44 
MOLE-SHAPED POUCHED RAT. 
those on the fore feet, and the rudiment of a fifth toe, so small that it can 
be detected only after a minute inspection ; tail, very slender, cylindrical, 
and rather short, covered with a smooth coat of short hairs. 
The hair is nearly as fine as that of the common shrew mole, and is 
close and velvety. 
COLOUR. 
Whiskers, black ; incisors, yellowish-white, approaching flesh colour ; 
chin and throat, white ; outer edges of the pouch, light gray ; tail, grayish- 
brown ; the body generally, grayish-black, with faint brownish tints in 
some lights. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Length of head and body, - 
Tail to end of hair, - 
From point of nose to eye, - 
From point of nose to auditory opening, 
Height of back, 
Length of lower incisors, - 
“ fur on the back, - 
“ middle fore claw, 
From heel to end of middle hind claw, 
Inches. Lines. 
- 7 4 
- 2 5 
9 
- 1 3 
- 2 
5 
6 
4 
11 
HABITS. 
Very little is known of the habits of this peculiar sand-rat. The 
manners, however, of all the species of the genus Pseudostoma are probably 
very similar : they live principally under ground, and leave their galleries, 
holes, or burrows, pretty much as we of the genus Homo quit our houses, 
for the purpose of procuring the necessaries of life, or for pleasure, 
although they do find a portion of their food while making the excavations 
which serve them as places in which to shelter themselves and bring forth 
their young. They are generally nocturnal, and in the day time prefer 
coming abroad during cloudy weather. 
They never make their appearance, nor do they work in their galleries 
or burrows during the winter in our northern latitudes, unless it be far 
beneath the hard frozen ground, which would not permit them to make 
new roads. 
Richardson says that as soon as the snow disappears in the spring, and 
whilst the ground is as yet only partially thawed, little heaps of earth 
newly thrown up attest the activity of this animal. 
