34 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. [no. 19. 



tdlls^ and iV. drumimmdl chiefly in its long attenuate nasals, open 



sphenopalatine vacuities, and pale incisors. The only specimens 



secured were caught in a slide of large granite ])owlders at the head of 



Lake Bennett. It was ascertained to occur, however, from White 



Pass to the Semenow Hills. In the cliffs above Glacier on the coast 



side of White Pass I found signs of Neotoina^ and once one peeped 



out of a crevice at me while I was busily engaged stalking a hoary 



marmot. It also occurs sparingly in the cliffs about Lake Lebarge 



and in the Semenow Hills, where the last evidences of its presence 



were seen. This distribution makes it the northernmost species of 



the genus. 



One night about 10.30, as I was returning to camp at Bennett, I saw 



one of these rats frisking about in the rocks. It was still quite light, 

 and I immediately stopped and stood motionless while he darted in and 

 out of the rocks. His movements were utterly noiseless and so quick 

 that my eye could scarcely follow them. For some time his little 

 whiskered nose appeared and disappeared at various openings in the 

 rocks about ten feet away. Each time he would look steadily at me 

 for a moment or two and then silently vanish. Gradually his curiosity 

 overcame his caution, and in decreasing circles he came nearer and 

 nearer until he bobbed out right before me and then cautiously 

 approached until he could sniff at the toe of my shoe. A slight grat- 

 ing of my gun barrel against a rock caused him to vanish like a flash, 

 and this time he did not reappear. 



Evotomys dawsoni Merriam. Dawson Bed-backed Mouse. 



Red-lxicked mice are by far the most abundant maumials in the 

 Yukon region. Although but one specimen was taken at Bennett, 

 and none between there and Fifty-Mile River, in spite of considerable 

 trapping, aside from this they were found all along our route from 

 Skagway to Fort Yukon. The following are the most important 

 localities at which specimens were secured: Skagway, Glacier, Ben- 

 nett, W^hite Horse Rapids, Lake Lebarge, Rink Rapids, Fort Selkirk, 

 Dawson, Char.lie Creek, and Circle. From a study of this series, 

 which numbers over 100 specimens, it appears that all l)elong to one 

 species, E. daivsoni. Its range probabl}^ reaches northward almost if 

 not quite to the limit of trees. 



Specimens were trapped in all sorts of localities; along cold streams, 

 under logs, in heavy moss, in Microtu^ runways, and among rocks. 

 They abound on the large islands, where the}'^ were generally caught 

 in dry, brushy places, in the dead leaves which cover the ground. 

 We occasionally saw them during the day, and often heard them rust- 

 ling the dead leaves on the ground about us as we lay in our blankets 

 at night. They are the vermin of the miner's larder, and are always 

 to be found about log cabins. 



