236 MAMMALIA. GLIRES. Rats and Mice. 



490 £. Black Water Rat. — 19. <T. Mus amphibim niger. 



Of a uniform black colour. 



401 e. Spotted Water Rat. — 19. g. Mus amphib'ius maculatus. 



Has a large white fpot on the back, and a white line on the breaft. 



Inhabits the whole of Europe, the nortliern parts of Alia as far as the icy fea, and North America. 



The feveral varieties of this fpecies dwell chiefly near waters, forming burrows in their fteep banks, 

 about ponds and wet ditches ; likewife in marfhy places, meadows, and gardens ; they feed on rootsj 

 herbs, and fhrubs, and on frogs, craw-fifh, infects, fmall fifh, and the fry of larger ones. The flefh 

 of thefe animals is reckoned very delicate by fome of the more favage inhabitants of the Ruffian em- 

 pire, and is eaten by the French, along with that of the Otter, during Lent. The female is fmaller 

 than the male, and has a greater yellownefs of cplour ; fhe has eight teats, four of which are placed 

 on the breaft, and four on the belly. They procreate about the end of winter, at which time they 

 fmell ftrongly of mufk, and produce as far as eight young ones in the month of April. The nofe is 

 thick and blunt, with fhort ears, which are hid in the fur, fmall eyes, and yellow teeth; Mr Pennant 

 fays, that all the feet, both before and behind, have five toes, the inner toe of the fore feet being very 

 fmall ; the fur is black, mixed with fome ferruginous hairs ; the tail is covered with fhort black hair, 

 and is whitifh at the tip ; the body and head ar.e both thick, fhort, and compact, and meafure feveiv 

 inches long ; the tail is from three to five inches in length ; the ears are of an oval fhape, and briftly 

 at the edges ; the whole animal, according to Mr Pennant, weighs nine ounces, though, according to , 

 Dr Gmelin, it only weighs from two to three. This fpecies is very fierce, and .bites bitterly; it fwims.. 

 and dives with great facility, and lives, much in the water, 



402 22. Garlic Mbufe. — 20. Mtis-aU'iarius. 2%. 



The tail is fhort ; the ears are rather large, and fomewhat hairy ; the body is am co- 

 loured on its upper parts, and whitifh underneath. Pallas, Glir. 80. n. 18. and 252. t.xiv. . 

 f„C. Schreber, iv. 671. t. clxxxvii. 



Garlic Moufe. Penn..hift. of quad..n. 315. 



Inhabits Siberia, about the rivers Jenifei, Kan, Lena, and Angara. — Feeds on the roots of garlic, of 

 ■which it lays: up large ftores in fubterraneous burrows. The ears are large, open, and naked ; the : 

 tail is hairy, being of a white colour, marked on its upper part with a dufky line; the back is afh co- 

 loured, mixed with longer hairs tipped with dufky grey ; the fides are pale afh coloured, and the belly, 

 breaft, and feet are white; the fore feet have each four toes; the body and head meafure a little more 

 than four inches ; the tail fcaree an inch and a half; This fpecies refembles the Meadow Moufe, io 

 fee afterwards defcribed ; but, in the form of the head, the whifkers, and the cars, it comes nearer to 

 the Common Moufe, though greatly larger. 



493 23. Red Moufe — 21. Mus ratihis. 24. 



Has a fhort tail ; the ears are longer than the fur, which is tawny red on the back, 



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