The head of the jerboa is sloped somewhat in the manner of a rabbit; but the eyes are larger, and the ears shorter, higher, and broader in proportion to its size. Its nose is deprived of hair, and is of a flesh colour, and its muzzle short and thick, the orifice of the mouth very narrow, the upper jaw very broad, and the lower narrow and short; the teeth are like those of a rabbit; the whiskers are composed of long black and white hairs; the fore feet are very short, and never touch the ground; they are furnished with four claws, and are only used as hands to carry the food to the mouth; the hind feet have but three toes, the middle one is longest, and all of them have claws; the tail is three times longer than the body, and is covered with short stubborn hair, of the same colour as those on the back, but tufted at the end with longer and softer hair; the legs, nose, and ears, are bare, and of a flesh colour; the upper part of the head and back are covered with reddish hair, the sides, throat, and belly, are whitish; below the reins, and near the tail, there is a large black, transversal band, in the form of a crescent. The alagtaga is smaller than a rabbit, its body is shorter, its ears are long, wide, bare, thin, transparent, and sprinkled with blood-vessels, which are very apparent; the upper jaw is much larger than the lower, but blunt and pretty wide at the extremity; the whiskers are large; the teeth are like those of the rat, the eyes full, with the iris and pupil of a brown colour. The body of this animal is narrow before, but very broad and round behind; the tail is very long, it is not so thick as the little finger of a man, and about two-thirds of it is covered with short and rough hair, which grows longer, softer, and thicker, towards the end, till at length it forms a kind of tuft, black at the beginning, and white towards the extremity. The fore-feet are very short and have five toes, the hind ones, which are very long, have only four, three of which are placed forwards, and the fourth, which is a kind of thumb, stands at about an inch distant from the rest. All these toes are furnished with claws, shorter in the hind than in the fore-feet. The hair of this animal is soft, pretty long, yellow on the back, and whitish under the belly.