84 I MONOC.KAI'IIS OF N0KTI1 AMERICAN EODENTIA. 



•• Wctomys alpina", which Richardson says Is the same as his Arctomys parryi, 

 probably from knowing personally the specimens referred to, since Parry's 

 allusion gives no clue, furl her than the significance of the name, to the char- 

 acter of the animal to which he refers. Richardson, the same year (1825), 

 gave a detailed account of the species, including much relating to its habits 

 and distribution, and bestowed upon it the specific name by which it has 

 since been currently known. In 1829, it was again described by the same 

 author, at which time he characterized and named two additional varieties, 

 namely, erythrogluteia and phceognatha. Of the latter, Richardson says: — 

 " It is characterized chiefly by a well-defined, deep, chestnut-colored mark 

 under the eye." It was based on a specimen in the Museum of the Zoolog- 

 ical Society of London, brought from Hudson's Bay ; the particular district, 

 however, not being stated. In one of my specimens of var. erythroglutceus, 

 there is also a well-defined chestnut-colored line beneath the eye, and a similar 

 mark is faintly indicated in quite a number of the examples of var. empetra. 

 It hence seems probable that Richardson's " var. phceognatha" may be based 

 merely on a specimen of var. empetra in which this mark was develoj^d with 

 unusual distinctness. 



The species was redescribed by Baird in 1857, who directed attention to 

 its close resemblance to S. eversmanni. In 1861, Mr. B. R. Ross gave to it 

 the name "Arctomys Icennicottii' 1 , under the impression that it had not been 

 previously described.* In 1874, in my Synopsis of the North American Sci- 

 urida, I briefly characterized the variety /iodiaca/sis. 



Geographical distribution. — According to Richardson, "This Spermo- 

 phile inhabits the Barren Grounds skirting the sea-coast from Churchill in 

 Hudson's Bay round by Melville Peninsula, and the whole northern extremity 

 ot the continent to Behring's Straits, where specimens precisely similar were 

 procured by Captain Beechey. It abounds in the neighborhood of Fort 

 Enterprise, near the southern verge of the Barren Grounds, in latitude G5°, 

 and is plentiful on Cape Parry, one of the most northern parts of the conti- 

 nent. It is found generally'', he adds, "in stony districts, but seems to 

 delight chiefly in sandy hillocks amongst rocks, where burrows, inhabited by 

 different individuals, may be often observed crowded together. One of the 



• I liml no farther description of the .1. kennicottii than the following : — "Arctomys K< imioottii (Ross). 

 This I consider to be: w Bpecies; but 1 may he wrong. It is of small size, and inhabits the North- 

 ernmost ranges of the Rocky Mountains." — (B. R. Boss, Nat. Hist. Buoiew, 1862, p. 274.) As shown by 

 specimens ilms labelled by him in the National Museum, his A. kenvicottii is the. true S. empetra (<=& 

 parryi anil. . 



