1896,] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 189 



14. Peromyscus gossypinus mississippiensis. Cane Mouse. 



Subsp. nov. Type, ad. $ ; No. 3,729, Coll. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila. 

 Col. by S. N. Rhoads at Samburg, Obion Co., Tennessee, May 4, 

 1895. 



Description — Larger than gossypimis, with much longer hind feet, 

 relatively longer tail, lighter, grayish-fulvcus coloration and lack- 

 ing the dark orbital ring. 



Color above, yellowish-brown, more fulvous along sides, darker 

 along back and mixed with blackish. 



Lower parts and feet, white, shaded by the plumbeous exposed 

 bases of hairs on chest, belly and thighs. 



Measurements (of type in millimeters). — Total length, 182 ; tail 

 vertebrae, 77 ; hind foot, 24.5 ; ear (from crown, dry skin), 12. 

 Skull : total length, 29 ; basilar length, 21.8 ; zygomatic expansion, 

 14.7 ; interorbital constriction, 4.5 ; length of nasals, 11.2; length 

 of mandible, 15.2 ; greatest width of mandible, 7. Average meas- 

 urements of five adults from same locality : total length, 182 ; tail 

 vertebrse, 80.6 ; hind foot, 24 ; average total length of five skulls, 

 28 ; average zygomatic breadth of same, 14.5. 



So far as I have made its acquaintance in Tennessee, the Cane 

 Mouse is solely a denizen of the " bottom lands " of the Mississippi. 

 At Samburg it confined its wanderings very closely to the immedi- 

 ate viciuitv of Reelfoot Lake, and was abundant in the dense forest 

 jungle that bordered its margin, seeming to prefer the lowest and 

 wettest parts of the overflowed lands, from which, at that time of 

 the year (May), the waters of the lake had receded. It is quite dis- 

 tinct from the common upland Deer Mouse of the same region, and 

 the upper and lower borders of their habitats overlap sufficiently to 

 make it possible to capture both species in the same trap. 



A comparison of the Samburg mice with leucopus of the same 

 locality having shown their differences, as above stated, to be spe- 

 cific, the question at once arises as to their relations to other south- 

 ern Peromyscus of the Eastern States. I can find nothing, in exam- 

 ining the series before me, to separate these Cane Mice specifically 

 from (jossypinus of Florida and Louisiana, and of which I am so 

 fortunate as to have a large collection, those from Louisiana being 

 generously loaned me by Mr. Outram Bangs. The Louisiana spec- 

 imens are of interest as showing the extension of gossypinus along 

 the Gulf Coast across the Mississippi River. A comparison of some 

 of these from near New Orleans with specimens from the west coast 



