8. M. musculus. Mouse. This species needs no description. When found white, it is very beautiful; and its full bright eye appears to great advantage amidst its snowy fur. The mouse follows mankind, and inhabits all parts of the world, except the Arctic.

9. M. silvaticus. Field-mouse. Has full black eyes its head, back, and sides, of a yellowish brown mixed with dusky hairs: breast of an ochre colour, and belly white: its body is four inches and a half long tail is slightly covered with hair, and measures four inches. It inhabits Europe, and is found only in fields and gardens. It feeds on nuts, acorns, and corn, and forms great magazines of provisions for winter. It makes a nest for its young very near the surface; and often in a thick tuft of grass. It brings from seven to ten young ones at a time. In some parts of England it is called the bean mouse, from the havock it makes among beans when just sown. It is common in Russia about the Uralian Chain, but not beyond.

There is an American variety of it, some white, others black, with large, naked, and open ears, and a broad dark stripe along the back. Their cheeks and sides are orange coloured: the under side of their tails is of a snowy whiteness. Their feet are white; and their hind-legs are longer than those of the European kind.

10. M. messorius. Harvest-mouse. Its eyes less prominent than those of the former species. It has prominent ears; and is of a full ferruginous colour above; white beneath; with a straight line along the sides, dividing the colours. It is two inches and a half long; its tail measures two inches. The whole animal weighs only one-sixth of an

ounce.

In Hampshire, they appear in great numbers during the harvest, but never enter the houses. They are often carried into the ricks of corn in the sheaves; and are often killed in hundreds at the breaking up of the ricks. During winter they shelter themselves under ground, and burrow very deep, where they form a warm bed of dead grass. They form their nests also above ground among standing corn; and bring about eight young at a

time.

11. M. striatus. Oriental mouse. About half the size of the common mouse: of a grey colour, and has rounded ears. Its back and sides are elegantly marked with twelve rows of small pearlcoloured spots, extending from the head to the rump. Its tail is as long as its body. It inhabits India. In the same country, and in Guinea, there is another small species which smells of musk. The Portuguese living in India call it cheroso, and say its bite is venomous.

12. M. Barbatus. Barbary mouse. Less than the common mouse; of a brown colour; marked on the back with ten slender streaks. It has three toes, with claws on the fore-feet, and the rudiments of a thumb. Its tail is of the same length with the body.

13. M. Mexicanus. Mexican mouse. Of a whitish colour, mixed with red. Its head is whitish: each side of its belly is marked with a great reddish spot.

14. M. Virginianus. Virginian mouse. Pointed ears; a black pointed nose; and long whiskers. Fur very short limbs very slender tail very thick at the base, and all beset with long hair; tapers gradually to a point; and is very long and slender. The colour of this animal is universally

white. The thickness at the base of its tail is its specific difference.

15. M. vagus. Wandering mouse. This species has an oblong head, a blunt nose, with a red tip, and yellow cutting teeth. Its eyes are placed midway between the nose and ears: its ears are large, oval, and naked; but dusky and downy at the tips: its limbs are slender: its tail is longer than the body, and very slender also; its colour above is pale ash, mixed and waved with black; with a black line along the back. The ends of its limbs are whitish. Its body and tail are each about three inches long. It inhabits the whole Tartarian desert. At certain times, they wander about in great flocks, migrating from place to place during the night. They are observed in birch woods as high as 57° north. Are of a very chilly nature, soon become torpid, and sleep rolled up in a cold night, even in the month of June. They live in holes and fissures of rocks.

16. M. betulus. Birch-mouse. The birch is still less than the wandering mouse. Like it, it is very tender, and soon grows torpid in cold weather. It inhabits the same countries, runs up trees and fastens on the boughs with its tail. By the assistance of its slender fingers, it adheres to any smooth surface. It emits a weak note: has a sharp nose, red at the point, like that of the former; but smaller ears, brown and bristly at the points. Its tail is very slender, and much longer than its body; brown above, and white below. It has a dusky line also along the back.

