THE SEWELLEL FAMILY 



(AplodontiidcB) 



N account of certain well-defined peculiarities, the Sewellel, or Showt'l has 

 been placed in a family by itself. It has no close relations in America, but 

 seems to be the sole survivor of an earlier type of rodent. Naturalists now 

 place it between the Porcupines and the Alarmots, but it bears quite as many 

 points of difference as of resemblance to either of these families. The Sewellel 

 is a rodent about the size and general build of a Prairie Dog. Its body is short 

 and stout, its limbs are short, its head is broad and triangular. The eyes 

 are small and bright. It is ostensibly a tailless animal, there being only a 

 rudimentary stump. Its claws are long and thumbs short. The skull is 

 massive and broad, and there are no post-orbital processes. The mandible is 

 strong and heav>'. 



SEWELLEL 



Aplodontia rufa ( Rafiiicsqiie) 



Other Names. — Showt'l ; Mountain Beaver. 



General Description. — A stout-hodied, tailless, bur- 

 rowing rodent, squirrel-like in appearance and about 

 the size of a Prairie Dog. Head very broad and 

 blunt ; neck short and thick ; ears inconspicuous and 

 nearly hidden in the hair of the head: body stout, 

 thickset, muscular ; tail rudimentary, appearing exter- 

 nally only as an elongated tuft of hair; legs short, 

 claws long, fossorial ; hair everywhere of moderate 

 length, rather coarse ; a shorter underfur present ; 

 general color rich brownish or chestnut; lighter below. 

 A little-known animal keeping so closely in its burrow 

 as to be but rarely seen. 



Dental Formula. — Incisors, - — ; Canines. --— ; Pre- 



molars, 



■ ; Molars, |^^=22. 



Pelage. — Adults: Sexes identical. Seasonal varia- 

 tion not noticeably conspicuous. Above, chestnut to 

 reddish-brown, some of the hairs black; beneath, plum- 

 beous, a short underfur showing through the longer 

 hairs': face and ears lighter; hairs of tail like back. 

 Young : Not noticeably different from adults. 



Measurements. — Total length, 12 inches: tail verte- 

 brae. I inch ; hind foot, 2 inches. 



Range. — Northwestern Oregon and southern Wash- 

 ington. 



Food. — Leaves, ferns and other vegetation. 



Remarks. — This little-known animal has no very 

 immediate relationships, being rather a survivor of a 

 primitive type now found only in a very restricted 

 region. It is placed in classification between the Por- 

 cupines and the Marmots, but is enough unlike either 

 to warrant being placed in a distinct family. Six species 

 of this queer animal are described, the general varia- 

 tion being in color correlated with a variation in size. 

 In general appearance, however, these different varieties 

 closely resemble one another. 



Rel.\ted Species 



Rafinesque's Showt'l. — Aplodontia rufa (Rafines- 

 ((ue). Tyjiical animal as described above. Northwest- 

 ern Oregon and southwestern Washington. 



Pacific Showt'l. — Aplodontia pacifica Merriam. 

 Size small, ear longer; colors dark. Coastal region of 

 Oregon about Vaquina Bay. 



California Showt'l. — Aplodontia major major Mer- 

 riam. Larger, total length 14 inches ; general color 

 grayish sepia brown grizzled with black. Northern 

 California. 



Olympic Showt'l. — Aplodontia olympica Merriam. 

 Larger and darker than Rafinesque Showt'l. Olympic 

 mountains, Washington. 



Among the many new and, to them, strange 

 and interesting animals, discovered by Lewis 

 and Clark in their famotis expedition of 1804-5 

 was a queer-looking tailless animal called by the 

 Indians of the Columbia river, the region where 

 it was first seen, the " Sewellel " or " Showt'l." 



The white men had seen nothing like it before, 

 and no dotibt they may have wondered a bit as 

 to just what kind of an animal it was, althotigh 

 it was set down in literature of that time as a 

 kind of Squirrel. The Indians brought robes 

 made from a number of skins sewed together 



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