514 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.45. 



sistent trapping on these higher alplands of the frontier range had 

 failed to produce a specimen of this mouse. The mountain specimen 

 agrees in all details with the series from the Chuisaya Steppe. The 

 wonderfully developed cheek pouches of nearly all the specimens 

 examined were well filled with tiny seeds. 



MYOSPALAX MYOSPALAX (Laxmann). 

 1773. Mus myospalax Laxmann, Kongl. vet. Acad. Handl., vol. 34, p. 134. 



One specimen from the border of alps and forest in the mountains 

 near Tapucha. It would seem from the great number of earth mounds 

 in this vicinity that this species is an abundant one, but our traps 

 were not suited for capturing it, and we had difficulty in obtaining even 

 a single specimen. 



MYOPUS MORULUS Hollister. 



1912. Myopus morulus Hollister, Smiths. Misc. Coll., vol. 60, No. 14, p. 1, 

 November 29. 



The unique type-specimen of this lemming was trapped, August 6, 

 under a log in the thick nut pine forest 5 miles south of Tapucha, at 

 6,875 feet altitude. Only a single specimen of the genus has hereto- 

 fore been recorded from Asia. Middendorff^ mentions a skin and 

 skull from the west coast of Okhotsk Sea, which he identified, by a 

 comparison with Liljeborg's colored plate, as the Scandinavian species, 

 M. scJiisticolor. At the same time Middendorff prophesied that these 

 lemmings would eventually be found to range across the continent, 

 and the capture of a specimen in the Altai goes far toward the fulfill- 

 ment of his prediction. Middendorff 's record is without doubt 

 authentic, and is entitled to more consideration than has hitherto 

 usually been shown it. 



EVOTOMYS RUTILUS (Pallas). 



1778. Mus rutilus Pallas, Nov. Spec. Quad. Glir. Ord., p. 246. 



1874. Evotomys rutilus Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, p. 187. 



We found this species abundant in the damp mountain forests 

 near Tapucha, at about 6,900 feet. Sixteen specimens were pre- 

 served, collected from August 6 to 11. 



Pallas described his Mus rutilus from the wooded regions and alps 

 east of the Obi River. From this, and the fact that in the same 

 account he refers specimens from the mouth of the Obi to his species, 

 but remarks upon a difference in color, it is reasonable to argue that 

 the '' type-locality" of rutilus is near the head of the Obi, close to the 

 Altai, and not at a point near the Arctic coast. Our specimens may, 

 then, be considered as fairly typical. Thomas has recently recorded 

 rutilus from the Syansk Mountains, 100 miles west of Lake Baikal.^ 



» Sibirische Reise, vol. 2, 1S53, p. 108. 



« Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 9, p. 398, April, 1912. 



