MAMMALIA. - 129 
fitted for digging. In the short character of the species given above, the insertion 
of the word Georychus is intended to indicate the presence of the characteristic 
features of the Lemmings. 
This animal was found by Mr. Drummond, inhabiting alpine swamps, in latitude 
56°; but he could not learn any thing of its habits. From the great similarity of 
its form, and the strong resemblance in the shape of its claws to the Norwegian 
Lemming, we may infer that its habits do not differ much from those of that animal. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Size of the Lapland Lemming. Body low, head oval, nose short, blunt, and nearly on a 
line with the incisors. Eyes small; ears broader than high, shorter than the fur, clothed 
with hair near the edges. Tail very short, clothed with stiff hairs, which are longest near its 
extremity, and there converge to a point. 
The fur of the body has a reddish-orarige ‘colour, palest on the ventral aspect. On the 
back and sides there are interspersed a number of longer hairs tipped with black, but they do 
not produce any spotting. On the upper part of the head, round the eyes, and on the nape of 
the neck, the black hairs are more numerous, and the fur of those parts has a mixed black and 
orange colour. The nose is grayish-brown, the sides of the face are pale orange, and the 
margins of the upper lip white. The tail is coloured like the body. The feet are brownish. 
The fur on the body is about nine lines long, that on the nose and extremities is very short. 
The fur of the head is pretty long. 
The cutting edge of the upper incisors is obliquely excavated in a lunated form, arising from 
their outer edges being inclined backwards, so that these teeth do not appear so flat ante- 
riorly as those of the Arvicola xanthognathus, which have straight cutting edges. The claws 
of both extremities are much alike, greatly compressed, with sharp points, and an oblong, 
narrow excavation underneath, ‘They are larger than those of any of the meadow-mice 
_ described in the preceding pages, although the A. palustris and A. canthognathus are more 
than twice the size of the largest specimen of this animal. The thumb of the fore-feet 
consists almost entirely of a thick, flat, strap-shaped nail, resembling that of the Norway 
Lemming, and having, like it, an obliquely truncated summit. In the Tawny Lemming this 
summit presents obscurely two obtuse points. . 
DIMENSIONS. 
Inches. ; Lines. Inches. Lines. 
Length of head and pay, = e ae 6 Length of fore-feet and claws : 0 4h 
Bae tatk < wet. 0 7 5  hind-feet, from heel to end of claw 0 8 
> head . Relea: 1 ania grill 6 >» furontheback. . .« » O 9 
