Souslik Synonyms

The common souslik lives in dry, treeless plains, especially on sandy or clayey soil, and is never found either in forests or on swampy ground.

As in the following genera, there are two pairs of premolars, of which the first in this case is small and rounded, while the two series of cheek-teeth are nearly parallel (see SousLIK).

The so-called prairie-dogs, which are smaller and more slender North American rodents with small cheek-pouches, form a separate genus, Cynosnys; while the term pouched-marmots denotes the various species of souslik, Spermophilus (or Citillus), which are common to both hemispheres, and distinguished by the presence of large cheek-pouches (see RODENTIA).

In a great degree prairie-marmots, of which there are several species in North America, ranging as far south as Mexico, are intermediate between marmots and sousliks (see SousLIK), having the cheekpouches much smaller than in the latter, and the first front-toe, which is rudimentary in marmots and sousliks, well developed.