SCIURIDJ5— ARCTOMYS MONAX. 915 



about 3.20 lo 3.60, and in width from 2.15 to 2.48. Specimens from the 

 United States average about 3.40 in length of skull, and rarely exceed 3.50. 



The habitat of Arctomys monax extends from the Carolinas northward 

 to Hudson's Bay and Liard River, and westward from the Atlantic coast to 

 Western Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota. There are specimens in the collec- 

 tion from Nelson's River, H. B. T., James's Bay, Fort Simpson, Fort Che- 

 pevvyan (Athabasca District), Fort Liard, and Peale's River, that scarcely differ 

 from specimens from New York and New England. Some of them are rather 

 more rufous than the usual phase met with in the United States, but are not 

 apparently otherwise different. According to Mr. B. R. Ross, it ranges north- 

 ward to latitude 6'2°. He speaks of obtaining specimens at Lake Athabasca 

 and Salt River, but adds that he thinks its range does not extend beyond Fort 

 Simpson.* Audubon and Bachman state that it exists sparingly in the mount- 

 ainous districts of North and South Carolina, but add that it is not found in 

 the maritime districts of either of those States.f 



Although the present species has very few synonyms, technically speak- 

 ing, it has a very complicated history. The specific name monax was first given 

 to this animal in 1758 by Linnaeus, who based it on the description of the 

 "Monax, or Marmotte of America,'' of Edwards, whose description and figure 

 were published in 1747, Edwards's work being the only one quoted by Linnaeus 

 in either the tenth or the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae. Edwards's 

 figure was drawn from a living specimen in the possession of Sir Hans Sloane, 

 brought from Maryland. Thus the name monax is unequivocally applicable 

 to the Marmot, "Ground Hog", or "Woodchuck" of the Atlantic States. 

 Somewhat before this date, however, Catesby, in his Natural History of Caro- 

 lina (published 1731 to 1743), described and figured an animal called by him 

 the "Bahama Coney"; in the appendix of the same work he described the 

 "Monax". The former belongs to a family wholly unrepresented in the 

 United States, being referable to some species of Capromys; perhaps to the 

 C. fournieri, as was first suggested by Audubon and Bachman. The latter is 

 the common Marmot of the Atlantic States, the Arctomys monax of authors.}: 



* MS. notes iu Smithsonian Institution. 



t Their reference to its occurrence on the Upper Missouri and iu the Rocky Mountains to Texas 

 relates of course to A: flaviventer. 



} As Catesby's vague and unsatisfactory descriptions of these animals have an important historical 

 bearing, I subjoin them iu full : — 



"CUNICULUS BAIIAMENSIS. 



"The Banama Coney. 

 " This Creature is a little less than the common Wild Rabbit, aud of a brown Colour, with a Mix- 

 ture of gray Hairs. Its Ears, Feet and Tail resemble those of a Rat, in other Parts it is Bomewhat like 



