THE KANGAROO-RATS— THE MOLE-RATS 203 



THE KANGAROO-RATS 



Closely allied to the Gophers, and having the same external cheek- 

 pouches, is a family of little American desert rodents {Heteromyidat), 

 of which some species are remarkably like the Jerboas of the Old 

 World, in general shape, colour, and jumping habits ; the resemblance 

 extends even - to the peculiar tufted tail, but the hind-legs are not so 

 long, or their toes so much reduced, as in the true Jerboas. 



THE MOLE-RATS 



Two families of rodents, the Spalacidce and the Bathyergidce, are very 

 like Moles in form and habits, especially the latter one. They have 

 small or rudimentary eyes and ears, and sausage^shaped bodies like 

 Moles, but the characteristic rodent incisors are particularly well 

 developed, and they feed on vegetable food, chiefly roots, for which 

 they explore the earth and drive tunnels, as the true Moles do after 

 worms and grubs. One of the SpalacidcB, the Blind Mole- Rat {Spalax 

 typhlus) is found in Eastern Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa. 

 It has no visible ears or eyes — the latter being indeed covered with 

 skin — and a curious broad flat head ; in spite of its blindness, how- 

 ever, it is a far-seeing animal in one sense of the word, for it lays 

 up a store of bulbs in a chamber in its burrow. The Bamboo-Rats 

 {Rhizomys) of Eastern Asia and Africa belong to this family, but are 

 less completely mole-like than most of these burrowing Rats, having 

 small external ears and visible eyes. 



The Bathyergidce are confined to Africa, and the best-known is 

 the Coast- Rat or Sand-Mole {Bathyergus maritimus) of the Cape, which 

 burrows on the sea-shore. It is almost blind, and rather a large 

 animal, being nearly a foot long; in fact, most of these "rodent 

 Moles" are bigger than our Mole. In SomaHland there are some 

 extraordinary little creatures (Georychus) belonging to this family ; 

 they have small eyes and no ears, but their tail is fairly long. The 

 remarkable thing about them, however, is that instead of the thick 

 soft fur of most burrowers, they have practically no hair at all, and 

 are nearly naked. 



