28 Howell — Mammals of t\c Middle Mississippi Valley. 



stomachs of the rats taken here which have been examined. They were 

 found to l)e tilled with a finely chewed mass of fresh green vegetation, not 

 identifiable, but certainly not cedar. The stomachs of the two individuals 

 taken 2)4 miles back in IMammoth Cave contained fragments of apple, 

 leaves, sorghum seeds and onion, a few small beetle larvfo, fly larvje and 

 bits of beetle. 



At Hawesville, Kentucky, I found this species fairly numerous al)0ut 

 the wooded clifis along the river, and here, as at Mammoth Cave, very 

 few sticks had been carried into the crevices, l)ut freshly cut leaves and 

 plants were observed in several places. 



In the vicinity of Jackson, Kentucky, these rats are well known to the 

 inhabitants and are apparently common about rocky ledges all through 

 that region. They often come down about farm buildings located near 

 the cliffs and are reported 'to do some damage in corn cribs. One speci- 

 men was trapped along a clilt' close to a house at Lost Creek, Breathitt 

 County. 



Neotoma floridana illinoensis sul)sp. nov. 



ILLIXOLS WOODRAT. 



Type from Wolf Lake, Illinois. Adult female, No. 1(17, 752, U. 8. Na- 

 tional Museum, Biological Survey Collection, .January 12, 1010. Jolui 

 Johnson. 



General characters. — Similar in color to A''. /. baileyi but with longer 

 and darker tail ; skull nearest to that of iV. /. rubida but slightly smaller. 



Color. — ITpperparts mixed bufi" and black, varying in some specimens 

 to ochraceous bufi'; fore part of head and face gray ; tail distinctly bicolor, 

 blackish above, grayish-white below; feet pure white ; underparts grayish- 

 white with a tinge of yellow. 



Cranial characters. — Skull slightly smaller than that of rubida; zygo- 

 mata more widely spreading anteriorly, their sides nearly imrallel ; palate 

 more deeply notched (the interpterygoid fossa less evenly rounded); 

 spheno-palatine vacuities reduced to narrow slits. 



From baileyi and atfwateri the present form differs cranially in the 

 same characters that distinguish it from rubida and in addition the ros- 

 trum and nasals are longer and slenderer. 



Measurements. — Average of eight adults from type locality: total length, 

 -JiJO (390-4:5.3); tail vertebrae, 195 (187-205) ; hind foot, 3S (3(i-40). 



Remarks. — Woodrats of this group have not previously Ijeen taken in 

 the Mississippi Valley bottomlands at any point north of Louisiana. It 

 was quite a surprise, therefore, to lind the animals in southern Illinois at 

 the upper edge of the Lower Austral Z(~>ne. A few old signs and deserted 

 nests of woodrats were found in the heavy timber along the St. Francis 

 River, Missouri, but ail efforts to traj) specimens i)rovi'd unsuccessful. 

 The cliffs along the .Alississipj)! River north of Alton, Illinois, and south 

 of St. Louis, Missouri, were explored for signs of the.se aninuils, but no 

 in<lications of their presence were discovered. They were also looked for 

 unsuccessfully in the cliffs at ( Jolconda, Illinois. 



The animals are common at Wolf Lake, inhabiting the high rocky bluflls 



