GREAT WOOD MOUSE OF AMERICA. 
I — ^ — • 
species of the Rat. The lacSl is, that Rats, 
of various descriptions, procig'ously abound 
in Surinam ; and, from a late account of tha: 
place, it appears that they literally over-run 
not only the country, but the inhabitants, 
over whom these disagreeable intruders are 
perpetually passing as they lay in bed. 
The Great Wood Mouse of America is 
certainly not among the number of these un- 
' welcome visitors ; though we incline to be- 
lieve it a native of Surinam, as well as of other 
I southern regions of America. But it's abode 
I is chiefly in the woods : and we suspeil that 
j the Mus Sylvestris, or Wood Mouse, of Bris- 
j «on, may be this animal ; and not, as has been 
supposed, the common Brown Rat, or Surmu- 
^ lot of BufFon. 
Brookes, who calls the subje£l: of our en- 
quiry the American Wood Rat, describes it 
f as nearly the size and shape of a common 
I Rat. It has, he says, shining eyes, and stiflT 
' ears, without hair. On the upper lip there is 
a long beard, and over each eye are two long 
hairs 
