IIG MAMMALIA. 



trenchant, rectilinear, and not pointed : thcii- limbs arc very short ; all ilicir feet have five short toes, 

 TA'ith flat and slender nails ; their tail is shorter wanting, and tlicre is no external ear- They live 

 under ground like the Moles, throw up the earth in the same manner, although provided with very 

 inferior instruments for the pui"pose, and subsist entirely on roots. 



Tlie Blind Mole-rat, Zemny, or Stepitz {Uiis ti)phhis, Pallas.)— A siiif^nlar animal, wliich, from its lar^e head, 

 anirnlai' at the sides, its short Icf^s, the total absence of a tail or of any apparent eye, has a most shapeless appear- 

 ance. The eye i.-; not visible externally, and we merely lind beneath the skin a small black g-lobnle, which appears 

 to be org-anized like an eye, but which cannot serve for the purpose of vision, since the skin passes over it without 

 oponing, or even becoming- thinner, and being as much covered with hair as on any other part. It exceeds our Kat 

 ill size, and has smooth ash-coloured fur, verging on red. Olivier supposed that this animal was alluded to by the 

 ancients, when they spoke of the INIole as being totally blind. 



The islands in the Straits of Sunda produce a Mule-rat as large as a Rabbit, of a deep grey colour, \\ ith a v.'hite 

 longitudinal stripe upon the head (y^palnx javanicua, Auct.) 



[Thk Cani;;ts {RliizQiinjs, Gray ; Ni/cloclrptes, Tcm.) — 

 Have been approximated to the Jlole-rats ; but have small open eyes, and conspicuous naked cars : 

 their head is large, liic body ronnd and massive ; limbs short, with five toes to each foot, and tliick 

 and naked tail of mean length. There arc thiTC rooted molars on each side of both jaws, more com- 

 plicated than in SjjalaT. 



Two species are described, j][ns sttuiafrcii.^is, RaMles, ^vhich feeds chiefly on the roots of the bamboo, and 

 R. shiicius-f Griiy.] 



From the Mole-rats themselves should have been separated — 



Tiic Batiiyergues {Bathijergus'''', III. ; Onjcforopus, F. Cuv.), — 

 VViiich, with the general Inrm, the feet, and triim;ated incisDrs of the prrredinu';, coniltine f mr mular^s 

 to each jaw : their eyes, though small, arc distinctly perceptible ; and they have a short tail. 



"^riie Shore Batliyergue {Mit-a marit'nnus, Gm.). — ^Nearly the size of a Rabbit, with grooved upper incisors, a/.d 

 «hitish-irrey fur. Also the Cape Bathyergue (J/, c//:'*'?;*/*, Gm.), scarcely as lar:i;e as a Gviinea-jiig", brown, ^^iih 

 a spot around the eye, another round the ear, and a third on the vertex, together with the end of the muizU, 

 white. The incisors of this species are smooth. There is a third, also, ^vith smooth incisors hke the last, grey, 

 and hardly equal in size to a Rat (B. Ii<jlleiil<ilti.\). 



We should place near the Mole-rat and Bathyergucs 

 The Pseudostomes (Geomi/.i, Rafinesque ; Ps-cudosfon/a, Say ; Jscon/t/s, Licht.; [Saccop/iorvs, Knhl] ), — 

 "Which have likewise four molais al>ove and below, prismatically compressed : the first double, the 

 three others simple ; and the upper incisors nf whiidi are furrowed with a dmible groove in front. 

 Tbcir three anterior middle nails, the medial more especially, are very l^)nL^ ei'ooked, and trcneliant. 

 They are low on the legs, and have very deep check-poucbes, which upon externally, enlarging the 

 sides of the head and neck in a singular manner. 



Only one species is known {}[".•,- /mrsanns, Shaw), of tbe size of a Rat, with reddish-grey fur; the tail naked, 

 and shorter by half than the body. It inhabits deep burrows, in tbe interior nf North America. The figure of 

 this animal in tlie Linmeau Transarf/o/f.s resembles nothing in nature, ha\ing the cheek-pouches turned 

 inside out. 



The Gauffres {Biplosfoma, Ralin.^ — 



Scarcely differ from tbe preceding, exce])t in the total absence of a tail. 



They are from North America. The speejfs bdnre us i>, ledrlish, and ten inches in length. [Kight or ten 

 species pertaining to this and the preceding subdivision arc no^v kin^wn, one or ujore inhabiting Europe. 



The Saccomvds {Saccomys, F. Cuv.) — 

 Have similar elieek-pouehes, and four rooted nntlars on each side nf both jaws, successively lessening. 

 They have live toes on each t'ont, the unlerior thundjs very small ; tail lung and naked. 



Tbe nnly species described (^'. .i<'ii//n</'hi/iix) iulinbits North Auicrica, and is of tlie size and hns nundi the aspect 

 of a Mouse. Its cbrek-iinm-hes were distended willi the llowers of >Sccni/(hii-<t cohibUns, \Mth sorne entire ^ecds, 

 a[)]iaren1]y of Coiivolnihiri:^:. 



* Thin uarne is iiuw .:uiniiii.-il lo certiiio species wliicL liave only llircc- ninlars. Orycterupus, Ijowcvcr, is also .'Lpplu'il to n. qr'niis of Fih-nlata. 



