THE JERBOA. 



Generic Characters. 

 Two cutting teeth in each jaw. 



Fore legs very Ihort; hind legs long, and limilar to thofe of cloven- 

 footed water-fowl. 

 Tail very long, and tufted at the end. 



Synonims. 



Mus bipes, Pliniiy lib. x. c. 65. Texeirds Travels, 21. 

 Le Jerbo, de Rujfon, xiii. 141. 



Egyptian Jerboa, Pennant Hift. Quad. vol. ii. p. 104. 

 Gerbua, Edw. 219. Plaifted's Journal, 59. 

 Mus Jaculus, Linn. Syjl. 85. 



THIS animal is faid to be the Lamb of Ifrael, and is fuppofed to have 

 been defignated in Scripture by the name of the Coney, as our Rabbit was 

 unknown in Paleftine. It is alfo the Moufe fpoken of in the lxvi. chapter 

 of Ifaiah's Prophecies : Achbar fignifying, in the original, a male Jerboa. 



The head of the Jerboa greatly refembles that of a Rabbit : its ears are 

 thin, broad, and ere& ; its eyes large and full ; and its whilkers long. The 

 length of its fore legs is but one inch, and the ufe of them is chiefly to 

 convey victuals to the mouth ; they are divided into five toes, and pointed 

 with lharp claws. The hind legs are two inches and a quarter long, flender, 

 and very limilar to thofe of a bird; having but three toes on each, and the 

 middle one the longeft. The length of the body is about feven inches and 

 a quarter, and that of the tail ten inches. The head, fides, back, and thighs, 

 are clothed with long hair, am coloured at the bottom, and of a pale tawny 

 at the ends; the breaft and belly are white; and the upper part of the 



