Page:Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Volume 4 (1798).djvu/207

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X. An Account of the Jumping Mouse of Canada. Dipus Canadensis. By Major General Thomas Davies, F.R.S. and L.S.

Read June 6, 1797.

AS I conceive there are very few persons, however conversant with Natural History, who may have seen or known there was an animal existing in the coldest parts of Canada, of the same genus with the Jerboa, hitherto confined to the warmer climates of Europe and Africa; I take the liberty of laying before this Society the following observations (accompanied by a drawing) on an animal of that kind, procured by myself in the neighbourhood of Quebec, during my last residence in that country. As I do not recollect to have seen this animal either figured or described by any author in Natural History, I flatter myself, these observations may afford some satisfaction to the President and Members of the Linnaean Society. The specimens from which I made the drawing are now in my collection. With respect to the food, or mode of feeding of this animal, I have it not in my power to speak with any degree of certainty, as I could by no means procure any kind of sustenance that I could induce it to eat; therefore, when caught, it only lived a day and a half. The first I was so fortunate to catch was taken in a large field near the Falls of Montmorenci, and by its having