SCIUKIDiE— SPERMOPDILUS. 825 



S. grammurus is well known to the residents about Camp Bowie, Ariz., "for 

 its depredations on the hen-coops, its aim being the eggs, which it was often 

 successful in carrying off".* 



SYNOPSIS OF THE SUBGENERA, SPECIES, AND VARIETIES OF SPERMOPHILUS. 



I. Form Sciuriue ; skull broad inter- aud auteorbitally ; first upper premolar Bmall, less or not moro 



than one-fourtb the size of the second ; molars relatively small ; edge of outer wall of the 

 anteorbital foramina not thickened; coronoid processes of lower jaw long and slen- 

 der; ears very large; tail long, full, and bushy (two-thirds of tho length of head and 

 body) OTOSPERMOPHILUS. 



1. Body fiuely mottled above with yellowish-brown and black ; beneath pale yellowish-brown ; tail 



below yellowish-brown, with three longitudinal bauds of black, less distinct above. Runs 

 occasionally into molauistic phases grammurus. 



a. General color above mixed black aud white, rather lighter on the anterior half of the dorsal 



surface, and more brownish posteriorly; not distinctly whiter on the sides of the shoulders, 

 nor darker medially on the nape and anterior portion of the back. Habitat, Colorado, 

 southward iuto Mexico, and westward to tho Sierra Nevada Mountains var. grammurus. 



b. An indistinct broad hoary or grayish-white band on the sides, extending from the head to 



beyond the shoulders, and sometimes reaching the hips, narrowing posteriorly, broad 

 anteriorly, and sometimes nearly meeting above on the nape. Habitat, Southern Cali- 

 fornia var. beecheyi. 



c. Similar to the last, but with the hoary patches separated on the nape and over the shoulders 



by a band of dark brown, varying to nearly black. Habitat, Northern California and 

 Western Oregon var. douglassi. 



II. Skull abruptly narrowed iuterorbitally ; zygomatic arches heavy and spreading, transversely flat- 



tened ; muzzle narrow ; first premolar large, about one-third to one-half the size of the sec- 

 ond ; tail generally narrow aud short, with the hairs one-fourth to one-third the length of 

 the head and body; form rather thick and stout; ears small, often a mere rim, nearly con- 

 cealed by the pelage COLOBOTIS. 



2. Size large ; above mixed black, white, and yellowish-brown, the white chiefly in crowded subquad- 



rate spots; upper surface of the head chestnut ; beneath rusty-white ; tail rather short, but 



full and busby ; ears quite small empetra. 



o. Strongly rufous below and on the sides; back varied with black, brown, aud white. Hab- 

 itat, Barren Grounds of Arctic America 1 var. empetra. 



b. Above grayer ; sides and beneath gray, generally with very little or no fulvous ; tail shorter 



and more bushy. Habitat, Kodiak Island (and Peninsula of Aliaska?) var. Icodiacetmis, 



c. Smaller aud darker, the light spots more fulvous, and tho tail and ears relatively longer. 



Habitat, British Columbia, southward iuto Washington Territory var. erylhroglutceus. 



3. Smaller; above pale yellowish-brown, varying to pale rufous, mixed more or le6s with black, 



with generally an indistinct mottling of yellowish-gray richardsoni. 



a. Above, light yellowish-brown, varied with dusky, and generally faintly mottled with very 



small indistinct light spots; tail gray above, variftl with black, brownish-yellow below, 

 with a partly concealed bar of black near the end, and edged both above aud below 

 with yellowish-white. Habitat, Plains of the Saskatchewan, southward to Northern 

 Dakota var. richardsoni. 



b. Smaller than the last, with larger ears, and much darker coloration ; tail mostly black above, 



edged with white; below with a broad subtermiual bar of black, and another narrower 

 basal one. Habitat, northern portion of the United States, from Dakota westward to the 

 Plains of the Columbia, southward to the Laramie Plains, northward into British Co- 

 lumbia var. iownsendi. 



4. Size small; ears obsolete ; tail very short ; above finely aud uniformly variegated pale yellowish- 



brown and dusky, without spots; below gray, faiutly washed with creamy-yellow. Hab- 

 itat, Northern Utah aud wostward mollis. 



* Rep. Wheeler's Expl. aud Surv. West of the 100th Merid. vol. v, Zool. p. 122. 



