134 
Dipodid,®. MAMMALIA. Mukid^. 
son, it is a sly and timid animal, li\dng in societies, 
and constructing burrows underground ; and is with 
difficulty preserved in a state of domestication. Some 
naturalists consider this species as identical with the 
variety found inhabiting the waste country between the 
Don and Wolga rivers, and in the southern steppes at 
Fig. 45. 
The jEgyptian Jerboa (Dipus AJgyptius). 
the Irtitsch ; hut the limits of om- space prevent our 
discussing this question or giving further details. The 
accompanjdng drawing (fig. 45) represents the Jerboa 
about to take a leap. 
MITCHELL’S JERBOA {Dijnis Mitchellii) has been 
so named by Mr. Ogilby after the original discoverer, 
Sir Thomas Mitchell, Avho found this species on the 
marshy grounds near the junction of the Murray and 
the Murrumbidgee, on the northern boundaries of 
Australia Felix. In size it scarcely exceeds our com- 
mon field mouse. The tail is particularly long, and 
ends in a hairy tuft, two inches in extent. 
HAEDWICKE’S JERBOA {Dipzis Indicus), is a native 
of Hindostan, frequenting the cultivated districts, and 
proving highly destructive to the wheat and barley 
crops. It feeds principally on grain, but null in times 
of scarcity consume other kinds of vegetable food. 
During its leaps, which extend over a space of four or 
five yards at a single jump, the tail is stretched out 
horizontally. At evening time hundreds issue forth 
from their snug retreats, but they disappear on the 
slightest alarm. 
THE CAPE JERBOA {Helamys Capensis ) — Plate 14, 
fig. 46 — is a native of South Africa. The hind feet 
are tetradactylous, and armed with very long, sharply- 
pointed claws. The ears are largely developed ; so is 
also the tail. The molar teeth have no roots ; their 
cro^vns also are divided into two equal, oval-shaped 
portions, by a fold from the outer side in the upper 
series, and from the inner side below. The fur is of 
a bright yellow-browm colour generally. The Cape 
Jerboa is a very powerful animal, leaping as much as 
thirty feet at a single bound. During sleep it assumes 
a sitting posture. 
THE ALAK-DAARGHA {Scirtetes jaculus) is the name 
given by the Mongols to a species of jerboa inhabiting 
the steppes between the Donau and the Don; this 
animal is also found in the Crimea. The feet are 
pentadact 3 dous, but the three central toes of the hinder 
extremity are very cogently developed. The molar 
teetli are I'ooted, and have their crovms surmounted by 
contorted ridges of enamel. The ears are fully as long 
as the head. 
Family IV.— MURIDS. 
The Rats and Mice, properly so called, have largely- 
developed ears. The 0^500105 are distinct. There are 
usually twelve molar teeth, uniformly covered with 
enamel ; and the inferior incisors are compressed and 
sharplj' pointed. The fore-feet are tetradactjdous, the 
several digits wide-spread, and the thumb represented 
by a warty tubercle, which in some cases is clawed ; 
the hind feet are pentadactylous. The skeleton — ■ 
Plate 33, fig. 106 — is comparatively slim throughout. 
The tail is mostly very long, naked, or only thinly 
haired. The species are extremely numerous, and 
abound everywhere. 
THE COMMON MOUSE {Mus musculm) is almost 
too well knowm to require more than a passing notice. 
The fur exhibits an ashy-bronm colour, which becomes 
lighter underneath the belH'. Its ears are about half 
as long as the head ; the tail being rather shorter than 
the body. This elegant little animal is extraordinarily 
prolific, the female breeding at all seasons of the year, 
and usually producing five or six young at a birth. 
White varieties are very common. 
Speaking of the methods adopted for destrojdng these 
pests, Mr. Bell remarks as follows : — “ In addition to 
the usual means employed for their extermination, such 
as traps of various kinds, and the carnivorous instinct 
of the cat, the ferret, and the weasel, there still exists 
in Wales a custom so disgustingly cruel that the very 
mention of it would be scarcely pardonable but for the 
possibility of thus producing some degree of shame in 
the perpetrators of it, and consequently saving some 
poor little mice from being tlie victims of such barbarity. 
It is customary in some parts of Wales to roast a mouse 
alive, hanging it before the fire bj" its tail tied to a string, 
that its screams may scare the rest from the house.” 
