86 



OEDERS OF MAMMALS— CIXAWING AX^IMALS 



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

 The ears arc 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, 

 i 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 [irefers 



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

 fur on the head. The type species, known as 

 Cooper's Lemming Mouse,' 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, 31 to 4 inches; tail, -J 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, mos.s-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. ('. H. Townsend, who has kept them in cap- 

 tivit}', says thej' 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 ^'egetable food in their runways for use in 

 winter. 



The Lemming Mou.se, or False Lemming, 

 is interesting chieHy because it is a connecting 

 link between the true lemmings and the mice. 



The Field Mouse, or Meadow Mouse,^ 



stands as a murine monument to scientific en- 

 deavor. Since 1798, the genus of this group — 

 long known as Ar-vir'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 tremble with this genus seems to have 

 been due to exaggerating the importance of triv- 

 ial characters, molar teeth and claws. Externally 



' Synaptomys cooperi. 



* Microtus pennsylvanicus. 



