MUEIDiE— SIGMODONTES— NEOTOMA FLORIDANA. 15 



Neoloma fioridana, Say & Oi!D, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. iv, 1825, 352, pi. x, f. 1, 2, 3, 4 ; Zool. Jonrn. 

 ii, 1825, 294, pi. x, f. 1, 2, 3, 4 ; Isis, 1827, xx, 1035.— Griffith, Anini. Kingd. iii, 1827, 100, 

 pi. — .— Aid. & Bach., Q. N. A. i, 1849, 32, pi. iv.— Geoffkoy, Zool. Voy. Veuus, 1855, 154, 

 pi. xiii. — Kenkicott, Agric. Eep. U. S. Patent Office for 185(5 (1857), (no text), pi. xiv. — 

 Baikd, M. N. A. 1857, 487.— Maximilian, Arch. Naturg. xviii, 1862, p. — ; Verz. N.-Aui. 

 Sang. 1862, 165.— Allen, Bull. Mus. Conip. Zool. ii, 1871, 182. — Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

 Phila. 1874, 175. 



Lemmus floridanus, Fischer,. Synopsis, 1829, 299. 



Neotoma mexicana, Baihd, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1855, vii, 333 ; M. N. A. 1857, 490 ; U. S. & Mex. Bound. 

 Surv. ii, pt. ii, 1859, Mamm. p. 44, pi. 24, f. 1, a to g (skull).— Coues, Am. Nat. i, 18H7, 399. 



Neotoma micropus, Baikd, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. vii, 1855, 333; M. N. A. 1857, 492; U. S. & Mex. 

 Bound. Surv. ii, pt. ii, 1859, Mamm. p. 44. 



Habitat. — Southern United States and Northern Mexico. North, some- • 

 times, to Maryland {Audubon), New York {Bell), and Massachusetts (Gibbs). 

 Dakota. Illinois. Kansas. Arkansas. Very abundant in the South Atlantic 

 and Gulf States, New Mexico, Arizona, and parts of California. 



Diagnosis. — N. (adultus) lutcohrunnea, dor so obscuriore, later ibus fulves- 

 centibus, infra alba, pedibus niveis, caudd bicolore; (juv.) supra schistaceo-grisea, 

 infra Candida. Long. tot. 6-d-j)oll., caudce A-Q-jmIL, cranii bipoll , pedis 

 sesquipoll. 



The adult animal is colored above very nearly like the Norway rat, but 

 is brighter, and still more so on the sides. The difference is parallel with that 

 between Ochetodon humills and Mus musculus. Thus, Ochetodon is precisely 

 the color of a house-mouse, except that the sides have a fulvous or pale dull 

 pinkish-brown wash ; and in this Neotoma, while the back is finely lined with 

 brownish-gray and blackish, as in the Mus decumanus, the sides are quite 

 tawny or fawn-color, especially near the line of demarkation between this 

 color and the white of the under parts. The color of the upper parts runs 

 down on the legs, but stops abruptly at the wrists and ankles, leaving the 

 back of the hands and feet snowy white ; this is invariable in all the speci- 

 mens examined. The under parts are white ; on the throat, breast, and low- 

 est belly, this color is pure, the fur being white to the very roots; but across 

 the middle belly, and on the insides of the limbs, and along the sides of the 

 body generally, the appearance is only whitish, because the ashy bases of the 

 hairs show through. On the head, the color of the upper part is rather darker 

 or grayer than elsewhere, and the extreme snout is of this shade; but the 

 whole upper lip is broadly white, like the under. The whiskers, which reach 

 to or beyond the shoulders, are part black, part white. The cars, which are 

 dusky in the dried state, perhaps showing somewhat of flesh-color in life, are 

 nearly naked on both sides, and especially inside ; but close inspection shows 



