CLASS I. MAMMxiLIA: ORDER 1. RODENTIA. 
371 
But wliile their rnembers are thus not of a walking character, neither do they resemble the 
flying extremities of the bats, nor the climbing ones of the handed animals or the sloths. Their 
feet, both the fore ones and the hind, are fitted for making a firm plant on a very slender branch, 
either longitudinally or across. This, of course, is done by a sort of grasping; but still it partakes 
much more of the character of a mere plant than that of the handed animals, and is performed in 
a corresponding!}^ shorter time. Their motion along the small twigs near the top of a roAV of tall 
trees is thus a kind of running, and running which is very neatly as Avell as very swiftly performed. 
Their hind-legs are a little longer than their fore, but only a mere trifle, as their running style 
of motion requires that they should have nearly equal command and use of all their legs. In 
this may be seen the diff'erence between them and the hares and jerboas on the one hand, and 
the tree-apes, which have not the tails prehensile, on the other. The leaping animal has the hind- 
legs long, and the muscular action of the body very much concentrated upon them. The climb- 
ing animal has the fore-legs long, and the concentration upon them. The squirrel holds an inter- 
mediate place, and this is the reason why we consider its motions on the ground more graceful 
than the leaping of the jerboa, and its motion in the tree more so than the climbing of the ape. 
Their motions are indeed quite a study in animal mechanics; and on account of their lightness, 
their gentleness and cleanliness, they are a very pleasing study. 
The eyes of the squirrels are bright and large for the size of the animals, and there are some 
peculiarities in them which are worthy of attention. The pupils are large and rather oval, with 
the largest diameter placed in a horizontal direction ; and there is no color reflected from the 
choroid membrane. Hence it is probable that their vision is very keen, and that they can see an 
object clearly with very little light. They require this, for they have to find their food, and also 
their footing, the latter often very quickly, in the close shade of the leaves. It is probable that 
their hearing is as acute, for their ears are remarkably well developed, and they often terminate 
in tufts of fur, which are generally regarded as increasing the acuteness of the sense. 
In woods, their chief food is nuts and other small fruits; but they are also fond of the sac- 
charine juices of plants; and in some parts of our country, where they are numerous, they do 
serious damage to the plantations of Indian corn. They are animals of temperate, and even of 
cold countries, as well as of warm ones. They abound so much in many places of the north that 
they are caught in traps, as well for their flesh as their skins. The great natural forests are 
their chief abodes, where they dwell in solitude or in society, according to the species. But even 
the most solitary of them are usually found in pairs, which are understood to associate for 
life. Their nests are rrsually little spherical cabins, formed of twigs and leaves near the tops of 
the highest trees, and with the opening above. In such places they and their young are out of 
the reach of all quadruped foes; but they occasionally become the prey of ravenous birds, when 
these roam on the wing over the forest; and yet the situations in which they are placed render 
them pretty secure from these foes also. With the exception of Australia and the remote islands, 
squirrels of one species or another are found in all parts of the world ; in Europe from Lapland 
to the extreme south; in all parts of Asia, Africa, and North America; and they are generally as 
abundant as they are widely distributed, for the woods which suit their economy often swarm 
with them. 
The CoMMOif Squirrel of Europe, 8. vulgaris, called " The Squirrel" by the English, is the 
Ecureuil of the French; Scojatfolo, Schiarro, and Schiaratto of the Italians; Arda, ArdiUa, and 
Esquilo of the Spaniards; Eiclihorn and Eichhbrnchen of the Germans; Inklioorn of the Dutch; 
Ikorn and Graskin of the Swedes; Ekorn of the Danes. Its length, including the tail, which 
measures about six inches three lines, is about fourteen to fifteen inches. Its general color is a 
bright red, varied with gray on the flanks. Mr. Bell, after stating that it is liable to considerable 
variety of color, becoming gray in the northern regions, and quoting the passage in "Lachesis 
Lapponica," which relates how the inhabitants of the Lapland Alps procure a number of these 
species in their gray or winter clothing for the sake of their skins, proceeds to remark that even 
in England a certain degree of change takes place in the color of the fur in spring and autumn. 
In summer the fur is coarser and more uniformly red, and the pencils of hairs on the ears are 
lost; in winter a grayish tint appears on the sides; the pencils on the ears are long and well de- 
