. The hind-feet have the character of hands, the 

 thumb being opposable to the fingers. 



Most of these characters bespeak a strong analogy with 

 the Tarsiers ; but the teeth are those of the Rodentia. The 

 animal, therefore, seems strictly intermediate between the 

 Quadrumana and the Rodentia ; and, therefore, to require 

 the inconvenient increase of another genus, which our 

 author has named Cheiromys. 



The fur is of a bright fulvous or yellowish down, marked 



