72 DA. IT III AN j AND AFRICAN RAT, 
evil, as was once believed to be inherent in ilia 
now abdicated royal family of Great Britain. 
Daurian rat. 
This creature has a thick flat head, a short 
snout, and a blunt nose. Its upper fore teeth are 
naked * a moveable lip covers the lower; it has 
no external ears ; its eyes are very small, yet visi- 
ble ; its body is short and depressed ; its limbs 
are very strong, especially the fore legs ; its tail 
is short ; its hair soft and loose, of a greyish colour. 
They measure from six to nine inches ; inhabit the 
arctic mountains, and beyond lake Baikal ; bur- 
row a little below the surface ; have a voice weak 
and plaintive.— -The Russians call it the earth 
bean 
African rat. 
The African rat has a large head* a black UOse* 
flat and corrugated ; its eyes are minute, and 
much hid in the fur; it has no ears ; its tail* 
about two inches long/ is compressed* and covered 
above and below w ith short hair, and edged with 
bristles disposed horizontally. It is of a cinereous 
brow n, palest on the lower parts, and about thir- 
teen inches long. 
It inhabits the sandy country near the Cape of 
Good Hope; it burrows, and makes the ground 
so hollow as to be very inconvenient for travellers ; 
for it breaks every six or seven minutes under the 
horses feet, and lets them in up to the shoulders. 
It grows to the size of a rabbit, and is, by some* 
esteemed a good dish. 
