mountain. Externally it is something like the Pikas, since it has no tail visible. The ears, too, are short, and the hind-legs comparatively short. The skull is very like that of the Rabbit; but in other osteological details it is aberrant. Thus the clavicle is quite complete, and only six ribs articulate with the sternum, instead of the seven that we find in the Rabbit.
Fam. 2. Lagomyidae.—The animals of this family are smaller than the Hares and Rabbits; they have short Vole-like ears and no external tail. The limbs also appear to be shorter. As there is but a single genus, the characters of the family may be described in connexion with those of the genus, which is known as Lagomys (apparently more correctly Ochotona). Of this genus there are about sixteen species, which are mainly Asiatic; one species extends its range into Eastern Europe, and three are North American.
The skull has not the supra-orbital grooves of the Rabbits, and has a well-marked backward process of the zygomatic arch. There are eighteen dorsal vertebrae. The molars and premolars are five.
The vernacular names of "Pika" and "Piping Hares" have been applied to the members of this genus, the latter on account of their peculiar call. They live among rocks in companies and they burrow. They are usually found at considerable altitudes: thus L. roylei, the "Himalayan Mouse Hare," is found at elevations as high as 16,000 feet; while L. ladacensis gets even higher, 19,000 feet having been recorded. With the habits of a Marmot, so far as concerns living in burrows and at great altitudes, the animals of this genus, with their squat form and short ears, are not unlike those animals. In the past this genus occurred more generally over Europe. Species from Miocene beds have been met with in England, France, Germany, and Italy.
Fossil Rodents.—Quite a large number of existing genera of Rodents are known from even the earlier strata of the Tertiary period. The Squirrels (and even the genus Sciurus itself) occur in the Upper Eocene. So, too, do the genera Myoxus, and (in South America) Lagostomus. Spermophilus, Acomys, Hystrix, Lagomys, Lepus, Hesperomys are known from Miocene rocks. Rhizomys, Castor, Cricetus, Mus, Microtus, and some others appear to have originated so far as we know in the Pliocene, while a still larger series of existing genera are Pleistocene. It is interesting
