From the Eastern United States. 59 



The first is, of course, the Mas agrarius americanus Kerr (An. 

 Kingd., i, 1702, 231, based on Pennant, History of Quadrupeds, 

 " No. 302 B ").* The description given by Pennant makes special 

 reference to the mixed " dusky and ferruginous " color of the 

 back and ; ' orange coloured'' sides of his American Field. Rat, 

 terms which refer unequivocally to our smaller and better- 

 knoAvn animal. Any doubt in the case is dispelled by the addi- 

 tion by Pennant in the Arctic Zoology (i, 1784, 131), "length, 

 about four and a half inches ; of tail, four inches ; " thus show- 

 ing that it was the short-tailed form that he had in mind. 



On Pennant's animal was based also the Mas sylvaticas 

 novcboracensis of Fischer (Synopsis Mammalium, 1829, 318), the 

 habitat of which is given as u in Novo Eboraco," and in all proba- 

 bility the Mas noueboraccmis of Selys Longchamps (Etudes d'- 

 Micromammalogie, 1839, 67), since this author remarks that the 

 animal is a good species, although considered merely a variety by 

 previous writers. That it is clearly the short-tailed animal that 

 Selys Longchamps refers to is shown by the following extracts 

 from the original description : u Son pelage est d'un fauve plus 

 vif sur les cotes de la tete et du corps. * " * * Longeur totale, 

 6 pouces 2 lignes ; du corps, 3 pouces 6 lignes ; de la queue, 2 

 polices 8 lignes." This mouse is said to replace in North America 

 the European Mas sylvaticus. 



Rafinesque's Mascalas leucopus (American Monthly Magazine, 

 in, 1818, 446) is named among the ten new species of " wild 

 rats " met with by that prolific describer of species during " a 

 journey through the western region of the United States" that 

 is. in the Ohio valley and the pine barrens of Kentucky. As 

 there is little chance that the range of Sitomys canadensis extends 

 to that region, the name is hardly worth considering here. It 

 may be mentioned, however, that Rafinesque's animal is said to 

 be " fallow above," an expression which might apply fairly well 

 to S. americanus, though hardly to the larger form. 



The next name to be considered is the Cricetus myoides of 

 Gapper (Zoolog. Journ., v, 1830, 204, pi. x). This animal, from 

 the region between York and Lake Simcoe, Canada, is described 

 as having the " upper half of the body mixed black and light red- 

 dish or yellowish brown." It is further stated that " it measures 

 3 : { inches from the tip of the nose ta the insertion of the tail ; the 



* Synopsis of Quadrupeds, 1771, p. 303, No. 320A (American Field Mouse). 

 History of Quadrupeds, u, 1781, p. 444, No. 302A. 



