Vol. XI. pp. 101-102 April 26, 1897 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



\. 



TWO NEW MOLES FROM CALIFORNIA AND OREGON. 



BY C. HART MERRIAM. 



Among the abundant signs of Pocket Gophers (Thomomys) ob- 

 served about our camp on the rim of Crater Lake, Oregon, in 

 August, 1896, were a few ridges which my assistant, Mr. Vernon 

 Bailey, felt convinced, were the work of Moles. Assiduous trap- 

 ping for a number of days, however, failed to bring to light any 

 of these animals until finally, on August 18. a trap which on the 

 previous day had caught a Pocket Gopher was found to contain 

 the long-sought Mole. This animal, on comparison with speci- 

 mens of Scaponus californicus from the Fort Klamath plain, at 

 the south base of Crater Lake Mt.. seems to be a distinct species. 

 It is decidedly larger, and differs further in the characters men- 

 tioned below ; but its affinities are with californicus and not with 

 the large S. ton-nsendi, its immediate neighbor on the west. The 

 species is here named Scapanus nlpiims, n,nd is of special interest 

 as being, so far as known, the only strictl}' mountain Mole in 

 America. It will probably be found to range northward in the 

 Cascade Mountains, and possibly southward in the Sierra Ne- 

 vada. The t3"pe specimen was captured in the Hudsonian zone, 

 at an altitude of about 7000 feet [= 2130 meters]. 



Another apparently new species was secured by m}^ assistant, 

 ]Mr. Clark P. Streator, but in a widely different region — the desert 

 region east of the mountains, in the extreme northeastern corner 

 of California. I have named it Scnpanus truei in honor of Mr. 

 F. \\\ True, in recognition of his recenth' published ' Revision 

 of the American Moles.'' 



22— Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XI. 1897 (101) 



