APP. IS 0 III.] 
ZOOLOGY. 
417 
This animal does not answer the description of any of 
the genus in our systematic authors *. In some respects 
it approaches to Mus Hudsonius, and by some might be 
considered as a mere variety of that species. The diffe¬ 
rence of colour, however, the want of the dorsal stripe, and 
(though the specimen preserved for examination seemed to 
be a male) the absence of the remarkable peculiarity of 
the double claws on the fore-feet, seemed sufficient dis¬ 
tinctions to mark this animal, as a species liitherto unno¬ 
ticed by naturalists. 
It evidently belongs to Cuvier's subdivision Lemming, 
or mouse with very short ears and tail, and fore-feet formed 
for burrowing. It may therefore be named either Greens 
land Mouse; or, if we adopt the subdivisions of the 
French naturalist, Greenland Lemming. 
Mus Grccnlandicas. 
Char. Specific. 
Mus brachyurus; auriculis nullis externis, palmis te- 
tradactylis ; corpore supra cano, fusco distincto, sub- 
tus rufescente. 
Short-tailed mouse; without external ears, with four 
claws on the fore feet; back grey, mottled with 
dark brown ; lower parts rufescent. 
Description .—The skin of this little animal measures, 
from the nose to the tip of the tail, 5.5 inches. It is co¬ 
vered with a thick and beautifully soft fur, the hairs of 
which are, toward the roots, of a deep blackish-grey, and 
toward the tips arc varied in colour on the different parts, 
D<i 
Linnceus, Pnllas, Shaw, Cuyier. 
