MAMMALIA. 21k 
[66.] 1. ApLopontiA LeportNA. (Richardson.) The Sewellel., 
Sewellel. Lerwr1s and Ciarx, vol. ili. p. 39. 
Anisonyx ? rufa. RaFINESQUE-SmaLTz. DESMAREST, Mamm., p. 330, in notis. 
Arctomys rufa. Harwan, Fauna, p. 308. GRiFriTH’s Anim. Kingdom, vol.v. p 245. sp, 636. 
Marmot, No.17. Hupson’s Bay Musrum. 
Aplodontia leporina. RicHaRDsoN, Zool. Journ. January, 1829. No. 15. p. 335. ° 
Prats xvitt C. Fie. 7 to I4. 
DESCRIPTION, 
Form.—The Sewellel stands very low on its legs, and has a short thick body like that of a 
rabbit, with a rather large head. The nose is thick and obtuse, and is covered with a dense 
coat of very short fur. The nostrils are like those of a rat, small and roundish, and are 
separated by a narrow furrowed septum, but the fur comes close to their margins. The 
mouth is rather small, considering the size of the incisors, the lips are thick, clothed with 
stiff hairs, and a stiff brush of white hair projects into the mouth from the upper lip, near 
its union with the lower one. Whiskers very strong, longer than the head, partly black, 
partly white. There are also some long stiff hairs over the eye and on the cheek. The eye 
is very small, the opening between the eyelids not exceeding two lines in length. The 
external ear strongly resembles the human one in form. It rises about four lines above the 
auditory opening, has a small fold of the anterior part of its base inwards, and is prolonged 
posteriorly and beneath the opening in form of a narrow thick margin representing the lobe 
and anti-tragus. There are also folds and eminences in the concavity of the auricle, such as 
exist in the human ear. The whole of the ear is clothed with a very short, close and fine 
coat of pale hairs, and on its inner side there are some longer and darker ones, which 
project beyond its margin. 
- The stump of the fail is scarcely half an inch long, and has a slender cylindrical form. It 
is covered with fur of the same colour and length oth that on the neighbouring parts, and is 
scarcely perceptible, so that the animal on a cursory view might be considered to be tail-less. 
The /egs are very short, and are covered down to the wrists and heels with fur similar to 
that on the body. A little above the wrist joint, on the inner side, there is a small tuft of 
stiff white hairs. The feet are shaped somewhat like those of a marmot. 
Fore-feet.—The palms and under surfaces of the toes are naked. There are three small 
callous emmences at the root of the toes, disposed as in the marmots, one of them being 
common to the two middle toes, one proper to the fore-toe, and the third to the little toe. 
There is a large prominent callus at the root of the thumb, and one nearly of the same size 
2H 2 
