Merriam American Wood Rats* 125 



S. Nat. Museum, Department of Agriculture Collection. Collected Decem 

 ber 25, 1890 (Original number 2310). 



Measurements (taken in flesh). Type : Total length 410 ; tail vertebrae 208 ; 

 hind foot 89. Ear from anterior base 31 (in dry skin). 



General characters. Similar to Neotoma fuscipes in size and pro 

 portions except that the tail is not so long ; coloration pale, much 

 as in the Mohave Desert N. mexicana desertorum, tail strongly 

 bicolor. 



Color. Entire upper parts ochraceous buff, palest on the head; back 

 moderately lined with black-tipped hairs ; feet and under parts white ; the 

 white of the b^lly enroached upon by the buffy-ochraceous of the sides ; 

 tail bicolor ; above brownish-gray ; below soiled white, with distinct line 

 of demarkation. The grayish- brown of the ankles is pale and does not ex 

 tend out over the metatarsals. 



Cranial characters. The skull is clearly of the fuscipes type, having the 

 long rostrum, long nasal bones, and last upper molar of that species. It 

 differs from typical fuscipes (from north of Monterey Bay) in the following 

 particulars : Zygomatic arches narrow and much less spreading anteriorly ; 

 nasal branches of premaxillaries shorter ; palate shorter ; interpterygoid 

 fossa longer ; postpalatal notch somewhat broader and evenly rounded an 

 teriorly ; angular processes of mandible much sharper (not rounded off as 

 in fuscipes). The best characters are the shortness of the palate, the depth 

 of the pterygoid fossa, and the broadly rounded form of the postpalatal 

 notch. In typical fuscipes this notch is narrow, abruptly truncated anter 

 iorly, and usually enroached upon by a blunt projection from the posterior 

 edge of the palate. In subspecies ma.crotis the pterygoid fossa is much broader 

 and shorter. 



Neotoma desertorum sp nov. 



Type from FURNACE CREEK, DEATH VALLEY, CALIFORNIA. No ^39 $ ad. 

 U. S. Nat. Museum, Department of Agriculture Collection. CoLected Jan 

 uary 31, 1891, by T. S. Palmer (Original number 43). 



Measurements (taken in flesh). Type: Total length 305 ; tail vertebrae 128 ; 

 hind foot 30. Ear from anterior base 27 (in dry skin). 



Average measurements of eight males from type locality : Total length 

 299 ; tail vertebrae 132.5 ; hind foot 30. Average of thirteen females from 

 type locality : Total length 284 ; tail vertebrae 128 ; hind foot 29. 



General characters. Similar to N. intermedia in general ap 

 pearance but decidedly smaller, with larger ears, softer and more 

 silky pelage, coloration more ochraceous buffy instead of gray. 

 Skull characters distinctive. 



Color. Upper parts pinkish buff, most intense on the sides, becoming 

 grayish on the head, finely lined on the back with blackish hairs ; fore and 

 hind feet pure white ; tail bicolor, pale dusky above, white beneath ; under 

 parts superficially white, more or less washed with salmon on the neck, 



