215 M U 5. 
would feed from his hand, lap milk, and, when placed on 
a table, fhowed no defire to elcape: they were kept in a 
box, with land, in which they delighted to burrow. They 
frequently ate in a fitting pofture, like a fquirrel; and 
walked their faces with their paws : they generally wan¬ 
dered about during the day, and ficpt all night rolled up : 
their voice relerhbled that of a bat. 
46. Mus furunculus, the Baraba rat: yellowi(h-grey 
above, whitifli beneath, with black dorfal lireak. This 
fpecies, which inhabits the fandy plain of Baraba, to¬ 
wards the river Oby, is about the fame length with the 
preceding; but the tail is much longer, rneafuring near 
an inch : the fnont is of a fliarper form, and the body 
more (lender. Nothing particular is known of its way 
of life, the fpecimens.from which Dr. Pallas drew up 
liis defcription, having been taken running about the 
plain, and their (kins brought to him in a dried date. 
47. Mus burfarius, the Canada rat: alli-coloured, with 
{hort neariy-naked tail, and pouched cheeks ; the claws 
of the fore-feet very large, and formed for burrowing in 
the ground; cheek-pouches very large. This, which is 
a fpecies but lately difcovered, feems to be the moll re¬ 
markable of all the pouched rats for the proportional iize 
of the receptacles. It is a native of Canada; and the in¬ 
dividual defcribed and figured in the Linn. Trunk vol. v. 
was taken by fome Indians in the year 1798, and after¬ 
wards preferred to the lady of governor Prefcot. It is 
about the fize of the grey or Norway rat; and is of a pale 
greyifh-brown colour, rather lighter beneath : the length 
to the tail is about nine inches ; and that of the tail, which 
is but flightly covered with hair, about two inches : the 
legs are fhort; the fore-feet ftrong, and well adapted for 
burrowing in the ground, having five claws, of which the 
three middle ones are very large and long ; the interior 
much fmaller, and the exterior very fmali, with a large 
tubercle or elbow' beneath it. The claws on the hind- 
feet are comparatively very fmali; but the two middle are 
larger than the reft, and the interior one is fcarcely vifi- 
ble : the teeth are extremely ftrong, particularly the lower 
pair, which are much longer than the upper; the ears are 
very fmali. The manners of this fpecies are at prefent un¬ 
known ; but it may be concluded that it lays in a ftock 
of provisions, either for autumnal or winter food. The 
pouches of the individual fpecimen above defcribed, when 
ftrft brought to governor Prefcot, were filled with a kind 
of earthy fubftance ; it is, therefore, not improbable that 
the Indians who caught the animal might have ftufted 
them thus, in order to preferve them in their utmoft ex¬ 
tent. This curious animal is Ihown on the Plate at fig. 4. 
48. Mus anomalus, the anomalous rat: tail long, fcaly, 
partly naked; prickles mixed with hairs on the body. 
Defcribed by John Vaughan Thomfon, efq. in the Linn. 
Tranf. vol. xi. “ This unique and hitherto-unnoticed 
fpecies (fays Mr. T.) is a native of the ifland of Trinidad, 
where it is underftood not to be very uncommon, al¬ 
though in the fpace of fix years’ refidence I only met with 
•two fpecimens. It is of the habit and lize of the common 
•rat; the nofe rather (harp, the ears naked and rounded, 
and of moderate fize: the feet have fix callous tubercles 
.beneath, are all five-toed, the innermoft toes or thumbs 
extremely (hort and fmali; the whole armed with (harp 
claws, thofe on the exterior and interior toes being fmali 
in proportion : tail about fix inches in length, lcaly, with 
a few fcattered fetofe hairs : tefticles in the male very large, 
and fituated under the bafe of the tail. The two upper 
teeth are placed without the ridhis, or opening of the 
mouth, which is not larger than to permit a grain of In¬ 
dian corn tp pafs through it. The cheek-pouches are 
formed by a duplicature of the common integuments, open 
below, extending from the bafe of the upper teeth to the 
throat, and as high as the eye and ear : thefe cavities are 
lined throughout with fcattered whitifh hairs, and formed 
in the fame manner as the abdominal pouch of the Didel- 
phis,&c. not at all in the way defcribed by Buffo n of the Mus 
cricetus, and the other pouched rats hitherto difcovered. 
