THE MOUSE TRIBE. 
117 
dwell together; and is thoroughly nocturnal. At the Cape it is found in consider¬ 
able numbers, and frequents both the mountains and the open plains. When 
feeding, the jumping hare goes on all fours; but when at speed progresses with 
the leaps characteristic of the family. Ordinarily the length of each spring is from 
six to nine feet; but it is said that the leap may occasionally cover a space of as 
much as twenty or even thirty feet. The young are born during the African 
summer, and are usually from three to four in number; and during the rainy 
season young and old alike seldom stir from their burrows. The food appears to 
be entirely of a vegetable-nature. The flesh is largely eaten by the Hottentots, 
who catch almost as many of the creatures as they please by the simple expedient 
of pouring water down their holes, upon which the owners immediately bolt. 
The Sminthus. 
Genus Sminthus. 
Three rat-like Rodents—the one (Sminthus subtilis ) from Eastern and 
Northern Europe and Central Asia, the other (S. concolor ) from North-Western 
China, and the third (S. leathami ) from Kashmir—are interesting in showing that 
the long hind-limbs are not an essential attribute of the members of the present 
family. Indeed the former of these Rodents—for which there is unfortunately no 
English name—is so rat-like in appearance that it was long referred to the next 
family. It differs, however, from all the members of the latter by the presence of 
a pair of premolar teeth in the upper jaw (although there are none in the lower), 
while its skull agrees in essential features with that of the jerboas. The common 
sminthus has rather long and pointed ears, and a tail of nearly the same length as 
the body, and clothed with short hairs. The premolar and last upper molar teeth 
are very small; and the whole of the cheek-teeth have a complex pattern on 
their crowns. 
The Mouse Tribe. 
Family Mu RID Ml. 
The Mouse family, which includes mice, rats, hamsters, voles, lemmings, etc., is 
by far the most extensive group in the whole Rodent order, having a cosmopolitan 
distribution, and being the only family represented in Australia. The majority of 
the mice—as we may conveniently term all the members of the group—are of 
terrestrial habits, and have naked and scaly tails of varying length; while in most 
cases there is no great disproportion between the length of the fore and hind-limbs. 
The incisor teeth are narrow; and, owing to the invariable absence of premolars, 
there are never more than three pairs of cheek-teeth in each jaw. 
In structure these teeth exhibit great variation in the different groups, being 
either furnished with roots, or rootless, while in some cases their crowns are 
surmounted with simple cusps, and in others with folds of enamel arranged in a 
series of anodes. In all cases the first toe of the fore-foot is rudimental. The skull 
o 
is the most characteristic part of their entire organisation, although it is difficult 
