PBOCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 75 



This specimen presents a very peculiar appearance, as it has the tail 

 entirely white, whitish feet, and a white band around the base of the 

 snout, while the body is of the usual dusky color. 



The specimens from Korth Carolina exhibit this hoariness less 

 strongly, but few of them show indications of age. The individuals 

 from Ohio show the variation no less than the others, so that it is quite 

 certain that the change is not local. 



Many adult males show a rusty color on the under surfaces, especially 

 on the breast and throat, and also around the wrists. These specimens 

 remind one of the series of Scalops aquatleus texanus from Kockport, 

 Aransas County, Texas, in which a similar suffusion is strongly pro- 

 noiinced. The white spots in the fur, mentioned by Professor Baird,' 

 are to be found on the older individuals. 



Of the thirty-two skins from Magnetic City, JSTorth Carolina, three 

 have small areas of pure white hair on the breast. Two of these speci- 

 mens are females and the third a male. This last has a longitudinal 

 white mark on the median line of the muzzle, which ends abruptly in a 

 small orange-colored spot; the white on the breast in this instance is 

 followed by an area of dull orange-brown ; in fact, the base of the hair 

 all around the white area is of this color. 



MOLTINa. 



I have been able to make out very little regarding the shedding of 

 the fur in this species from the series of about fifty specimens at com- 

 mand. Only three specimens show indications of shedding, and the 

 condition of the fur in these three is puzzling. 



In one (Xo. 00297, 1). A., male), obtained at Magnetic City, North Caro- 

 lina, March 20, 1894, the new fur covers the under surfaces of the animal 

 completely, while on the upper side of the body the new fur is starting 

 on the posterior half of the back, bnt is still concealed in the old fur. 

 In the second specimen (No. 00298,0. A., male), obtained at the same 

 locality as the first about a month later, namely, on April 24, the new 

 fur has attained about half its full length over the whole of the lower 

 surfaces and on the posterior half of the back, but it is still everywhere 

 concealed by the old fur. The third specimen (Xo. 5382;3, D. A., male), 

 obtained at the same locality as the last, about three weeks later, but 

 in the preceding year (May 10, 1893), shows only a very small patch 

 of new hair on the crown of the head, and there is a small amount of 

 concealed new hair immediately around this area. There is besides a 

 band of new hair visible on the breast; elsewhere the old hair still 

 prevails. 



As the specimens are all males, it is difficult to understand why the 

 one taken latest shows the least advance toward a change. As regards 

 this one, since it was taken in a different year from the other two, it 

 may be supposed that the spring that year was less advanced than in 



1 Mammals of North America, p. 68. 



