86 



ORDERS OF MAMMALS— GNAWING ANIMALS 



thick-bodied, short-legged, and sharp-nosed. 

 The ears are extremely short, and quite hidden 

 in the fur; the legs are short, the feet rat-like, 

 and the tail is so very short that it also is half 

 hidden by the fur. The fur is long, fluffy and 

 fine; brown, brownish-gray, or mottled in sum- 

 mer, but snow-white in winter. The length of 

 the head and body is 4 to 5 inches, and of the tail, 

 •£• inch. 



The Lemming is found from Latitude 56° 

 northward to the whole arctic coast; in Labra- 

 dor, Greenland, the arctic islands, and on as far 

 north as man has ever gone on land. It prefers 



Its ears are very small, and do not rise above the 

 fur on the head. The type species, known as 

 Cooper's Lemming Mouse, 1 is only two-fifths 

 the size of the Hudson Bay Lemming. It inhabits 

 the northeastern United States, from Massa- 

 chusetts to Minnesota, and southward to North 

 Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana and Iowa. Its 

 color above is yellowish-brown washed with 

 black, with bluish-gray or whitish underparts. 

 Length, 3 J to 4 inches; tail, f inch. Other spe- 

 cies of Lemming Mice inhabit Canada, Labra- 

 dor, New Hampshire, Washington, Kansas and 

 Alaska. 



HUDSON BAY LEMMING. 

 Winter and summer pelage. 



FIELD MOUSE. 



open, dry, moss-covered uplands, and is not 

 found in timbered regions. Often a district of 

 acceptable ground is covered with a wide-spread- 

 ing network of runways, just below the surface. 

 Mr. C. H. Townsend, who has kept them in cap- 

 tivity, says they are kind-spirited and sociable 

 little creatures, fond of attention, and much 

 given to standing up and hopping about on their 

 hind legs. In summer they store up supplies 

 of vegetable food in their runways for use in 

 winter. 



The Lemming Mouse, or False Lemming, 

 is interesting chiefly because it is a connecting 

 link between the true lemmings and the mice. 



The Field Mouse, or Meadow Mouse, 3 



stands as a murine monument to scientific en- 

 deavor. Since 179S, the genus of this group — 

 long known as Ar-vie'o-la — has been described 

 under twenty-four different names, and the type 

 species has received nineteen names besides its 

 own! But, through a century of misnaming in 

 Latin, its original English name, Meadow Mouse, 

 has stood unchanged ! 



The trouble with this genus seems to have 

 been due to exaggerating the importance of triv- 

 ial characters, molar teeth and claws. Externally 



1 Synaptomys cooperi. 



1 Microtus pennsylvanicus. 



