Vol. VIII, pp. 113-116 August 16, 1893 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



NOTES ON THOMOMYS BULB IVOR US. 

 BY GERRIT S. MILLER, Jr. 



Thomoiinj-i hidhivora><. was accurately clescribed by Richardson 

 more tlian sixty years ago,* but has remained, save for this 

 author's account, entirely unknown to naturalists almost to the 

 present day. Richardson's description of Diplmtoma (?) hnlhi- 

 vortim was based on a " Camas-rat " from the " banks of the 

 Columbia," a region of which the mammalian fauna has until 

 recently been very imperfectly known ; hence it is no surprising 

 circumstance that this gopher has been so long overlooked by 

 collectors. 



In the spring of 1S90 Mr. A. W. Anthony took, at Beaverton, 

 Washington county, Oregon, three specimens of Thomomys that 

 soon after came into my hands and were immediately identi- 

 fied with the subject of Richardson's description. Lack of proper 

 material to determine the questions of nomenclature raised by 

 tins discovery prevented any publication at the time, and the 

 matter was allowed to rest. Recently, however, Dr. J. A. Allen, 

 with an abundant supply of specimens at his command, re- 

 viewed a number of vexed questions concerning the synon- 

 omy of various species of Thomomys, and at his request the 

 Anthony skins were placed at his disposal, the rediscovery of 

 this long-lost animal being soon after announced,! while the 



* Fauna Boreali-Americana, I, 1829, 206. 



tBull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., v, 56, author's edition, iiublished April 



28, 189;]. 



17— Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. VIII, 1893. (113) 



