MVOXIDE 459 
Section MYoOMORPHA. 
Skull (Fig. 203), with slender zygomatic arch, in which the 
jugal seldom extends 
far forwards, being 
usually supported by 
the long zygomatic 
process of the maxilla; 
no postorbital process ; 
infraorbital vacuity 
variable; angle of 
mandible, except in 
the Bathyergine, rising 
from the inferior sur- 
face of the incisive 
alveolus. Clavicles 
well developed, except 
in Lophiomys. Tibia 
and fibula united. 
Fic. 203.—Side view of skull of Fiber zibethicus, natural size. 
Fanily Myoxip&. 
Small arboreal forms, with long hairy tails, large eyes and ears, 
and short fore limbs. No cecum in the intestine. Skull with 
narrow frontals, a high and narrow infraorbital vacuity of moderate 
size, and a long and slender coronoid process to the mandible. 
Premolars +; molars rooted, with transverse enamel-folds. 
The Dormice form a natural family allied to the Squirrels in 
form and habits, and confined to the Palwarctic and Ethiopian 
regions. The absence of the cecum distinguishes them from all 
other members of the order. They are usually divided into the 
following five genera, but some of these are of very doubtful value, 
and it might be preferable to retain Muscardinus and include all 
the others in Myoxus.+ 
Myoxus.2—Represented by the European JZ. glis, and charac- 
terised by the bushy distichous tail, simple stomach, and the large 
size and complex enamel-folds of the molars, which have flat crowns. 
Eliomys.2—Tail tufted and distichous; stomach simple; and 
the molars small, with concave crowns and indistinct enamel-folds. 
Some seven species, Ethiopian and Palearctic. 
Graphiurus.A—Tail short, cylindrical, and tufted at the end; 
1 For a monograph of the Afyoxide, see C. L. Reuvens, Die Myoxide, ete., 
4to, Leyden, 1890. : 2 Schreber, Stiugethiere, vol. iv. p. 824 (1792). 
3 Wagner, Abh. baier. Ahad. vol. iii. p. 179 (1843). 
4 F. Cuvier, Zammiferes, 60me livr. (1845). 
