192 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1896. 



Genus NEOTOMA Say & Ord. 

 16. Neotoma magister Baird. Allegheny Cave Rat. 



This large mountain-dwelling rat is found in the cliffs of Roan 

 Mountain and other peaks of the Southern Alleghenies. I have no 

 records of it from the Tennessee section of the mountain but the 

 natives of Carter County do not state that it shows a decided par- 

 tiality to North Carolina. 



A careful examination of the cave deposits which came into my 

 hands from Middle Tennessee failed to show any remains of this 



genus. 



I have examined specimens of the rat which frequents Mammoth 

 Cave, Kentucky, and am unable to detect any difference between 

 them and those taken in Clinton and Cumberland Counties, Penn- 

 sylvania. The skull of an old specimen forwarded to me alive from 

 Mammoth Cave is exactly like the largest adult skulls of fossilized 

 specimens from the limestone caves of eastern Pennsylvania. 



After particular inquiry among the hunters of southwestern Ten- 

 nessee as to the existence of a Wood Rat in those parts I am in- 

 clined to think that it has been noted there, but the confusion of 

 N eotoma fioridmia with the Old World rats of these parts makes the 

 evidence of questionable value. 



Genus MUS Linnaeus. 



17. Mus decumanus Pallas. Norway Rat. 



18. Mus rattus L. Black Rat. 



Mr. Miles mentions the former occurrence of the Black Rat in 

 West Tennessee but he has not seen it for twenty years. The Nor- 

 way Rat, however, has not been exterminated so successfullly, as the 

 open streets of the larger cities of Tennessee can frequently testify. 



19. Mus musculus L. House Mouse. 



Found both wild and semi-domesticated. 

 Specimens — Raleigh, 1 ; Roan Mountain, 1. 



Family CASTORID^. 



Genus CASTOR Linnaeus. 



20. Castor fiber canadensis (Kuhl). American Beaver. 



In company with a trapper, I visited a beaver house in Reelfoot 

 Lake. This was situated in a cypress swamp called the " Turkey- 

 roost," about three miles west of Samburg. It was not tenanted, 

 but there were signs that a beaver had been at work there within a 



