SCIURID^E— SPERMOPHILUS MOLLIS. 861 



subterminal band ; tail below brownish-yellow, edged with whitish. Ears 

 nearly obsolete ; muzzle much compressed ; tail very short, flattened. Pelage 

 very soft and furry. 



In coloration, tliis species somewhat resembles S. spilosoma, but shows 

 no tendency to spotting. It differs from it also in its fine, soft, instead of 

 coarse, harsh pelage, in having a very much shorter and more flattened tail, 

 and in being rather smaller. The muzzle is also much narrower, and the 

 auditory bullae are much, less inflated. The anterior half of the dorsal surface 

 in S. mollis is uniform yellowish-brown, faintly varied with gray and dusky, 

 with no tendency to differentiation into spots; more posteriorly, the dorsal 

 surface tends to a mottled appearance, but the light spots are very small and 

 indistinct. In coloration, S. mollis approaches very closely to some phases of 

 S. richardsoni var. townsendi, particularly as seen in the types of Mr. Kenni- 

 cott's S. u elegans", but it is on the whole more yellowish, especially over the 

 shoulders; it lacks also the brownish nose-patch, and the tendency to differ- 

 entiation into spots is less marked. It differs further from var. toitnsendi in 

 being nearly one-half smaller, in having smaller ears, a narrower and less 

 bushy tail, and in its strongly compressed muzzle. There are also well- 

 marked cranial differences aside from those resulting from size. Full-grown 

 skulls of S. mollis give a length of only 1.45 against a length, in correspond- 

 ing skulls of var. townsendi, of 1.85 ; widtli of the former 0.95 ; of the latter 

 1.20. The skulls of S. mollis have a relatively much greater interorbital 

 breadth, while the facial portion of the skull is relatively much the narrower, 

 with narrower and longer nasals. The zygomatic arches are also much less 

 expanded posteriorly, giving to the skull quite a different lateral outline. 



This form appears to have been first described (as above indicated) by 

 Mr. Kennicott, in 1SG3, from specimens collected at Camp Floyd, Utah, and 

 other neighboring localities. Other specimens have since been obtained in 

 Nevada and Utah. Its exact geographical range remains unknown. It is 

 evidently a species very distinct from its nearest allies, though it strongly 

 resembles in coloration some phases of S. richardsoni var. toivnsendi, from 

 young examples of which, as represented by badly prepared skins, it is not 

 readily distinguishable. In my preliminary notice of these forms, I provis- 

 ionally referred 8. mollis to S. townsendi, but a re-examination of the subject, 

 aided by additional material, has shown this reference to be erroneous. 



