Some authors, and among the rest, Linnæus, have doubted, whether
the _zisel_, or _ziesel_ (_citillus_) were a different animal from
the hamster[AD] (_cricetus_). It is true they resemble each other in
many respects, and inhabit nearly the same country; but they differ
by a sufficient number of characters to convince us they are really
different species. The zisel is smaller than the hamster; its body is
long and slender like the weasel; whereas that of the hamster is thick
like the rat. It has no external ears, but only auditory passages
concealed under the hair. The hamster has short ears, but they are very
broad and apparent. The zisel is of a uniform cinereous grey colour,
but the hamster is marked with three large white spots on each side
of the breast. These differences, joined to that of their not mixing
together, though natives of the same country, are sufficient to decide
the fact of their being two different species, though they resemble
each other in the shortness of their tails and legs, in their teeth,
being like those of the rat, and have the same natural habits, such as
burrowing in the earth, laying up magazines of provisions, destroying
grain, &c. Besides, to leave no doubt on this subject, we shall
observe, that Agricola, an exact and judicious author, in his little
Treatise of Subterraneous Animals, gives a description of both, and so
clearly distinguishes them, that it is impossible to confound them;
therefore, we may certainly affirm that the hamster and the zisel are
two different species; and, perhaps, as distinct from each other as the
weasel and the rat.
[Footnote AD: The _hamster_ is found in Misnia, Thuringia, and Hanover.
The _zisel_ is found in Hungary, Austria, and Poland, where it is
called _suset_.]