PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
47 
constructed of straw and feathers, and open at both ends ; in this nest a consider¬ 
able quantity of oats was laid up for their winter store (16th December, 1854) ; but 
the animal, though at this late period of the year, displayed no symptom of 
torpidity; it is, therefore, to be supposed their peculiar time for hybernation had 
not then arrived. The Hamster family is numerous, and dispersed rather widely. 
The following list of species has been taken from the fifth volume of the u Histoire 
Naturelle” of Lesson, in which a short and very incomplete description of each is 
given; it is therein stated that Buffbn has described only the common Hamster 
(Cricetus vulgaris, Cuv .), or the Marmot of Germany. 
Pallas has made us acquainted with many species from Siberia; M. 
Rafinesque, one from Kentucky; and M. Gapper, one from Canada. These 
are— 
1st. Le hagri of Vicq-d’Azyr (Cricetus migratorius, Desm.), ash gray colour 
above ; the abdomen and feet, white ; from Siberia. 
2nd. Le Sable Vicq-d’Azyr (Cricetus arenarius, Desm.), Mus arenarius, 
Pallas , grayish white, with abdomen very white, the ears hairy, its tail a little 
longer than the other species; it lives upon the seeds of the astragulus, in the sands 
of Siberia. 
3rd. Le phe (Cricetus phaeus, Desm.), grayish brown on the back, white on the 
abdomen, the ears large, and almost naked ; it lives on cereal grain, in the desert of 
Astracan, in the north of Persia. 
4th. Le songar (Cricetus songarus, Desm.), gray on the back, with a black line 
running along the back, the flanks vary from brown to white, the body tapering, 
and the tail is very short; it lives in the most desert parts of Siberia, upon the 
seeds of leguminous plants, which makes it very fat. 
5th. L’Orozo (Mus furunculus, Pallas ), has an elongated body, pointed nose, 
with ears large and naked; the fur is grayish-yellow on each side, with a black 
dorsal line; the abdomen and the feet are white ; it is found in Daouri. 
Rafinesque describes a banded Hamster (Cricetus fasciatus), of the plains of 
Kentucky, red on the back, with ten black transverse rays; its cheek-pouches 
are pendant; but a species which is less certain is the Cricetus myoides, discovered 
in Upper Canada, by Dr. Gapper. 
To these may be added the Cricetus accedula (Mus accedula, Pa//.), from 
Erzeroom, described in the proceedings of the Zoological Society, for 13th August, 
1839 ; and also the Cricetus auratus, from Aleppo, described by Mr. Waterhouse, 
in the same journal, the 9th April, 1839. 
There is another point of interest which more especially attaches itself to this 
peculiar species before us ; it is, that, in all probability, it is the identical species 
described by Aristotle, over two thousand years ago; and from his time to the 
present has caused much perplexity to naturalists. The Stagirite calls it Mug 6 
TrovTLKog 6 Xsvkoq, which has been translated the u white pontic mouse;” and 
Agricola, from so translating Xsvkoq, supposed it to be the ermine. Gesner 
thought it was a squirrel, and this was also the opinion of Buffon. It is true that 
Aristotle gives but a very brief description of the animal; but still it is such as to 
be sufficient to refute these opinions ; he says, in his u Hist. Animal,” liber viii., 
cap. 17, it is a gnawer, of a gray colour, hybernates, and lives near the Euxine. 
These facts exclude the ermine, and also the squirrel, neither of which animals 
hybernate; for he states the sXsiSq (dormouse) hybernates, as also does the Mt»£ o 
7tovtlko£ 6 Xsvkoq] he also states, in “ Hist. Animal,” liber ix., cap. 50, that it 
ruminates; the same is said of the hare, as we all know. I, therefore, think that the 
gray pontic mouse, which hybernates, may probably be no other than this animal. 
Mr. Ogilby said, that from his own observation of the allied species of rodents, 
he could explain the mode which this little Hamster (?) may probably adopt in 
emptying its cheek-pouches of grain, &c., these being merely formed by a thin, 
mucous membrane : an external upward pressure of the fore feet was quite sufficient 
to dislodge the contents, when needed for use; and this employment of the fore feet 
was characteristic of animals of a high order of intelligence, as it never obtains 
among those which use them merely for prehension in locomotion. He had not, 
however, at anytime seen them attempt to insert the claws and draw out their food. 
