152 CITELLUS. 



113. adocetus (Citellus), Merr., Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 1903, p. 79. 

 PLAIN-TAILED SPERMOPHILE. 



Type locality. La Salada, 40 miles south of Uruapan, State of 

 Michoacan, Mexico. 



Gcnl. Char. Near C. annulatits, but smaller; tail without rings: 

 pelage harsh; ears short, tail long. Skull has broader jugal, and 

 broad frontal; long postorbital processes decurved. 



Color. Upper parts grizzled grayish and black, top of head 

 darker; superciliary stripe buffy, sometimes washed with pale ful- 

 vous ; buffy band under eye ; under parts yellowish buff ; occasionally 

 fulvous on throat and chin ; fore legs, hands, and feet dull pale fulvous ; 

 sides of neck washed with fulvous; tail grizzled black and buffy, 

 terminal half bordered with black and edged with buffy fulvous, 

 median line of distal half beneath pale fulvous. At certain seasons 

 the upper parts of body are dull ochraceous brown. 



Measurements. Total length, 350; tail vertebrae, 156; hind foot, 

 48. Skull: basal length, 41 ; palatal length, 24; postpalatal length, 17 ; 

 zygomatic breadth, 26; interorbital breadth, 13; length of tooth row 

 on alveolus, 8.25; on crowns, 7.5. 



The "Prairie-dogs," as their name implies, are dwellers of the 

 plains, where they congregate in such large numbers that their 

 countless burrows are known as "towns." The presence of any one 

 approaching one of these is immediately announed by the barking of 

 the "dogs," which, sitting bolt]upright at the mouths of their burrows, 

 by shrill staccato cries express their disapproval of the intrusion. 

 Not very brave are the "dogs," for when a near approach is threat- 

 ened, each one disappears into the nearest hole, and does not come out 

 again until satisfied that all danger is past. In form this Marmot is 

 rather chunky, with short tail and coarse short hair, the tips of 

 which have been worn away by constant rubbing against the soil in 

 their mining operations. The dentition is powerful and the fore 

 paws are formed for digging. The galleries in their "towns" ramify 

 in all directions and cover a vast extent of ground, and it would be 

 a useless effort to try and dig out one of these animals. They are 

 very animated, incessantly in motion, and when barking the tail is 

 jerked upward with a spasmodic action as if the creature were moved 

 by springs. Owls and rattlesnakes are fellow-boarders with the 

 "dogs" in these towns, by no means dwelling in amity, as supposed 

 by some, for the snakes and owls destroy the various young, those of 

 the "dogs" being the chief sufferers, and doubtless they would be 



