3i6 Notes on a Collection of Ma7nnials. [^OE 



at the summit. The chief timber is the tamarack pine, Pimis 

 contorta, which still forms heavy forests along the sides of the 

 valley though much of it has been cut away since the coming of 

 the railroad. On the high ridges, a thousand feet above the 

 valley, are found scattering groves of a beautiful fir, Tsugo 

 Willianisonii. Along the stream which wanders through the 

 valley grow thickets of a dwarf alpine willow and alders; often 

 about these in the grass were runways of meadow mice or voles. 

 It was in this valley that I first found the curious alpine spermo- 

 phile, Spervwpliiliis beldingi. The gilded chipmunk Spermo- 

 philus dirysodeirus was also abundant in the rock ledges. 



Mt. Tallac, about which the greater part of the collection was 

 made, is nearly 10,000 feet in altitude and lies a few miles south- 

 west of Lake Tahoe. The western slope is not precipitous like 

 the eastern side, and is well timbered in places, chiefly with 

 tamarack pine, a few groves of Williamson's fir and Pinus flexilis, 

 the latter a dwarf snow-crushed pine, bearing five leaves and 

 small purple cones, and found only on the highest peaks and 

 ridges. There are many boggy springs along the mountain 

 slope, about which flourish alder and willow thickets. It was 

 in these places that I found the only traces of the weasel, 

 Piitorius arizonensis (?). Several mammals, including the gray- 

 headed pika, Lagomys scliisticeps, the 3^ellow-bellied marmot, 

 Ardomys fiaviventer, and two or three species of Ta?nias, were 

 found commonly high up among the rocks. 



From Mt. Tallac I made a hasty three days' trip into the Carson 

 Valley, Nevada, obtaining there specimens of ^r^^/Vo/a and Tamias. 

 A large hare, Lepus texianus, and the antelope squirrel, Spermo- 

 philus leiictirus, were common on the sage plain east of the valley; 

 along the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada I saw several speci- 

 mens of a large bushy-tailed spermophile which was probably 

 Spermopliiliis grammii rus. 



I failed to obtain specimens of many common species, either 

 through lack of time or accident; these species with others com- 

 monly known to the trappers will be enumerated at the close of 

 the list. I have taken advantage of the identification by Dr. J. 

 A. Allen of some of this material submitted to him by the 

 Museum, and I am also greatly indebted to Prof. C. H. Gilbert and 



