Dormouse

Dormouse, a name for any of the Myoxidae, a family of arboreal nocturnal mouse-like Rodents (q.v.), from the Palaearctic and Ethiopian regions, and distinguished from the rest of the order by the absence of a caecum. The Common Dormouse (Myoxus avellanarins), the only British species, but widely distributed in Europe, is about six inches long, of which the rather bushy tail is a little less than a half. It feeds on nuts, acorns, seeds, berries, and the buds of shrubs and trees. In autumn it builds a nest, and, like the rest of the family, undergoes a partial hibernation. The Loir (M. glis), a larger species, is confined to the south of Europe, and ranges into Asia. The Romans fattened it for food, and it is still eaten in Italy. The Garden Dormouse, or Lerot (M. nitela) is common in Southern and Western Europe. Some authorities have made the African species, in which the tail ends in a pencil of hair, a separate genus, and have split up Myoxus into sub-genera, but the differences are not important and the family is generally considered to have but a single genus.