132 Merriam New Ground Squirrels. 



cesses, behind which they are even more abruptly decurved than 

 in S. mexicana ; the supraorbital foramina are completely inclosed 

 in the superciliary shelf. Molars heavy, their crowns very broad 

 antero-posteriorly ; first upper premolar relatively large. In 

 many respects the skull of S. perotensis resembles that of S. mexi- 

 canus. 



Geographic Distribution and Faunal Position. The range of this 

 species, according to Mr. Nelson, is u the extreme eastern border 

 of the Mexican table-land at Perote, Vera Cruz, at an altitude 

 of 7,800 or 7,900 feet." Its faunal position is along the upper 

 border of the Upper Sonoran zone. 



General Remarks. Sixteen specimens of this new Sperm ophile 

 are before me, all collected at Perote by Mr. Nelson. They vary 

 but little, except in the degree of visibility of the obsolescent 

 spots and the tint of the upper parts differences resulting from 

 the wearing off of the tips of the hairs. 



Spermophilus spilosoma annectens sp. nov. 



PADEE ISLAND SPERMOPHILE. 



Type from PADRE ISLAND, TEXAS. No. f cP yg.-ad. United States 

 National Museum, Department of Agriculture collection. Collected Au- 

 gust 24, 1891, by William Lloyd (original number, 694). 



Measurements (taken in flesh). Total length, 220; tail vertebra?, 60; 

 hind foot, 36. In 8 adults from the type locality the tail vertebras vary 

 frorn 55 to 75 mm. and the hind foot from 35 to 38 mm. 



General Characters. S'. annectens is about the size of S. spilo- 

 soma major, which it 'resembles in coloration and markings, 

 though the pelage has a grayish cast suggesting S. obsoletus. Ear 

 a mere rim, about 3 mm. high at highest point. 



Color. Upper parts dull grayish brown ; back beset with ill- 

 defined buffy spots, margined posteriorly with dusky in unworn 

 pelage ; under parts soiled white. Eyelids white. Tail concolor 

 with back or a little more fulvous, its distal half or two-thirds 

 bordered with a subapical black band beyond which the tips 

 of the hairs are burTy-ochraceous. Immature specimens and 

 young of the year are more brownish than the adults and show 

 the spots much more distinctly, as usu"al in the spilosoma group. 



Cranial and Dental Characters. Compared with S. xpiloisoma 

 major, the skull of S. annectens is longer, but is actually as well 

 as relatively narrower across the zygomatic arches, particularly 

 anteriorly, where the anterior roots are pinched in as in Ictido- 

 rnys ; frontals broader interorbitally ; fronto-nasal region more 



