418 
ZOOLOGY. 
[app. n° III, 
as will be seen in the sequel of the description. The head 
is rather small; the muzzle pointed, being suddenly com¬ 
pressed from the anterior angle of the cheek-bones. The 
front-teeth of both jaws would appear to be exerted during 
the life of the animal. The vibrissa; are numerous, strong, 
and measure upwards of one inch in length. Some of 
them are deep brown, others white. Some long hairs also 
spring from each supercUium. The eyes are large, and 
are not more than 0.5 inches asunder. 
An ill defined greyish-black streak runs from the point 
of the nose to the nape. The sides of the head are of a 
more unmixed grey than the rest of the fur. There are 
no visible external ears; but the situation of the aper¬ 
tures leading to the organ of bearing, is marked by mi¬ 
nute tufts of rufesccnt hairs. 
The whole upper part of the body is elegantly mottled 
with a mixture of asli-grcy, of blackish and reddish 
brown. The whole lower parts are rufescent; and this 
hue not only extends to the throat and chin, hut also to 
the sides of the upper jaw. The boundary between the 
colours of the upper and under parts is distinguished by 
an undulating line of a deeper brown, which passes along 
the sides of the face, neck and trunk, and is darkest about 
the fore legs. The tail is very short. Its vertebrae do 
do not extend more than 0.5 inch from the rump, hut a 
pencil of very stiff white hairs, reaching about J inch be¬ 
yond the last vertebra, forms almost the whole caudal ap¬ 
pendage which appears without the fur of the animal. 
The legs are extremely short, and, from their strength 
and position, seem well adapted for burrowing. All the 
feet are well covered with long white hairs, which extend, 
especially on the hind-feet, even beyond the extremities of 
the claws- 
