70 Merriam Descriptions of Six New Ground Squirrels. 



Characters. Similar to S. molds, but in summer pelage head and neck 

 to shoulders uniform pinkish buff [of Ridgway's Color Nomenclature]. 



Color. Summer pelage : Entire head and neck and fore-back to shoulders 

 uniform pinkish-buff, becoming yellowish-buff below ; rest of back vina- 

 ceous-buff slightly mixed with brown ; under parts and fore legs and feet 

 buffy ; hind feet soiled whitish ; tail above and below buffy, grizzled with 

 dark hairs and edged with buffy. 



Cranial characters. Skull like that of mollis, but braincase broader 

 across mastoids; ascending arms of premaxilke narrower and more 

 pointed ; tooth row shorter. 



Measurements. Type specimen: Total length 209; tail vertebra 49; 

 hind foot 32. Average of 9 specimens from Owens Valley, Calif. : Total 

 length 212 ; tail vertebrae 50 ; hind foot 32.4. 



Spermophilus mollis yakimensis subsp. nov. 



Type from Mabton, Yakima Co., Washington. No. 89331, $ ad., U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., Biological Survey Coll , July 16, 1897. Collected by Walter 

 K. Fisher. Orig. No. 323. 



Characters. Similar to S. mollis in size and general appearance, but tail 

 slightly shorter; color grayer and less buffy, but not so gray as cami*. 

 Nasal bones very much longer than in either mollis or carats. 



Color. Upper parts buffy -gray, finely grizzled with dusky ; nose dull 

 rusty fulvous ; cheeks and sides of neck grayish, sometimes suffused with 

 pale buffy-yellowish, but never approaching the strong buffy-ochraceous 

 of mollis; under parts buffy; feet whitish; tail grizzled fulvous as in 

 mollis. 



Cranial characters. Skull like that of mollis in size and general charac 

 ters, but nasal bones much longer, passing backward considerably beyond 

 premaxillae and ending in a wedge-shaped point ; audital bullaa more in 

 flated below plane of meatus (i. e., less flattened); basioccipital slightly 

 broader ; incisors heavier. 



Mettsnremeii-lx. Type specimen: Total length 215; tail vertebrae 48; 

 hind foot 33. Average of 10 specimens from type locality and adjacent 

 plain: Total length 213; tail vertebrae 46 ; hind foot 34.2. 



Spermophilus mollis canus subsp. nov. 



Type from Antelope, Wasco Co., Oregon. No. 78681, $ ad., U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., Biological Survey Coll., June 21, 1896. Collected by Vernon Bailey. 

 Original No. 5561. 



Characters. Similar to S. mollis, but grayer, slightly smaller, with 

 shorter hind feet and decidedly shorter tail ; skull smaller and relatively 

 broader, with much shorter rostrum. 



Color. Upper parts finely grizzled gray and dusky without buffy suf 

 fusion ; nose dull rusty fulvous ; cheeks and sides of neck grayish (not 

 buffy-ochraceous as in mollis} ; thighs dark, with a dull fulvous suffusion 

 very different from the pale buffy-ochraceous of mollis ; under parts buffy 

 or buffy -gray, more or less grizzled with dark hairs on breast and middle 



