Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/23

 MOUSE MOWATT 15 ma and sigmodon belong properly among the rats on account of the large size of all their spe- cies. In reithrodon the ears and tail are short and hairy, and the upper incisors are grooved longitudinally in front; three species of rat- like size have been found in the extreme south- ern portion of South America, while the North American ones resemble slender house mice; the body is depressed, limbs short, head broad and short, tail about as long as the body, thumb rudimentary and with a short nail, and heel hairy ; the North American species are found in the southern states on the Atlantic border, and from St. Louis to the Pacific. The har- vest mouse (B. humilis, Baird) is about 2J in. long, with the tail a trifle less ; in color and general appearance it so nearly resembles a small house mouse, that it can only be distin- guished at the first glance by the grooved in- cisors ; the eyes are small ; it is rarely injuri- ous to the farmer, preferring grass lands to grain fields for its habitation. In hesperomys or the vesper mice, the typical species have long tails scantily haired, large ears, the quick motions of the common mouse, and generally white feet and a whitish tail. The old genus was of very great extent, embracing a large portion of the American muridce; the South American species, most of them too large to be considered mice, have been arranged by Burmeister under the genera calomys, Jiabro- thrix, and oxymicterus, established by Water- house, the first resembling the common mouse, the second the meadow mice (armcolcB), and the third the lemmings. Baird divides even the North American species into three groups, as follows : hesperomys (Waterh.), containing 13 species; onychomys (Baird) and oryzomys (Baird), each with a single species. In hespe- romys the form is mouse-like, tail not less or even longer than the body without the head, claws weak, hind legs and feet long, and soles naked or less than half hairy. The white- footed or deer mouse (H. leucopus, Le Conte) is between 3 and 4 in. long, with tail about the same ; the color of the adult is yellowish brown above, darker on the back, the lower Deer Mouse (Hesperomys leucopus). parts of the body and tail and the upper sur- face of the feet white; the young are dark slaty ; the eyes and ears are large, and the fur long and soft. It is distributed from Nova 579 VOL. xii. 2 Scotia to Virginia, and as far west as the Mis- sissippi, and is a common inhabitant of houses and barns ; it is nocturnal in its habits, as ac- tive as a squirrel, nesting in trees, in the fields, in barns and houses, and making a dwelling resembling a bird's nest ; it feeds principally on grain, seeds, nuts, and acorns, and is very fond of maize ; it produces two or three broods in a season, according to latitude, five or six at a birth ; it is not very injurious to the farmer, most of the mischief commonly attributed to it being due to the armcolce or meadow mice ; great numbers are destroyed by the smaller carnivorous mammals and birds. Allied species are found in Texas, California, the southern states, and on the Pacific coast. The cotton mouse (H. gossypinus, Le Conte) makes its nest under logs and in trees, often robbing the planter of more than a pound of cotton for a single nest. The hamster mouse (H. my aides, Gapper) is mentioned under HAMSTEE. The prairie mouse (H. Michiganensis, "Wagner) is 3 in. long, with a tail of 1 in., and the smallest of the genus ; the color is grayish brown above, whitish beneath, with the cheeks yellow. The Missouri mouse (H. leucogaster, Pr. Max.), the type of the group onychomys, has the clumsy form of the armcola, tail less than half the head and body, claws large and fossorial, the poste- rior two thirds of the soles densely furred, and the skull without crest ; the body is 4 in. long and the tail 3| in. ; grayish brown above, passing into yellowish red and fulvous on the sides ; feet and under surface of body and tail white ; the eyes are large, the ears rather short, and the whiskers long ; it lives on the seeds and roots of wild plants, and sometimes on corn. The rice-field mouse {H. palustris, Wag.), the type of oryzomys of Baird, has a rat-like form, ears nearly buried in the fur, coarse hair, tail longer than head and body, hind feet long, soles naked, and upper margin of the orbit raised into a compressed crest ; it is more than 5 in. long, and the tail about the same ; the color is rusty brown above and whitish below. It is found in the rice fields of Carolina and Georgia, burrowing in the dams just above the water line ; it scratches up the newly planted rice, eats it in the milky state, and gleans it from the fields in autumn ; it is a good swim- mer and diver ; it eats also seeds of marsh grasses, and small mollusks and crustaceans. MOUTON, Georges. See LOBATT. MOVERS, Franz Karl, a German orientalist, born in Koesfeld, Westphalia, July 17, 1806, died in Breslau, Sept. 28, 1856. He studied at Minister, was ordained in 1829, and officiated in the pulpit from 1830 to 1839, when he was appointed professor of Old Testament theol- ogy in the Catholic faculty of Breslau, which office he held till his death. His principal work, Die Phonizier (3 vols., Breslau and Ber- lin, 1840-'56), presents a comprehensive view of Phoenician history. MOWATT (Ritchie), Anna Cora, an American authoress and actress, born in Bordeaux^.