324 Notes on a Collection of Mammals. [zoe 



whether the animal taken by Dr. Boyle, was high up on the 

 mountains or down in the foothills close to the Sacramento 

 plain; if the former, my specimens were from the neighborhood 

 of the type locality. 



The specimens here referred to were first identified by Dr. 

 Allen as Sitoinys boylii, but were later referred to .5". a. gambelii 

 and his identification is here followed. 



14. ATeotoma cinerea (Ord.) Bushy-tailed Wood Rat. 

 Found only at the Glen Alpine Sulphur Springs, on Mt. Tallac, 

 where six specimens were secured. The species was said to be for- 

 merly abundant about the feed-stable and buildings of the resort, 

 but had been nearly exterminated by cats about the place; when I 

 arrived there appeared to be only one pair, with its young. On 

 August 3 I trapped an adult male, and the same day one of the 

 workmen brought me three young only a few days old. Later, 

 August 12, I secured the female and another young one. 



This species seems to have habits in common with Neotoma 

 fusdpes of the interior valleys of California, especially the habit 

 of carrying food away from cabins. An old miner told me that 

 during the preceding winter these rats had taken possession of 

 his cabin when he was away, and in a few nights had completely 

 removed a sack of potatoes. Later he had found the greater 

 part of the stolen goods in a hollow stump near his dwelling. 

 I have also been told that these animals frequently bring back 

 articles to replace the things stolen, and have from this habit 

 been called " trading rats," but I have no proof of this assertion. 



The six specimens vary in color. The adult male is dark 

 gray above with faint shadings of brownish yellow along the 

 sides, extending to the rump and for a short distance along the 

 upper surface of the tail. The latter is dark gray for the most 

 part, but is tipped with grayish white. The female of this spe- 

 cies is a brownish yellow, richer along sides and on rump and 

 shoulders. Below from nose to tip of the tail it is similar to the 

 coloration of the male. The three young, collected August 3, 

 are dark gray above, the color intensifying posteriorly until the 

 lower back and rump are almost black. The brownish wash has 

 begun to appear along the sides and about the shoulders. 

 Below, along the median line, the pelage is pure white, but 



