HAPLODONTIDvE— GENUS HAPLODON. 555 



deuce of an "early" or "generalized" type, in comparison with the highly com- 

 plicated teeth of many recent Rodents; no simpler tooth than the anterior 

 upper premolar — a mere cylinder — can well be, while the other molars are 

 simply cylinders pinched into a fold on one side; being thus remotely removed 

 from such remarkably intricate and "specialized" aggregations of numerous 

 prisms as are shown by many recent Rodents. 



Genus HAPLODON, (Rich.). 



X Aukovyx, sp., Raitnesque, Ainer. Month. Mug. ii, 1817, 45 (genus based on a species of Cynomys, with a 

 species of Haplodon included). 



— Aplodonlia, Richardson,* Zool. Journ. iv, 1829, 334 (original characterization).— Rich., Fn. Bor.- 



Am. i, 1829, 210 (substantially the same).— Audubon & Bachman, Quad. N. Am. iii, 1853, 

 98 (copied from Richardson). — Baihd, Mamm. N. Amer. 1857, 350 (elaborately recharacter- 

 ized). 

 = Apludontia, Fischer, Syu. Mamm. 1829, 598 (" 398" by err. of pagination). 



— Haplodon, Wagler, Syst. Amphib. 1831, 23.— Wagner, " Suppl. Schreb. iii, 1843, 395".— Peters, 



Monatsb. Akad. Berlin, 18C4, 177 (discussion of affinities). — Alston, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1876, 78 



(classificatory). 

 =«= Jpluodontia, Richardson, Sixth Ann. Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. for 1836, 1837, 150,157. 

 = Haploodon, or Hapludon, Brandt, " Beit. Kenut. Siiug. Rossi. 1855, 150". 

 = Haploodon, Lilljeborg, Syst. Ol'vers. Gnag. Daggdj. 1866, 42. 

 (Other forms of the word are doubtless to be found.) 



Chars. — Form stout, heavy, low ; body cylindrical ; limbs short, of pro- 

 portionate lengths before and behind; no appreciable neck; head broad, flat, 

 somewhat triangular, with blunt muzzle, hairy, except the margin of the 

 nostrils and cleft of the upper lip. Tail very short, terete, hirsute. Whisk- 

 ers very long, bristly. No cheek-pouches. Eyes diminutive. Ears of 

 moderate size, rounded above, lobate below, with antitragal fold. Fore and 

 hind feet pentadactyle, hairy on top ; palms and soles naked ; former 5-tuber- 

 culate, latter 6-tuberculate; digits of hind feet not webbed; fore claws much 

 longer and stouter than the hinder, fitted for digging. Pelage of two kinds, — 

 long bristly hairs and woolly under fur. Progression apparently plantigrade. 

 Habits terrestrial, fossorial, gregarious. Regimen exclusively vegetarian. 

 Voice shrill. 



To the structural characters already given, being those upon which a 

 family Haplodontidts is established, maybe added the foregoing, derived from 



* Special paper : On Aplodoutia, a new genus of the order Rodentia, constituted for the reception 

 of the Sewellel, a burrowing animal which inhabits the north-western coast of America. < Op. tom.ci:. 

 pp. 333-337. 



On a second described species of Haplodon, c''. Peters, Ueber neue Arteu der Siingethiergattuugeu 

 Geomys, Haplodon und Dasypus. < Monatsb. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1864, pp. 177-180. 



A third special paper is : The Hunting Fields of the Pacific Coast, Oregon. Capturing the Showtl. 

 By J. M. Murphy. < '• Rod and Gun " (uewspaper) of May 20, 1870. [Popular.] 



