166 
CHAP. 
IV. 
' * ' 
Mus Jacu - 
lu$ t or Jer- 
bOOr. 
FROM CAFFA, 
Pallas, some Tahtars brought him a beautiful 
little animal, called The jumping Hare. It has 
borne a variety of names ’, but it is in fact the 
same as the African Jerboa. We saw it after- 
wards in Egypt, although it be not common 
either there or in the Crimea. It may be called 
the Kangaroo in miniature, as it has the same 
form; but it is smaller than a rabbit; and it 
assists itself, like the Kangaroo, with its tail 
in leaping. That which Professor Pallas received 
was a pregnant female, containing two young 
ones. Its colour was a light grey, excepting 
the belly: this was almost white. Its fore-feet 
are attached to its breast without any legs ; so 
that, in all its motions, it makes use only of its 
hinder quarters, bounding and making sur- 
prising leaps on being disturbed. We after- 
wards caught one in the steppes ; this we stuffed, 
and brought to England. Professor Pallas him- 
self did not seem to be aware that the Mus 
Jaculus, which was the name he gave it®, is 
the animal mentioned by Shaw, in his account 
of Barbary 5 ; nor was it until we became enabled 
(1) Allusion has been already made to the confusion introduced 
in zoology, l>y the different names, and discordant accounts, which 
travellers have given of this animal. See p. 325 of former Volume. 
(2) See Travels, vol. II. p. 457. 
(3) Shaw’s Travels, p. 177, 4to. cd. London, 1757. 
