MURID^E— AKVICOLIN^;— 8YNAPTOMYS COOPERI. 235 



and very long. The whiskers are numerous, of moderate length, exceedingly 

 fine, almost invisible without a good light. The fur on the back is half or 

 three-quarters of an inch long; that of the tail and all the feet is very fine 

 and rather scant, so that in alcoholic specimens these members show quite 

 light-colored. The tail has a very scanty terminal pencil; the muffle is 

 entirely hairy, except the little nasal pads, and extremely obtuse; the head 

 short, thick; the eyes are very minute, situate about half-way from nose to 

 ear; the whole form is stout and compact. 



In the mouth of this animal may be observed, in addition to the tufts 

 of hair that turn inward and nearly meet behind the upper incisors, a tuft 

 growing inside the edge of the lip, and another hairy patch extending back- 

 ward from the angle of the mouth. 



This is undoubtedly one of the most perfect connecting links yet discov- 

 ered between different genera of Arvicolince, if not of the whole family Muridee. 

 The habitat, too, of this false lemming is highly interesting, being quite out 

 of the range of Myodes. Baird's types came from some unknown place, 

 believed however to be somewhere in the United States, and now the animal 

 turns up from Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas, Oregon, and Alaska. 

 The Kansas locality, Neosho Falls, where Mr. Goss has collected with such 

 valuable results, seems peculiar in its fauna. There occur such southern 

 types as Oryzomys, Sigmodon, and Ochelodon, in connection with the pecul- 

 iar Onychomys and with the Synaptomys — which latter ought, according to 

 its zoological characters, to be a highly boreal animal. 



SYNAPTOMYS COOPERI, Baird. 



Myodes {Synaptomys) cooperi, Baird, Cat. in M. N. A. 1857, p. xliv. 



Synaptomys cooperi, Baird, M. N. A. 1857, 558, in text (United States?). — Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

 Pbila. 1874, 194. 



Arvicola {Synaptomys) gossii, Baird, MSS. (on labels of the Kansas specimens, in anticipation of then- 

 proving different from the original cooperi). 



Diagnosis. — S. facie Arvicola riparii, sed caudd breviore, artubus exili- 

 otibus, rostro obtusiore, vellere ampliore; murino-brunneus, plus minusve griseus, 

 subtus ex albido griseoplumbeus. Long. tot. 4, caudce. subpoll., pedis a, auri- 

 cula ^. 



Habitat. — Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Oregon, and Alaska. 



Our notice of the genus has proved so fully illustrative of its single 

 species that there is little to add. The original specimens of cooperi, as tar 



