The Jerboas, or jumping mice, are especially characteristic of the regions about the eastern extremity of the Mediterranean, being found in South Russia, the Caspian district, Arabia, Egypt, {232}and Abyssinia; but they also extend over a large part of Africa, and eastward to India; while isolated forms occur in North America, and the Cape of Good Hope. _Dipus_ = _Gerbillus_ (20 sp.), inhabits North and Central Africa, South-East Europe, and across Temperate Asia to North China, also Afghanistan, India, and Ceylon; _Pedetes_ (1 sp.), South Africa to Mozambique and Angola; _Jaculus_ = _Meriones_ (1 sp.), North America, from Nova Scotia and Canada, south to Pennsylvania and west to California and British Columbia (Plate XX., vol. ii. p. 135). _Extinct Dipodidæ._--_Dipus_ occurs fossil in the Miocene of the Alps; and an extinct genus, _Issiodromys_, said to be allied to _Pedetes_ of the Cape of Good Hope, is from the Pliocene formations of Auvergne in France. FAMILY 58.--MYOXIDÆ. (1 Genus, 12 Species.) GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. __________________________________/\__________________________________ / \ NEOTROPICAL| NEARCTIC |PALÆARCTIC | ETHIOPIAN | ORIENTAL | AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS. -----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------ | | | | | -- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|1. 2. 3. 4 |1. 2. 3 -- |-- -- -- --|-- -- -- -- | | | | | The Dormice (_Myoxus_), are small rodents found over all the temperate parts of the Palæarctic region, from Britain to Japan; and also over most parts of Africa to the Cape, but wanting in India. Some of the African species have been separated under the name of _Graphidurus_, while those of Europe and Asia form the sub-genera _Glis_, _Muscardinus_, and _Eliomys_. _Extinct Myoxidæ._--_Myoxus_ ranges from the Post-pliocene of the Maltese caverns to the Miocene of Switzerland and the Upper Eocene of France; and an extinct genus _Brachymys_ is found in the Miocene of Central Europe. {233}FAMILY 59.--SACCOMYIDÆ. (6 Genera, 33 Species.) GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. __________________________________/\__________________________________ / \ NEOTROPICAL| NEARCTIC |PALÆARCTIC | ETHIOPIAN | ORIENTAL | AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS. -----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------ | | | | | -- -- -- --|1. 2. 3. 4 |-- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|-- -- -- -- | | | | |