GILT-TAILED DORMOUSE. 
tional admirer of nature is much indebted to 
the Count De Buffon: and, though introduced 
under his description of the Fat Squirrel, or 
Sciurus Glis of Linnaeus, they will be found 
applicable to all the torpid tribes. His Gar- 
den Squirrel is the Mus Quercinus of Linna;us ; 
and his Common Dorm.ouse, or Sleeper, Lin- 
nasus's Mus Avellanarius. 
The Gilt-Tailed Dormouse, which is the 
animal we have figured, seems to have been 
but lately noticed. It is a native of Surinam; 
though BufFon naturally enough supposed, 
that the Dormouse was not to be found in the 
warmer climates: a knowledge of this facl 
might, perhaps, have disturbed his ingenious 
theory. The length of this beautiful little ani- 
mal, from tip to tip, is about eleven inches. It 
has short broad ears, and great whiskers. The 
face is marked with a gold-coloured line, ex- 
tending from the nose to the space between the 
cars. The rest of the head, as well as the 
whole body, and beginning of the tall, are a 
purpllsli chcsnut colour. The remaining half 
of the tall is black ; the rest being of a beau- 
tiful gold colour. It climbs trees, and lives on 
fruits. 
