114 CALIFORNIA MAMMALS. 



rooted or semirooted, prismatic; palate ending about the middle 

 of last molars. 



Genus Neotoma Say and Ord. (New — to cut.) 

 Upper molars with three roots, lower with two; last molar 

 smallest; coronoid process slender, usually higher than condyle; 

 anteorbital foramen wide above, much contracted below, the 

 maxillar plate bounding its posterior side not spurred; frontal 

 not distinctly beaded at border of orbit ; audital bullae small ; eyes 

 prominent; ears large, rounded; thinly haired; whiskers very 

 long; size large. 



Subgenus Neotoma Gray. 



Skull strong, rugged ; rostrum elongated ; tail broad, squir- 

 rel-like; hind feet large. 



Neotoma cinerea Ord. (Ash gray.) 



ASH-COLORED RAT. 



Above mixed yellowish brown and black, sides with more 

 buff and less black ; below white, the hairs> ashy at base except on 

 the breast; feet white; ankles dusky; tail rather darker on the 

 upper side than the back, the yellow tints lacking, below white 

 except near the base where it is brown. The hairs of the tail are 

 from a quarter of an inch to a full inch in length, varying in 

 length with age, season and individual. Young; above slate gray 

 thickly mixed with black hairs; below ashy white; tail ashy or 

 slate gray above, white below, hairs short but longer than in 

 young of the subgenus Neotoma. 



Length about 380 mm. (15 inches); tail vertebrae 180 

 (7); hind foot 45 (1.75)- 



Type locality, Great Falls, Montana. 



Northern Rocky Mountains and west and southwest to the 

 Cascade Mountains and Sierra Nevada. Common in Modoc and 