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17. M. agrarius. Rustic mouse. This has a sharp nose, an oblong head, small ears lined with fur. Its colour is ferruginous above, whitish beneath. Above each hind-foot, it has a dusky circle. It is of a less size than the field mouse. Its tail is only half the length of its body. It is found in the temperate parts of Russia; in villages and corn fields, and in the woods of Siberia. In Russia, it is called the corn mouse. At times they migrate in vast multitudes, and destroy the whole expectations of the farmer. In 1763 and 1764, this plague made great ravages in the rich country about Casan and Arsk. They came in such numbers, as to fill the very houses; and, through hunger, became so bold as to rob the tables of bread, before the faces of those who had sat down to eat it. the approach of winter, they all disappeared. They burrow, and form their retreats but little below the surface.

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18. M. minutus. Little mouse. The least of the genus, and weighs not half a dram. It accompanies M. agrarius in corn fields, barns, andbirch woods. It is said there are more males than females of this species, and that they seem to wander without having any certain places for their nests. They have sharpish noses, and small ears, half hid in their fur, afl are of a deep tawny colour above, white below, with grey feet.

19. M. saxatilis. Rock-mouse. About four inches long; tail one and a half, having a few hairs scattered over it. Head oblong: nose rather pointed: ears rise above the fur; and are oval and downy, with brown edges: whiskers short: limbs strong: colour brown, slightly mixed with grey above: belly of a light ash: snout dusky, with a very slender ring of white.

20. M. œconomus. Economic mouse.. Small eyes: naked ears, hid in its fur; strong limbs; and very tawny teeth: colour black and yellow intimately mixed: has a dark down beneath the hair; the ends of its feet dusky: about four inches and

a quarter long: tail rather more than an inch. In the form of its body it resembles the meadowmouse; but is rather longer, and has a bigger belly.

It inhabits all Siberia, especially its eastern parts, and Kamschatka, in great numbers. It is even found within the Arctic circle.

Professor Pallas gave these animals the name of œconomic mice, from their curious way of living. They inhabit damp soils, and shun the sandy, and form burrows with many chambers and entrances. In their chambers they lay up store of provisions, collected with great pains in summer from various plants, which they bring out of their holes in a sunny day that they may dry them more effectually. During summer they never break upon their hoards, but live on berries, and other vegetable productions. In certain years, they make great migrations out of Kamschatka. They collect in the spring, and go off in incredible multitudes. Like the lemmus, they proceed in a direct course, and neither rivers nor arms of the sea stop their progress. In their passage through the watery element, numbers of them fall a prey to ravenous fishes. But on land they are safe, for the people of Kamschatka have a superstitious veneration for them, and are so far from hurting them, that if they find any of them lying faint from fatigue or hunger, they give them all possible assistance. On their return from a migration, expresses are sent to all parts with the glad news. When the natives rob them, they never take away all their store, but leave them something to subsist on.

21. M. rutilus. Red mouse. About four inches long its tail above one, and full of hair: its nose and face are very bristly: its back is of an uniform, pleasant, tawny red: its sides are light grey and yellow. The under side of the body whitish feet also white: inhabits Siberia from the Oby eastward to Kamschatka, in woods and mountains. It is also found within the Arctic circle. They wander out the whole winter, and are very lively even amidst the snows. They eat any thing that comes in their way.

22. M. alliarius. Garlic mouse. Frequent in magazines of bulbous roots formed by the peasants of Siberia, especially in those of angular garlic. It has great open naked ears; its tail is clothed with hair. The colour of its back is cinereous, mixed with long hairs, tipped with a dusky grey its sides are of a light ash: its breast, belly, and feet, are white: its body is four inches; its tail one and a half.

23. M. soricinus. Shrew-like or soricene mouse. Found in the neighbourhood of Strasbourg, of a yellowish grey on the upper parts of the body, with a white belly: nose a little extended: has four toes before, five behind, round ears, a tail of a middling length, and covered with hair.

