332 BULLETIN 56, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



in summer the hair is remarkably short and course, scarcely covering 

 the skin of the ventral surface. In a few specimens, taken at this sea- 

 son, the white spots are wanting, the upper surface being vinaceous- 

 cinnamon, with a few black hairs, and a finer sprinkling of white, from 

 hoary tips or annuli to the hairs. 



Habits and local distribution. —At Fort Hancock, on the Rio Grande, 

 in the Eastern Desert Tract, this ground-squirrel was extremely abund- 

 ant. Many of those trapped in June, 1893, were found completely 

 cooked by solar heat— to such an extent that they fell from the trap in 

 pieces when lifted from the hot sand, where they had. been exposed to 

 the sun's heat but a few hours. In February and March, 1892, we found 

 it abundant at El Paso and at old Fort Bliss, Texas. It was found at 

 every camp east of the San Luis Mountains, excepting Big Hatchet 

 Mountain. It was common at the altitude of 1,600 meters, below tim- 

 ber line, on the east side of the San Luis Mountains. 



CITELLUS SPILOSOMA ANNECTENS (Merriam). 

 PADRE ISLAND GROUND-SQUIRREL. 



Spermophilus spilosoma annectens Merriam, Proc. Biol. Sue. AVash., VIII, pp. 

 VA2, 133, Dec. 28, 1893 (original description).— Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist., VI, Art. VI, May 31, 1894, pp. 182, 183 (Mustang Island, Texas).— 

 Miller and Keun, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XX N, No. 1, Dec. 27. 1901, 

 p. 54 (Syst. Results Study X. Am. .Mam. to close of 1900). 



[Spermophilus spilosoma] annectans, Elliot, Field Col. Mus.. Zool. Ser., II, 1901, 

 p. 97 (Synop. Mam. N. Am. ). 



Type-locality. Padre Island, Cameron County, Texas. (Type, skin 

 and skull, No. |||H? U. S. National Museum, Biological Survey 

 Collection. 



Geographical range. — Southern coast region of Texas (Padre Island, 

 Mustang Island, and adjacent mainland). 



The original description is as follows: 



General characters. — S. annectens is about the size of S. spilosoma major, which it 

 resembles in coloration and markings, though the pelage has a grayish cast, suggest- 

 ing S. obsoletus. Ear a mere rim, about 3 mm. high at highest point. 



Color. — Upper parts dull grayish brown; back beset with ill-defined huffy spots, 

 margined posteriorly with dusky in unworn pelage; underparts soiled white. Eye- 

 lids white. Tail concolor with back or a little more fulvous, its distal half or two- 

 thirds bordered with a subapical black hand, beyond which the tips of the hairs arc 

 buffy ochraceous. Immature specimens and young of the year are more brownish 

 than the adults and show the spots much more distinctly, as usual in the spilosoma 

 group. 



Cranial awl dental characters. — Compared with S. spilosoma major, the skull of X 

 annectens is longer, but is actually as well as relatively narrower across the zygomatic 

 arches, particularly anteriorly, where the anterior roots are pinched in as in Tctido- 

 m;/s; frontals broader interorbitally-; fronto-nasal region more convex; supraorbital 

 foramina usually completely inclosed; postorbital processes more strongly decurved; 

 audita! bullae smaller; postzygomatic notch almost obsolete; rostrum broader across 



