The palms are naked, and the toes short. The hind-feet are long, particularly the tarsal
bones, the hind toes being likewise a little longer than the fore-ones. There are six tubercles
on the soles,—three at the roots of the toes, and three farther back; of the latter three,
the one next the inner toe or thumb is large, the posterior one is small, and the exterior one
minute.
Dimensions.
Specimens
Carltoi
procured at
i House. Columbia River Specimens.
Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines.
Length of head and body . . ■ . . . 3 7 4 3
„ head alone . . . . , ' . 1 1 . 0 0
„ tail . . 2 .3 . . 2 9
Height of the ears . . . . . .
„ of the back, when the animal stands on its
6 0
palms and soles v ". . . . . , 2 9 0 1 0
[4 6 .J 1. Meriones L abradorius. Labrador Jumping Mouse.
Genus. Meriones. I llig er. F. Cuvier.
Labrador Rat. P ennant, Arctic Zool., vol. i. p. 132.
Gerbillns Hudsonius. “ Rafinesque-Smai.t z , Am. Month Mag. T1818, p.446.”
Mus Labradorius. Sabine, Franklin’s Joum., p. 601.
' Gerbillus Labradorius. Harlan, Fauna, p. 157-
Labrador Jumping Mouse. Goo man, Nat. Hist., vol. ii. p. 97-
Katse (the leaper). Cue pew van I ndians.
P e a t e VIII.
Pennant, in Arctic Zoology, first described a specimen of this animal, sent from
Hudson’s Bay by Mr. Graham, to the Museum of the Royal Society. Afterwards,
in the third edition of his History of Quadrupeds, he is inclined to consider it as
identical with the mus longipes of Pallas, (the dipus meridianus of Gmelin,) an
inhabitant of the warm, sandy deserts, bordering on the Caspian sea. This
opinion, which can scarcely be correct, was formed from an imperfect inspection
of the Hudson’s Bay specimen, whilst it was suspended in spirits, and is opposed
by differences in colour and other characters which he himself points out. From
Pennant’s time, until Mr. Sabine described an individual, brought from Cumberland
house on Captain Franklin’s first journey, the Labrador Jumping Mouse
Pnb lis h e d by JToJijt, Murray. <Jun.zt,uryy2 8 Z 9 .