RODENTIA. 1 1 1 



lethargy in deep holes, tlie entrance of which they close with a quantity of grass.* They live in society, 

 and are easily rendered tame. 



Two siiecies are known in the Eastern continent. Tlie Alpine Marmot (Uus. alpinus, Lin.), as large as aRahhit, 

 with a sliort tail, and yellowish-grey fur, more ash-coloureU towards the head, which inhabits lofty mountains 

 immediately below the perpetual snow line : and the Polish Marmot, or Bobac (M. bobac, Lin.), the same size as 

 the other, and yellowish-grey, ivlth a russet tint about the head ; it inhabits the lesser mountains and hills from 

 Poland to Kamtschatka, and often burrows in the hardest ground. Russian travellers in Bucharia mention some 

 others, as j^,rc7. /«/('».s', fi'pfo<lacti/luSf and musogaricuSy vfhich are perhaps not suificiently detennincd. America 

 likewise produces several ^Marmots. 



Under the name of 



SoosLiKS {Spermopldius, F. Cuv.), — • 



May be distinguished several Marmots which have cheek-pouches. Their stiperior lightness has 

 caused them to be designated Ground-squirrels, [and they connect the true Squirrels with the 

 foregoing]. Eastern Europe j)roduces cue, — 



BI. citiUii^, Lin. — A pretty little animal, of a greyish-brown, w'aved or mottled with white, the spots small, which 

 is found from Bohemia to Siberia. It has a particular fondness for flesh, and does not spare even its own species. 

 [There is another in Russia, Sp. guttatus, Tern., and more, further eastward, as Sp. xanthoprymnus, a native of 

 Trebizond ; but North America produces by far the greater number, some of wdiich are beautifidly marked with 

 white lines along the back, between each of which is a series of white spots in the elegant Sp. Iloodii.] 



It appears tliat we should approximate to the Marmots, a rodent remarkable for the lnil)it of living 

 in great troops, in immense bun'ows, whicli have even been styled villages. It is called tlie Prairie 

 Dog or Barlciiifj Squirrel, on account of its voice, which resembles the bark of a small Dog : the 

 Arctomys hidoviciaiius of Say. M. Raiinesque, who [erroneously] ascribes to it five toes to cacii foot, 

 has formed of it his genus Cynomys. [It is in every respect a true Marmot. 



All the foregoing genera, with the prominent exception of Cheiromys, are simply modifications of a 

 single peculiar type, and together compose the first principal section of the Sciiiridcs or Sqiurrel family.] 



The Dormice [Myoxua, Gm.) — 

 Have the lower incisors pointed, and fom' grinders, the crown of each of which is divided l)y closely- 

 folded lines of enamel. 



They are pretty little animals, with soft fur, a hairy and even tufted tail, and lively expression : they 

 inhabit trees like the Squirrels, and subsist on their produce. In the very numerous order of rodents, 

 this is the only suligenus which is destitute of a coecum. They become torpid in winter, like the 

 Marmots, passing that season in a very profound lethargy : and so natural is it for them to fall into 

 this state, that a species from Senegal {M. Coupeii), which had probably never experienced it iu its 

 native country, became torpid in Europe as soon as it was exposed to cold. 



The Fat Dormouse (J/. /7//.1-, Lin.)— Size of a Rat ; greyish ash-brown above, whitish underneath; of a deeper 

 brown around the eyes; tail very hairy throughout its length, and disposed somewliat like tliat of a Squirrel, fre- 

 quently also a Uttle forked at its extremity. It inhabits the south of Europe, and nestles in the holes of trees and 

 fissures of rocks. It sometimes attacks small birds. This is probably tlie Sai fattened by the ancients, among 

 whom it was considered a great delicacy. [It is still eaten by the modern Italians.] 



The Garden Dormouse (M. Kiiein).— Somewhat less than the preceding ; greyish-brown abo^■e, white beneath ; 

 black round the eye, which extends spreading to the shoulder ; the tail tufted only at the end, and black, with its 

 extremity white. This species is common in. gardens, where it shelters itself in holes about the walls, and does 

 much injury to the fruit-trees nailed to them. [It does not occur in Britain.] 



The Red Dormouse (J/, avdlanarim, Lin.)— Size of a Mouse; cinnamon-red above, white beneath; the 

 hairs of the tail disposed somewhat like a feather. From the forests of all Europe. It constructs its nest of grass 

 on low branches, in which it rears its young : the rest of its time, and paiticularly during winter, it r.anains i.i 

 the hollows of trees. 



[It has been said that this species cannot pierce a ripe nut-shell, and that its specific name does not correctly 

 apply ; but iu confinement we have frequently seen it penetrate to the kernel of the hardest hazel-nuts. 



The Graphyures (Grapftyurus, F. Cuv.) — 

 Scarcely differ from the Dormice externally, but have weaker jaws, and a longer and more slender 

 intestinal canal : their molars are of small size, and simple structm-e ; and they have also no ccccum to 

 the intestine. 



* Tilt Ground-5f|uirrela (Tufirwf), and even the nicmher* of Ihe restricted uroup Sciunu, ,ire more or less subjcet to Ijcconie tonjid in 



