THE MOLE-RATS. 



153 



ambition never rose higher than a coureur des bois — 

 a class of men who # with all their failings, we cannot 

 but be sorry to see disappearing from the fur- 

 countries. The fall of beavers' peltry rang their 

 death-knell ; and, as a separate profession, trapping 

 is almost extinct, being nearly altogether followed, 

 at uncertain spells, by the Indians and the lower- 

 class of half-breeds. The world is fast filling in ; 

 the emigrant, with his bullock-team and his plough, 



is fast destroying all the romance of the far West 



fast filling up with the stern prose of the plough 

 and the reaping-machine and the whistle of steam 

 what was once 

 only claimed 

 by the pleasant 

 poetry of the 

 songs of "the 

 voyageur, the 

 coureur des bois 

 — the hunters 

 and trappers of 

 the great fur 

 companies! 

 But perhaps it 

 is better after 

 all!"— Notes 

 by Mr. R. 

 Brown to a 

 communication 

 by Mr. A. H. Green " On the Natural History and 

 Hunting of the Beaver on the Pacific Slope of the 

 Rocky Mountains," read before the Linnean So- 

 ciety; Linnean Society 's Journal, vol. x.] 



THE MOUSE FAMILY 



(MURIDA). 



The large family of the rats and mice and 

 their kindred is so numerous and varied that 

 many naturalists have erected it into a sub- 

 order, which, however, has no well-marked 

 distinctive characters. One might almost 

 say that in this family have been included all 

 those forms which are connected together by 

 almost imperceptible links of transition, and 

 which could not well be referred to any other 

 family. In this respect this family plays 

 pretty much the same r61e as that of the 

 antelopes among the ruminants. In general 



Vol. II. 



the members of this family have only three 

 cheek-teeth in each half of each jaw, and 

 these teeth exhibit in most cases transversely- 

 placed tubercles, whereby an approach to the 

 zygodont- structure is brought about. When 

 worn away by use these tubercles often 

 appear as more or less complicated folds, and 

 then the cheek-teeth have distinct roots. In 

 other cases, however, there are cheek-teeth 

 with lamellae and without roots; there are 

 also cases in which only two cheek-teeth are 

 a££ ^ aK . : . present; and 



• *WnKtw: in which the 



upper jaw 

 alone posses- 

 ses four teeth 

 of this kind. 

 The mice al- 

 ways have 

 well-develop- 

 ed collar- 

 bones. Us- 

 ually there 

 are on the 

 fore-feet four 

 toes and a rudimentary first digit; the hind- 

 feet have five toes. The tibia and fibula 

 are fused together in their lower parts. On 

 the whole no general characters can be given. 

 From among the numerous groups we have 

 selected only a few characteristic representa- 

 tives. 



The Mole-rats. 



The Common European Mole-rat (Spalax 

 typhlus), fig. 209, may be taken as the repre- 

 sentative of this family, the Spalacida, a 

 group consisting of a large number of animals 

 resembling the moles in their habit, their 

 behaviour, and their underground mode of 

 life. Their head, however, presents some 

 differences. It is short, broad, almost as 

 round as a ball, and shows in front, instead 

 of the rather long snout of the moles, the 

 large incisors not covered by the lips. The 



62 



Fig. 209.— The Common European Mole-rat (Spalax typhlus). 



