Vol. X. PP. 55-64 March 19, 1896 



PROCEEDINGS 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



REVIH[ON OF THE LEMMINGS OF TPIE GENUS SYNAP- 

 TOMVS, WrrH descriptions of new SPECIES. 



BY DR. C. HART MERRIAM. 



The genus Syiinptomys has an interesting liistorv. It was de- 

 scril)e(I by Professor Baird about forty years ago from a si^eci- 

 men received from William Coo[)er, of Hoboken, New -Jersey, for 

 wliom the s|)ecies was named Si/)iaptomi/s cnoperi} Tlie locality 

 at which it was collected is unknown. For many years the 

 species continued to elude the notice of naturalists, and it was 

 not until 1874 that additional information was })ublished con- 

 cerning it. In this year Coues recorded specimens from Indiana, 

 Illinois, Minnesota, and Kansas. He also mentioned specimens 

 from Oregon [= Washington] and Alaska; but these, as will be 

 shown later, do not belong to the present si)ecies.''' 



In 1881 Dr. F. W. Langdon recorded its occurrence " in num- 

 bers " at Brookville, Indiana, and described the locality at which 

 it had l)een found by E. R. Quick.* 



In 1885 Edgar R. Quick and Amos W. Butler descril)ed its 

 habits as observed at Brookville, Indiana."' 



In December, 1892, I published a notice of the occurrence of 

 the species on Roan Mountain, North Carolina, and of the dis- 

 covery of its remains in ' pellets' of the long-eared owl found in 

 Virginia, near Washington, D. C, b}^ Dr. A. K. Fisher, and of 

 others taken from the stomachs of hawks and owds killed at 

 Sandy Spring, Maryland, and Alfred Center, New York." At the 

 close of this paper I suggested that manniial collectors would 

 " do well to keep a sharp lookout for this species in the cooler 

 parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey." 



In January, 1893, S. N. Rhoads recorded the species from May 



^ The numeral references in the present paper refer to titles in the I>ib- 

 liography at the end of the article. 



9-Bioi.. Soc. Wash., Vui,. X, 1896 (55) 



