MAMMALIA. 123 
stripe along the centre of the nose. On each side of it there is a reddish-brown patch, which 
extends from the mouth to the orbit. Whiskers black. Tail brownish-black above, whitish 
beneath. Extremities, dark-brown, exteriorly ; whitish, interiorly. 
DIMENSIONS. 
= Inches. Lines, Inches. Lines. 
Length of head and body . from 5} to 8 0 Length of middle fore-toe and claw so 3 
oe head . 5 é 0 C Sool. 10 5 >»  hind-toe and claw : 0 3k 
5 tail F = ‘ 3 I 6 35 hind-foot from heel to point of the 
39 ears(breadth or height) . . 0 7 clawiofmiddleitoee +» -{©  s =» «0 10 
This species makes long canals under the mossy turf on the dry banks of lakes 
and rivers, and also in woods, but does not burrow deep into the earth. It is 
plentiful in some quarters, but shews no disposition to enter the houses of the 
traders, and domesticate itself, like the following species. It is common in the 
immediate vicinity of Fort Franklin; and Mr. Drummond found it in abundance on 
the Rocky Mountains in latitude 56°, in places where the woods had been destroyed 
by fire. It has about seven young at a birth. It was first described by Dr. Leach ; 
and an indifferent figure, half the natural size of a specimen, which he obtained 
from Hudson’s Bay, was published in the Zoological Miscellany. Mr. Say, in the 
narrative of Long’s expedition, mentions a Meadow-Mouse, which he terms the 
Arvicola xanthognathus, as an inhabitant of the banks of the Ohio, but gives no 
description ; and Godman, who speaks of an animal under the same name, as 
common in the United States, and doing great injury to the banks, alludes to its 
diminutive size, and evidently refers to some other species. The description 
quoted by Mr. Sabine, in Franklin’s Journey, under the title of Arvicola xantho- 
gnatha, does not belong to this animal, but to a much smaller species, which I have 
referred to the Arvicola Pennsylvanicus of Oro, in the following article. 
