[43.] 9. Arvicola (Georychus) Grcenlandicus. Greenland Lemming.
Mouse. Sp. 15. Foster, Phil. Trans., lxii. p. 379 ?
Hare-tailed Rat ? Pennant, Arct. Z o o l vol. i. p. 133 ?
Mus Grcenlandicus. T r a il l , Scoresby's G r e en lp. 416.
Arvicola Grcenlandicus, Richardson, Parry’s Second Voy.,App., p. 304.
Owinyak. E s q u im a u x .
A. Georychus (Grcenlandicus) exauriculatus, rostro acuto, palmis tetradactylis hirsulis ; unguibus apice cylindrico
producto, lined dorsali nigra.
Greenland^ Lemming, earless, with a sharp nose; fore-feet hairy beneath, with, four toes, armed with claws, having
sharp cylindrical points; a dark stripe along the middle of the back.
Foster, in the Philosophical Transactions, notices a skin brought from Churchill,
evidently of a lemming, but in too imperfect a state to enable him to determine
the species. Both he and Pennant were inclined to refer it to the Mus lagurus of
Pallas, because it agreed with that animal in having a dark line along the back; it
is more probable, however, that the skin belonged to the species which forms the
subject of this article, which has also a dark dorsal stripe, and is certainly an
inhabitant of Hudson’s Bay. It was first described, and the specific name affixed,
by Dr. Traill, from an individual procured by Captain Scoresby, on the east coast
of Greenland; and on Captain Parry’s second expedition a considerable number
were caught in Repulse Bay, and are described in the Appendix above quoted.
They were found in similar situations with the Hudson’s Bay lemming, and were
considered to be the females of that species, by the officers of the expedition, and
as such noted in their journals. A number of them being put into a cage,
fought until they destroyed each other.
D E S C R I P T IO N .
Size—rather less than the water-rat (Arvicola amphibius). In general form they resemble
the other lemmings. Head rounded, narrower than the body, tapering slightly from the
auditory openings to the eyes, but from the latter the acumination is more sudden, and it
terminates in an acute nose. The general colour of the superior and lateral parts of the
head, is the same with that of the back. There are no external ears, but the site of the
auditory opening is denoted by an obscure transverse brownish streak in the fur. The eyes
are near each other, and small. The fur on the cheeks is a little puffed up, has a rufous
tinge, and is bounded posteriorly by an obscure blackish semicircular line, which commences
at the anterior angle of the eye. The nose, covered with short black hairs, intermixed posteriorly
with some hoary ones, is rendered prominent by a depression on each side, anterior to
the cheeks. ’ Its- acute apex is covered with black hairs disposed in a circular manner, and no
naked space can be discovered above the nares in the dried specimen. The upper lip is
deeply divided. Incisors slightly yellowish, inferior ones twice the length of the upper ones.
Whiskers long, partly black, partly white. Body thick, having a smooth dense covering of
long and soft fur. The colour on the dorsal aspect is dark grayish-brown, arising, from an
intimate mixture of hairs tipped with yellowish-gray and black; the black tips are the
longest, and, predominating down the centre of the back, produce a distinct stripe. The
ventral aspect of the throat, neck, and body, exclusive of some; rusty markings before the
shoulders, is of an unmixed yellowish-gray colour, which unites with the darker colour of the
back by an even line running on a level with the tail and inferior part of the cheek. The fur,
both above and below, presents, when blown aside, a deep blackish-gray shining colour from
the tips to the roots. The tail is very short, and is of the same colour with the body at the
root, but the part which projects beyond the fur of the rump is only a pencil of stiff white
hairs, four or five lines long.
The fore-extremities project very little beyond the fur; the palms incline slightly inwards,
are small, and the toes are’very short; both are covered thickly above and below, with strong
hairs curving downwards, and extending beyond the claws. The only naked parts on the foot
are a minute, flat, unarmed callus, in place of a thumb, and a rounded smooth callus at the
extremity of each toe. These callosities do not project forwards under the claws, and have
no resemblance to the large, compressed, horny, under portions of the claws of the Hudson’s
Bay lemming. The claws are long, strong, curved moderately downwards, and also inclining
inwards to the mresial line, with a more slight curvature. The second claw from the inside,
which is considerably the longest, is nearly four lines in length. At the root it has a
compressed, conical form, and is much deeper than broad; it is rounded above, and flat
or slightly grooved near its root underneath, but its curved extremity is lengthened out in
a slender cylindrical manner. The other fore-claws, though smaller, are similar to this one.
The third from the inside is the next in sise, and the two extreme ones are considerably shorter.
The length of the whole palm and middle claw is only six lines. The claws are fitted for
digging, but not for cutting roots. Hind-feet.—The soles are hairy, and the hairs project
further beyond the claws than on the fore-feet. Toes five, of which the three middle ones are
nearly of a length, the two extreme ones arise further back, and are shorter. The hind-claws
are shorter than the fore ones, slightly arched, narrow, but not sharp at the points; they
are thin, hollowed out underneath, and calculated to throw back the earth which has been
loosened by the fore-claws.
The description was drawn up from a male, killed August 22, in Repulse Bay.
Mr. Scoresby’s Greenland specimen differs solely in colour, which oh the upper parts is a
mixture of mottled ash-gray with blackish-brown and reddish-brown, and on the belly and
inferior parts is rufescent.