24. M. lemmus. Lemmus, or leming. Has two very long cutting teeth in each jaw; a pointed head, and long whiskers. Its eyes are small and black: its mouth small: upper lip divided; ears small and blunt, reclining backwards: fore-legs very short, with four slender toes on each, covered with hair; and in place of a thumb, it has a short claw, like a cock's spur: has five toes behind: skin very thin: head and body black and tawny, disposed in irregular blotches: belly white, tinged with yellow length about five inches: tail one and a half. Those of Russian Lapland are much less than those of the Norwegian or Swedish. They appear in numberless

troops, at very uncertain periods, in Norway and Lapland, and are at once the pest and wonder of the country. They march like the army of locusts, so emphatically described by the prophet Joel, destroy every root of grass before them, and spread universal desolation. They infect the very ground; and cattle are said to penish which taste the grass they have touched. They march by myriads in regular lines. Nothing stops their progress; neither morass nor lake, water nor fire: the greatest rock is but a slight obstacle; they wind round it, and then go on straight. If they meet a peasant, they jump as high as his knees in defence of their progress. They are so fierce, that they will lay hold of a stick, and suffer themselves to be swung about before they quit their hold: if struck, they turn and bite, and make a noise like a dog.

They feed on grass, on the rein-deer liverwort, and the catkins of the dwarf birch. The first they get under the snow, beneath which they wander during winter. Where they make their lodgements, they have a spiracle to the surface for the sake of air. In these retreats they are eagerly pursued by the Arctic foxes.

They make also very shallow burrows under the turf; but do not form any magazines for winter provision: by this improvidence, it seems they are compelled to migrate, urged by hunger to quit their usual residence.

They breed often in the year, and bring five or six young at a time. Sometimes they bring forth on their march, during a migration: some they carry in their mouths, and others on their backs. They are not poisonous. The Laplanders often eat them, and compare their flesh to that of squirrels.

They are the prey of foxes, lynxes and ermines, who follow them in great numbers. They perish at length, either from want of food, or from their destroying each other, or in some great water, or in the sea. In former times, the priests exorcised them in a long set form of prayer. They migrate once or twice in twenty years, like a vast colony of emigrants from a country overstocked; a discharge of animals from the great northern hive, that once poured out its myriads of human creatures upon southern Europe. Where the head quarters of these quadrupeds are, is not certainly known: it was once seriously believed, that they were generated in the clouds, and that they fell in showers upon the earth; but wherever they come from, none return: their course is predestinate, and they pursue their fate.

25. M. torquatus. Ringed rat. This has a blunt nose; ears hid in its fur; legs strong and short; soles covered with hair; claws very strong, and hooked at the end, and very fine hair all over the body; of a ferruginous colour, mixed with yellow; sometimes pale grey, clouded, or waved with a dusky rust colour. From the ears, down each side of the head, there is a dusky space; and behind that, a stripe of white, so that the neck appears to be encircled with a collar; behind which there is another dusky one. The body is three inches long; the tail one. At its end there is a tuft of hard bristles. It inhabits the northern parts about the Oby; burrows with many passages beneath the turfy soil; and lines its nest with rein-deer and snow liverwort. They are said to migrate at the same seasons with the lemmus.

26. M. Hudsonius. Hudson's Bay rat. This has slender brown whiskers; very fine long soft

hair; ash, tinged with tawny, on the back, with a dusky stripe running along its middle; and along each side a pale tawny line. Its belly is of a pale ash colour: its limbs very short; fore-feet very strong. The two middle claws of the male are very strong, thick, and compressed at the end. Tail very short, terminated by some stiff bristles. Body about five inches long. It inhabits Labrador.

27. M. lagurus. Hair-tailed rat. This species has a long head, and a blunt nose; lips rough and swelling out; and ears short, round and flat: tail extremely short, scarcely appearing out of the hair: its fur is very soft and full, ash mixed with dusky, with a dark line along its back its body is between three and four inches long. It inhabits the country about the Yaik, the Irtish, and the Jenesey. They love a firm dry soil, burrow, and make two entrances, the one oblique, the other perpendicular. The males fight for the females, and devour each other. They are very salacious. When in heat, emit a musky smell. The females bring six at a time. Like the marmots, they are slow in their motions, and sleep rolled up like them. They are very fond of dwarf iris; but feed on all sorts of seeds. They also migrate in great troops; and the Tartars call them the rambling mouse.

28. M. socialis. Social mouse. This has a thick head; a blunt nose; naked oval ear; short strong limbs; and a slender tail. The upper part of the body of a light grey, palest on the sides: the shoulders and belly white: the body above three inches: the tail one and a half. It inhabits the Caspian desert, and the country of Hyrcania. They live in low sandy grassy places, in great societies. Their burrows are about a span deep, with eight or more passages. They are always found either in pairs, or with a family. They rarely appear in autumn; but swarm in the spring: are said to migrate, or change their place in autumn, or to conceal themselves among the bushes; and in winter to shelter themselves in hay-ricks. They breed later than the other kinds; feed much on tuli proots; and are the prey of weasels, crows, and Tipers.

