of the Marmot* of North America. 58J 



The mouth small, and placed below; the fore-teeth Long, nar- 

 row, and wedge-shaped, two in each jaw ; the grinders five 



in the upper and four in the lower jaw, on each side ; the 

 whiskers on the cheeks and long hairs over the eyes directed 

 backwards: the nose short, more or less blunt, and when 

 described as sharp, only so comparative]} ; the ear* short 

 and small, sometimes so short that only the foramen appears, 

 and then the animal so circumstanced has been described 

 as without ears; the body long; the tail short and covered 

 with hair; the legs short; the fore-feet with lour, but in 

 some species with five, and the hind-feet always with five 

 toes; the claws more or less bent. The habits of all are 

 supposed to be similar : they feed on roots, fruits and seeds, 

 burrow in the earth, or live in holes of trees and rocks, and 

 are probably all torpid in the winter ; innocuous when wild, 

 and gentle in confinement. 



Several species of Arctomys have been described as inhabiting 

 various parts of the globe besides that portion to which tin- 

 present account is confined ; the best known of these are A. Mar- 

 mota (the Marmot of the Alps), A. Bohac, and A. Citillus. Four 

 species have been enumerated by authors as natives of North 

 America: of these A. Monax, though at first involved in diffi- 

 culty, is now well known ; A . Empetra is also free from all doubt ; 

 A. pruinosa is but imperfectly known; and A. Hudsonius, though 

 described as a Marmot, belongs to another genus. 



Of the three new species now to be recorded, I possess little 

 information respecting the habits or manners. My notice of 

 them therefore will be confined to the description of the speci- 

 mens which the annexed figures will illustrate. 



vol. xiii. 4f Arctomys 



