154 GLIRES. 
2. N. ferruginea. Upper parts almost uniform rich rufous ; lower parts pure 
white; feet partly dusky; tail unicolorous, dark brown. Average length 
about 7", of tail 7”. 
The Californian Wood-Rat, WV. fuscipes, Cooper, agrees most nearly with WV. flori- 
dana in size and in general coloration, but resembles V. ferruginea in its proportions 
and in its dusky feet and unicolorous tail. 
1. Neotoma floridana. 
Mus floridanus, Ord, Bull. Soc. Philom. Philad. 1818, p. 181 (descr. orig., fide Baird)’. 
Neotoma floridana, Coues, Proc. Ac. Philad. 1874, p. 175°; Mon. N.-Am. Rodent. p. 14°. 
Neotoma mexicana, Baird, Proc. Ac. Philad. 1855, p. 333 (descr. orig.)*; Mamm. N. Am. p. 490° ; 
Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. Surv. ii. Mamm. p. 44°. : 
Neotoma micropus, Baird, Proc. Ac. Philad. 1855, p. 833 (descr. orig.)’; Mamm. N. Am. p. 492° ; 
Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. Surv. ii. Mamm. p. 44”. 
Hab. Norra America, from New England southwards*.—Mexico, Sonora (Kennerly®, 
Emory?, Webb, U.S. Nat. Mus.), Charco Escondido, Santa Rosalia (Couch, 76.°), 
Chihuahua (Potts, 70.*). 
Several specimens of Neotoma were obtained by the officers of the United-States 
Boundary Survey in Northern Mexico, which became the types of Professor Baird’s J. 
meaicana* and N. micropus?. On a comparison with a larger series, however, Dr. Coues 
has been unable to recognize the validity of these species—the first having been founded 
on points of coloration which prove not to be constant, while the latter is based on two 
very imperfect specimens?. Not having an opportunity of investigating the matter for 
myself, I accept these identifications on Dr. Coues’s authority. 
According to Mr. A. Schott, this animal “builds its domicile between the forks of 
mezquite-trees, the deflexed ramifications of which usually form a natural defence against 
larger intruders. The nest itself is made up of dry sticks, such as the ground under- 
neath such trees is strewn with. There is no regularity in the construction of this house, 
which resembles, on a smaller scale, those of the Beavers. . . . A common inmate 
of those rat-nests is a Sceleporus, perhaps S. collaris, which has its entomophagous sports 
on the rough bark of the mezquite-tree: thus the Rat and the Lizard live peaceably 
together. The principal food of this Rat seems to be the pods of the mezquite and the 
screw-bean, of which large depositories can be found in their strongholds”®. There 
appears, however, to be considerable variety in the habits of the Wood-Rat according 
to the nature of the country: in some districts it frequents trees; in others it lives among 
rocks, while elsewhere it builds large conical pyramids, about three feet high, on the 
surface of the ground. 