'Che body is covered with fine lanceolate (pines, declining 
towards the throat and belly into a coarfe fetofe hair, and 
every-where intermixed with a finer kind of hair. The 
whole of rhe upper parts are of a purpiifii-brown colour; 
lower part of the cheeks, throat, infide cf the limbs, belly, 
and under half of the tail, white ; upper half of the tail 
nearly black. The habits of this tribe of rats are fingu- 
lar and curious : where numerous, they do incalculable 
mifehief in barns and granaries.; for, not finished with 
wliat they can eat on the (pot, they (tow away and carry 
off in their cheek-pouches no incoYifiderable quantity, to 
be depofited in their retreats for times when food is not 
to be procured from without. The prefent fpecies,in ad¬ 
dition to being covered with fpines, differs from the reft 
included in the fame feftion, in the great length of the 
tail. Some doubts might be entertained whether it did not 
more properly belong to tire genus Hyftrix ; but indeed, 
when we examine into Nature with -due attention, we 
find (lie delights to mock the vain efforts of mortals to 
(hackle and confine her within the bounds of generic 
characters, which are found to run fo into each other, as 
to render all attempts at method more or lefs imperfeCL” 
V. Subterraneous or Ground Hats, refembling Moles in habit 
a/ul maimer of life. They have no external ears ; the eyes 
very J'mall; tail Jhort, or perhaps none. 
49. Mus talpinus, the mole-rat: body brown; fore¬ 
teeth wedged ; fore-feet five-toed, and formed for digging. 
This fpecies is about four inches long, with a large (hort 
head, and thick truncated fnout. Its upper teeth are 
long and flat, extending out of its mouth ; its eyes are 
finall, hid in the fur; its ears are not vifibie; its tail 
fcarcely appears without the fur. Its upper parts are 
dtilky ; chin, belly, and limbs, whitifh. It inhabits the 
open grounds of the temperate parts ofRuffia and Siberia; 
it loves a black turfy foil, and is frequent in meadows 
near villages : its manners referable thofe of the mole. 
They do not become torpid in the winter, but make their 
r.eft deep in the ground, and keep themfelves warm by- 
lining it with foft grafs. They are very eafily taken, but 
loon grow fick in confinement, unlefs a quantity of earth 
is put into the place where they are kept. They are in 
heat in the end of March or beginning of April ; and the 
females have then a ftrong muiky fmell; they bring three 
or four at a time. They vary in colour ; fome are found 
quite black. 
50. Mus maritimus, the African mole-rat: yellowifii- 
brown above, whitifh beneath, with very large and long 
naked teeth, pentadaftyle feet, no external ears, and 
(hort tail. Of all the lubterraneous fpecies this is the 
largeft yet difcovered, being of the fize of a rabbit, and 
rneafuring a foot from nofe to tail, which is about two 
inches long, flattifh, and covered with long briftly hair 
horizontally difpofed on each fide. The head is large, 
the nofe black, the end fomewhat flattened and wrinkled : 
the eyes very fmali, and hid in the fur : there is 110 ap¬ 
pearance of external ears, the foramina alone being dif- 
coverable. The front-teeth are very large; the upper 
pair are the third of an inch long, and are furrowed 
lengthways ; the lower pair are an inch and a quarter 
long, and naked, or naturally expofed to view, the lip 
not clofing over them ; thefe lower teeth it has the power 
of feparating or divaricating at pleafure, in the manner 
of the kanguroo. On the fore-feet are five toes, of which 
the interior is the longeft; the claws very long and (harp,, 
that on the thumb being (horter than the reft : the hind- 
feet, which are very long, large, and naked, have alfo five 
toes, with much (horter and weaker clatvs than thofe of 
the fore-feet: the hair qn the fides of the feet is very 
ftrong and briftly. This large (pecies is a native of the. 
Cape of Good Hope, and is there known by the name of 
theJand-mole, being chiefly found in the neighbourhood 
of the (bores, and never in the interior parts of the coun¬ 
try. It renders the ground, in the places it frequents, fo 
hollow, by flinging up the earth in forming its burrows, 
as to be highly inconvenient to travellers; breaking every 
fix or (even minutes under tile horfes’ feet, and letting 
them. 
