30 MONOGRAPHS OF NORTH AMERICAN RODENTIA. 



SIGMODON HISPIDUS, Say & Ord. 

 Cotton lint. 



Sigmudon hispidum, Say & Ord, Joum. Acad. Nat. Sci. l'liila. iv, 1825, 354, pi. x, f. 5, <>, 7, 6; Zool. Journ. 



ii, 1825, 296, pi. x, f. 5, 6, 7, 8 — Wagneb, Snppl. Schreb. iii, 1*13, 556.— Aud. & Bach., Q. N. A. 



i, 1849, 229, pi. xxx.— Baird, M. N. A. 1857, 502.— Allen, Bull. Mue. Comp. Zool. ii, 1871, 



163.— Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. l'hila. 1874, 17(i. 

 Arvicola hispidus, Godman, Aim. Nat. Hist, ii, 1826, 68, 

 Arviwla hortams, Haulan, Fa. Amer. 1825, 138 ; Med. & Phys. Res. 1835, 49, pi. — , f. 5, G, 7, 8.— Griffith, 



Anim. Kingd. v. l~'J7, sp. 547. 

 Armenia ferrugineus, Harlan, Am. Journ. Sci. x, 1826, 285 (rusty var.). 

 Arriiola ttxiaim, Aid. A Hacii., Q. X. A. iii, 1853, 229, pi. cxlvii, f. 2 (not Arvicola tcxauti, Avn. & Bach., 



ibid. ]>. 319, which is Sesperomys leucopus). 

 Sigmodon berlandieri, Baird, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Puila. vii, 1855, 333; M. N. A. 1857, 504; U. S. & Mex. 



Bound. Sun-, ii, 1859, Mammals, p. 44, pi. vi, f. 2, 2° (Texas; Mexico). — Tomes, Proc. Zool. 



Soo. 1861,281 (Guatemala). 

 Hesperomys (Deilemys) tolteeus, De Saussure, Rev. & Mag. Zool. 18fi0, p. — , pi. ix, fig 3" (Cordilleras of 



Vera Cruz). 



Diagnosis. — S. caudd subnudd truncum sine capite sulmquante ; pedibus 

 validis, digito 5 t0 vix l mum superante, nee valde ultra arliculum proximum 4 (i por- 

 recto ; plantis nudis, tesselatis, 6-tuberculatis ; auriculis magnis orbicularis, intus 

 hirsutis extus subnudis ; rostro obfuso, piloso (septo narium excepto); mystaceis 

 sparsis brevissimis ; vellere hispido ; supra nigro badioque intime limbatus ; infra 

 ex griseo albidus, pedibus dorso concoloribus, caudd sub-bicolore. 



Habitat. — Southern United States and Mexico, especially coastwise. 

 North to the Carolinas. South to Vera Cruz and Guatemala. . 



A sigmodont rat, with a nearly naked tail about equaling the trunk with- 

 out the head (from a little less than the trunk alone to about the length of the 

 trunk and head together) ; large hind feet, of which the 1st and 5th toes arc 

 but little unequal in length, the latter reaching but little beyond the base of 

 the 4th (never to the penultimate joint of the 4th) ; entirely naked granulated 

 soles, with six small tubercles; large rounded ears, hairy inside, nearly naked 

 outside; blunt, muzzle, furry except at the septum, and very few whiskers 

 hardly reaching to the cars; the pelage long and hispid, from admixture of 

 much bristly hair, finely lined above with black and brownish-yellow, below 

 grayish-white; feet not white above, and black below; tail very indistinctly 

 bicolor. 



It will probably be admitted that the foregoing diagnosis is tolerably 

 stringent and reasonably specific; yr\ we propose to prove it comprehensive 

 enough to include several nominal species. 



It is unnecessary to go into any elaborate description of this familiar ani- 

 mal, viewing the several excellent accounts already in print, and especially 

 since the essential characters have been fully elucidated in our notice of the 



