This animal, though a native of these climates, was unknown to any of
our naturalists, until M. Daubenton first discovered and described it
in the Memoires de l'Academie, in 1756. To the former animal we have
only to add, that this is taken near the source of fountains, as the
sun rises and sets; that in the day it remains concealed in the clefts
of rocks, or in holes at the edges of rivulets; that it brings forth in
spring, and has generally nine young ones at a time.