128 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 
umber or liver-brown colour, but producing no spots. There is a rufous mark under the ears. 
The fur on the back is about ten lines long, that on the crown of the head is three or four. 
The fur on the under parts (including the chin and lips) has a lead-gray colour, and is 
shorter than that covering the back and sides. The tail is round, well clothed with short 
stiff hairs, which do not permit any scales to be seen. It is clove-brown above, and grayish- 
white beneath. The hairs at the extremity of the tail are of the same length with the others, 
but converge toa point. The fore and hind extremities are clothed with short hairs of a 
clove-brown colour, mixed on the toes and hind-parts of the fore-feet, with some longer 
white hairs, The hind-toes are more slender and scarcely longer than the fore ones; they 
turn obliquely inwards. The fore-claws are small, whitish, much compressed, arched, and 
acute, with a narrow, elliptical excavation underneath. The hairs of the toes reach to the 
points of the nails. The claws of the hind-feet resemble the fore ones, but are not so strong. 
The thumb of the fore-feet consists merely of a small strap-shaped nail, slightly convex on 
both sides, and having an obtuse point projecting from the middle of its extremity. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines, 
Length of head and body . ‘ ou! 6 Breadth of the ear : + - 0 3 
2°55 tail é ‘ Se | 0 Length of fore-feet to end of middleclaw 0 44 
op head alone ‘ ° - | 3 5 hind-feet, including heel and claw 0 7k 
Height of ear f P 0 4 “f fur on the back . . 0 10 
Described from spring specimens, after the snow had melted. 
[40.] 6. Arvicota (Grorycuus ?) nELVoLus. (Richardson. 
Tawny Lemming. 
Genus, Arvicola. Cuvier. Sub-genus, Georychus. InticER. CUuvVIER. 
Arvicola (Lemmus) helvolus. Rricuarpson, Zool. Journ., No. 12, 1828, p. 517. 
<i, GEoRYCHUS (helvolus) naso pallido obtuso, palmis pentadactylis, capite fulvo nigroque, corpore helvolo subter viz 
pallidiori. 
Tawny Lemming, with a pale blunt nose, a thumb; tawny and black head ; and a reddish-orange coloured body, 
a little paler beneath. 
The Lemmings are, by some authors, thought to possess characters which 
entitle them to form a distinct genus ; but I am inclined to agree with those who 
range them merely as a subdivision of the genus arvicola, characterised principally 
by the shortness of the ears and tail, and the larger and stronger claws, more 
