THE JERBOA. C97 



chambers and passages. The tunnels formed by this burrower are very 

 complicated, and can be traced through moist and sloppy marshes, as 

 well as on the steep hill-sides. The peasants have a notion that if any 

 one will seize a Slapush in his bare hands, permit the animal to bite him, 

 and then squeeze it to death, he will have the power of curing goitre 

 by touch. 



The family Dipodid.-e, containing three genera, consists of the Jump- 

 ing Mice or Jerboas. They are found in Arabia, Egypt, and Abyssinia, 

 but. extend to the Caspian Sea and eastward to India, as well as over a 

 large part of Africa. Isolated forms occur in North America. 



GENUS DIPUS. 



The Jerboa, Dipus sEgyptics (Plate LI V), is hardly larger than an ordi- 

 nary rat. The color of its fur is a light dun, washed with yellow, the 

 abdomen being nearly white. The tail is of very great length, is cylin- 

 drical in shape, and tufted at its extremity with stiff black hairs. It is 

 abundant in North Africa, and lives in society, forming large warrens in 

 the regions it inhabits. The Jerboa is admirably adapted for digging in 

 hard and burning ground, as its feet are guarded by a thick covering of 

 stiff, bristly hair. The body is about six, the tail eight inches in length. 



The Alactaga, Dip?ts alactaga, or the Jumping Rabbit of Siberia, 

 has a body about seven inches, and a tail ten inches in length. The head 

 is pretty, with lively, prominent eyes, long narrow ears — as long as the 

 head itself, and eight rows of long black hairs on each upper lip. The 

 color of the fur is reddish yellow. On the approach of cold weather, 

 it falls asleep, after having carefully stopped up the entrances to its bur- 

 row, and remains torpid from September to the end of April. 



GENUS PEDETES. 



The Cape Leaping Hare, Pcdetes capcnsis, is a solitary and isolated 

 species found in South Africa from the Cape of Good Hope to Mozam- 

 bique and Angola. The Dutch Boers have named it the SPRING Haas. 



With the exception of shorter ears, and the elongated hinder limbs, 

 the Spring Haas is not unlike our common hare. The fur is of a dark 

 fawn, or reddish-brown, perceptibly tinged with yellow on the upper 



