302 
JERBOA. 
shrubby places it has been observed to jump much 
higher ; but in those places it is impossible to take 
the little animal, as its wonderful agility, assisted by 
the cover of the underwood, will enable it to elude 
every pursuit. 
In the fourth volume of the Linnaean Trans- 
actions, from whence we have this account, there 
are two figures of the jumping mouse ; one repre- 
sents it in an erect posture, the other in a dormant 
state. The latter was found by some workmen in 
digging the foundation of a summer-house in a gen- 
tleman’s garden about two miles from Quebec, in 
the latter end of May 1787- It was discovered en- 
closed in a ball of clay, about the size of a cricket- 
ball, nearly an inch in thickness, perfectly smooth 
within, and about twenty inches Under ground. 
The man who first discovered it, not knowing what 
it was, struck the ball with his spade, by which 
means it was broken to pieces. The General could 
not say how long the animal had continued in its 
dormant state ; but as he never observed any of the 
species after the beginning of September, he very 
properly concludes that they lay themselves up 
some time in that month, or beginning of October, 
when the frost becomes sharp : about the last week 
in May, or beginning of June, they again make 
their appearance. From their being closely en- 
veloped in balls of clay, it is evident that they sleep 
during the winter, and remain for that term without 
sustenance. 
Anxious to renovate his little charge, the General 
