“MAMMALIA, 135 
at the anterior angle of the eye. The nose, covered with short black hairs, intermixed poste- 
riorly with some hoary ones, is rendered prominent by a depression on each side, anterior to 
the cheeks. -Its-acute apex is covered with black hairs disposed in a circular manner, and no 
naked space can be discovered above the nares in the dried specimen. The upper lip is 
deeply divided. Jncisors slightly yellowish, inferior ones twice the length of the upper ones. 
Whiskers long, partly black, partly white. Body thick, having a smooth dense covering of 
long and soft fur. The colour on the dorsal aspect is dark grayish-brown, arising from an 
intimate mixture of hairs tipped with yellowish-gray and black; the black tips are the 
longest, and, predominating down the centre of the back, produce a distinct stripe. The 
ventral aspect of the throat, neck, and body, exclusive of some ‘rusty markings before the 
shoulders, is of an unmixed yellowish-gray colour, which unites with the darker colour of the 
back by an even line running ona level with the tail and inferior part of the cheek. The fur, 
both above and below, presents, when blown aside, a deep blackish-gray shining colour from 
the tips to the roots. The ¢ail is very short, and is of the same colour with the body at the 
root, but the part which projects beyond the fur of the rump is only a pencil of stiff white 
hairs, four or five lines long. 
The fore-extremities project very little beyond the fur; the palms incline slightly inwards, 
are small, and the toes are very short; both are covered thickly above and below, with strong 
hairs curving downwards, and extending beyond the claws. The only naked parts on the foot 
are a minute, flat, unarmed callus, in place of a thumb, and a rounded smooth callus at the 
extremity of each toe. These callosities do not project forwards under the claws, and have 
no resemblance to the large, compressed, horny, under portions of the claws of the Hudson’s 
Bay lemming. The claws are long, strong, curved moderately downwards, and also inclining 
inwards to the mesial line, with a more slight curvature. The second claw from the inside, 
which is considerably the longest, is nearly four lines in length. At the root it has a 
compressed, conical form, and is much deeper than broad; it is rounded above, and flat 
or slightly grooved near its root underneath, but its curved extremity is lengthened out in 
a slender cylindrical manner. The other fore-claws, though smaller, are similar to this one. 
The third from the inside is the next in size, and the two extreme ones are considerably shorter. 
The length of the whole palm and middle claw is only six lines. The claws are fitted for 
digging, but not for cutting roots. Hind-feet.—The soles are hairy, and the hairs project 
farther beyond the claws than on the fore-feet. Toes five, of which the three middle ones are 
nearly of a length, the two extreme ones arise further back, and are shorter. The hind-claws 
are shorter than the fore ones, slightly arched, narrow, but not sharp at the points; they 
are thin, hollowed out underneath, and calculated to throw back the earth which has been 
loosened by the fore-claws. 
The description was drawn up from a male, killed August 22, in Repulse Bay. 
Mr. Scoresby’s Greenland specimen differs solely in colour, which on the upper parts is a 
mixture of mottled ash-gray with blackish-brown and reddish-brown, and on the belly and 
inferior parts is rufescent. 
