DIPUS JACTJLUS. 109 



with five toes, of which, the interior one is very short, with 

 a long, robust claw, the other claws are hooked ; hind-legs 

 very long, with long rufous hairs on the outside ; hind-feet 

 with three toes, of which that in the middle is much the 

 longest, armed with short, wide, blunt claws, and covered 

 with short greyish hairs ; there is also a very small spur 

 on back toe, with a claw ; the tail is very long, squared, 

 hardly thicker than a goose-quill, covered with short hairs, 

 darker above than below, and ending in a tuft of black hairs 

 with white tips ; the ears thin, broad, rounded. The 

 enormous length of its hind-legs enables it to take very 

 long and rapid leaps. Burrows in the earth, and feeds 

 chiefly on roots. 



Length of head and body, 5 inches 11 lines ; head, 1 

 inch 9 lines ; ears, 8 lines ; tail, with the hair, 6 inches 

 5 lines. — F. M. 



Inhabits Southern Eussia, between the Don and the 

 Volga, but was not known to Pallas as occurring in the 

 Crimea ; also Syria, Egypt, and Arabia. 



Bipus jaculus. 



Dipusjaculus, Pallas, Zoog. Boss. As. ; Desm. Mamm. Sp. 510. 



Description. — Teeth, 18 in number ; grinders, -|^| ; head 

 oblong ; muzzle thick and blunt ; nose flesh-coloured, heart- 

 shaped, the nostrils in the form of crescents; upper lip 

 two-lobed ; ears longer than the head, semi-cylindrical, 

 folded, transparent, covered with a yellowish down ; neck 

 very short; tail longer than the body. Fur very light 

 rufous above, varied with greyish brown, caused by the 

 brown tips of the longer hairs ; white beneath, a crescent 

 of white on the hind-quarters on each side ; hind-feet with 

 five toes, the lateral ones very small, and that in the centre 

 the longest ; the tuft at the extremity of the tail is formed 



