492 



BULLETIN 56, UNITED 8TATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



plumbeous; feet and under suf ace white. Mammas, 2 pairs. Length, 

 350 mm.; tail vertebrae, 175; hind foot, 35; ear from crown, 20; skull, 

 44 by 21. 



( ranial and dental characters. — The anterior loop of the first upper 

 molar is completely divided by an infolding of the enamel. The nasals 

 are truncate posteriorly and end flush with the premaxillaries behind. 

 The orbital rim is elevated and sharp, making the interorbital portion 

 of the frontal bone strongly concave longitudinally, and the interptery- 

 goid space is narrow. As noted by Merriam, the audit al bullae, which 

 are rather small, are sometimes "curved toward median line anteriorly 

 in a manner not observed elsewhere in the genus;" but this pecul- 

 iarity is by no means constant. 



Remarks. — This slightly marked race occupies the spruce and pine 

 zones on the mountains southwest of the Colorado Plateau, in the latter 

 region being replaced by a larger but closely allied species, Neotoma 

 phi< torn in. On the Mexican Line we found it only on the highest por- 

 tions of the San Luis and Huachuca mountains. Externally it is very 

 similar to Neotoma intermedia albigula of the same region, but may be 

 distinguished by its smaller size and more grayish head." 



Record and measurements of 8 specimens of Neotoma mexicana butlata. 



a The following two species have been described from localities not far from the Mexican 

 Boundary 



NEOTOMA BELLA Bangs. 



PRETTY WOOD-RAT. 



Neotoma bella Bangs, Proc. New England Zool. Club. I, July 31, 1899, p. 66 (original 

 description). — Millkr and Reiin, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., XXX, No. 1, 

 Dec. 27, 1901, p. 101 (Syst. Results Study N. Am. Mam. to close of 1900).— 

 Elliot, Field Col. Mus., Zool. Ser., II, 1901, p. 129 (Synop. Mam. N. Am.). 



The original description of this rat by Mr. Bangs is as follows: 



Type-locality. — Palm Springs, Riverside County, California. 



General characters. — Belonging to the intermedia-lepida group. Size larger than N . lepida 



