From the Eastern United States. 59 



The first is, of course, the Mas af/rarins amerlcaiws Kerr (An. 

 Khigd., I. 1792, 231, based on Pennant, History of Quadrupeds, 

 " No. o02b").''^ The description given by Pennant makes special 

 reference to the mixed " dusky and ferruginous " color of the 

 back and ^'orange coloured"' sides of his American Field Rat, 

 terms which refer unequiv^ocally to our smaller and Ijetter- 

 knoAvn animal. Any doubt in the case is dispelled by the addi- 

 tion l\y Pennant in the Arctic Zoology (i, 1784, 181), ''length, 

 al)Out four and a half inches; of tail, four inches ; " thus show- 

 ing that it was the short-tailed form that he had in mind. 



On Pennant's animal was based also the Mas sj/lvaticiis 

 noneboracensls of Fischer (Synopsis Mammalium, 1829, 318), the 

 habitat of which is given as " in Novo Eboraco," and in all proba- 

 bility the Mas noveboraccasls of Selys Longchamps (Etudes d'- 

 Micromammalogie, 1839, 67), since this author remarks that the 

 animal is a good species, although considered merely a variety by 

 previous writers. That it is clearly the short-tailed animal that 

 Selys Longchamps refers to is shown by the following extracts 

 from the original description : " Son pelage est d'un fauve plus 

 vif sur les cotes de la tete et du corps. * * ''' Longeur totale, 

 6 pouces 2 lignes; du corps, 3 pouces 6 lignes ; de la queue, 2 

 pouces 8 lignes." This mouse is said to replace in North America 

 the European Mas sylvaticas. 



Rafinesque's Mascalas leacopas (American Monthly INIagazine, 

 III, 1818, 446) is named among the ten new species of " wild 

 rats " met with l)y that })rolific describer of S[)ecies during " a 

 journey through the western region of the United States" — that 

 is, in the Ohio valley and the pine barrens of Kentucky. As 

 there is little chance that the range of Sltomys canadensis extends 

 to that region, the name is hardly worth considering here. It 

 may be mentioned, however, that Rafinesque's animal is said to 

 be " fallow above," an expression which might apply fairly well 

 to *S'. (unericanus, though hardly to the largejj form. 



The next name to be considered is the Cricetas mijoidcs of 

 Oapper (Zoolog. Journ., v, 1830, 204, pi. x). This animal, from 

 the region between York and Lake Simcoe, Canada, is described 

 as having the " upper half of the Ijody mixed black and light red- 

 dish or yellowish brown." It is further stated tliat " it measures 

 34 inches from the tip of the nose to the insertion of the tail ; the 



* Synopsis of Quadrupeds, 1771, p. o03,No.'320a (American Field Mouse). 

 History of Quadrupeds, n, 1781, p. 444, No. 302a. 



