forwards; the anapophyses or smaller
projection in rear of the above are small; and the hypapophyses or
downward processes are remarkably long, single and compressed;
according to Professor Flower these latter are not found in the
Rodentia generally. The tail varies greatly, being in some very small
indeed, whilst in others it exceeds the length of the body; the
sternum or breast-bone is narrow and long, and collar-bones are to
be found in most of the genera; the pelvis is long and narrow. In
most cases the hind limbs are longer and more powerful than the
fore-limbs; in some, as in the jerboas (_Dipus_) and the Cape jumping
hare (_Pedetes caffer_), attaining as disproportionate a length as
in the kangaroos, their mode of progression being the same; the tibia
and fibula are anchylosed; the forelimbs in the majority of this
order are short, and are used as hands in holding the food to the
mouth, the radius and ulna being distinct, and capable of rotatory
motion. The feet have usually five toes, but in some the hind feet
have only four, and even three. In point of intelligence, the rodents
do not come up to other mammals, being as a rule timid and stupid;
the brain is small and remarkably free from convolution. The
cerebellum is distinctly separated from and not overlapped by the
hemispheres of the cerebrum; the organs of smell, sight and hearing
are usually well developed; the stomach is simple or in two sacs;
the intestinal canal and caecum long. The latter is wanting in one
family.

Rodents have been divided in various ways by different authors.
Jerdon separates his into four groups, viz. "_Sciuridae_, squirrels;
_Muridae_, rats; _Hystricidae_, porcupines; and _Leporidae_, hares;
which indeed are considered by some to embrace the whole of the order;
to which has recently been added the _Saccomyidae_, or pouched rats,
whilst many systematists make separate families of the dormice,
_Myoxidae_; jerboas, Dipodidae; voles, _Arvidolidae_; mole-rats,
_Aspalacidae_ and _Bathyergidae_; all included in the MURIDAE; and
the _Caviadae_, _Octodontidae_, and _Hydrochoeridae_, belonging to
the HYSTRICIDAE" ('Mammals of India,' p. 164).

However, the system that most commends itself is that of Mr.
E. R. Alston, proposed in the 'Proceedings' of the Zoological Society,
and founded on the original scheme of Professor Gervais, by which
the order is subdivided into two on the character of the incisor teeth.
Those which have never more t