29. M. arvalis. Meadow mouse. Has a large head; a blunt nose; short ears hid in its fur; prominent eyes; and a short tail. The head and body ferruginous, mixed with black belly, a deep ash colour: feet dusky: six inches long: tail one and a half, covered with hair, and tufted. It inhabits Europe. It is also found in great abundance in Newfoundland, where it does much mischief the gardens. In England, it makes its nest in moist meadows; brings eight young at a time, and has a very great affection for them. It resides under ground, and lives on nuts, acorns, and

com.

Has a

30. M. gregalis. Gregarious mouse. small mouth and blunt nose; ears naked, and appear above the fur: hair on the upper-part of its body black at the roots and tips, ferruginous in the middle; throat, belly, and feet, whitish; tail, which is one third of the length of its body, covered with thin white bairs.

It is a little larger than the common mouse, inhabits Germany and Sweden, eats sitting up, burrows and lives under ground.

31. M. cricetus. Hamster rat. This species has large rounded ears, and full black eyes; it is of a reddish brown, with red cheeks, a white spot beneath, and another behind each, and a fourth pear the hind legs; its breast, the upper part of its fore-legs, and its belly black; tail short and alVOL. VIII.

most naked; has four toes and a fifth claw on the fore feet, five behind; about nine inches long, tail three. The males are always bigger than the females. Some males weigh from twelve to sixteen ounces; the females seldom exceed six. They vary sometimes in colour. A family of them is frequently found about Casan entirely black. They inhabit Austria, Silesia, Poland, and the Ukraine; and as far to the east as the Jenesey. They are fond of a sandy soil abounding in liquorice, and feed on its seeds. They are very destructive to grain, eating great quantities, and carrying off still more to hoard it: on such occasions, they fill their cheek pouches, which will contain the fourth of an English pint, so full that they seem ready to burst. They live under ground, and form their burrows obliquely; at the end of the passage, the male sinks one perpendicular hole, the female several: at the end of these are formed various vaults, either as lodgings for themselves and their young, or as storehouses for their food; each young one has its different apartment, each sort of grain its different vault. Their lodgings are lined with straw or grass. Their vaults are of different depths, according to the age of the animal. young hamster digs scarcely one foot deep: an old one four or five. The diameter of the habitation of a family, with all its communications, is from eight to ten feet. The male and female have always separate apartments; for, excepting their short season of courtship, they have no intercourse. The whole race is so malevolent, that they constantly reject all society with one another.They will fight, kill, and devour their own species. The female brings forth two or three times in a year, from sixteen to eighteen at a birth. Their growth is very quick. At the age of three weeks, the old one forces them out, and obliges them to shift for themselves. She shews little affection for them at any time; even when they are young, in case of danger, she attemps to burrow deeper to save herself, but entirely neglects her brood on the contrary, if attacked in the time of courtship, she defends the male with the utmost fury.

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They lie torpid from the first cold to the end of winter; and during that time are seemingly quite insensible, and have the appearance of being dead. Their limbs are stiff, and their bodies cold as ice: not even spirits of wine, or oil of vitriol, poured into them, can produce the least mark of sensibility. It is only in places beyond the reach of the air that they become torpid; for the severest cold on the surface does not affect them.

The hamster, in its annual revival, begins first to lose the stiffness of its limbs, then breathes deeply, and by, long intervals on moving its limbs, it opens its mouth, and makes a rattle in its throat. It is not till after some days that it opens its eyes and attemps to stand; but even then it makes its efforts like a person very much in liquor. At length, when it has attained its usual attitude, it rests for a long time in tranquillity, seemingly to recollect itself, and recover from its fatigue.

They begin to lay in provisions of corn, peas, and beans, in August. As soon as they have finished their work, they stop up the mouth of their passage carefully. In winter the peasants go on what they call a hamster nesting; and, when they discover a horde, dig down till they reach it, and are commonly well paid; for, besides the skins of the animals, which are valuable furs, they find commonly two bushels of good grain in the magazine.

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