1885.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 403 



DESCRIPTION OF HESPEROMYS TRUEI, A NEVT SPECIES BELONG- 

 ING TO THE SUBFAMILY MURINE. 



By R. W. SIlUFEliDT, U. S. Army. 



Fort Wingate is a military station about 3 miles ofl' the railroad in 

 northwestern New Mexico. The country about it is hilly, with broad 

 and more or less level valleys dividing the broken ranges. These hills 

 support a growth of low piuons and a species of scrub-oak, while in 

 many places their sides are covered with irregular groups of loose 

 boulders of sandstone rock. 



The highest point is something between 7,000 and 8,000 feet above 

 the datum plane. The midsummer days may be very warm, and the 

 thermometer has been known to fall as low as 15° Fahr. below zero in 

 the winter months. 



Among the smaller mammals to be found in this locality, the south- 

 western form oi Neotoma fioridana is probably the most abundant. 



This handsome little rat often constructs its nest beneath one of the 

 uptilted boulders, or sometimes in a fissure between two of them, and 

 structures of this kind are frequently to be noticed in such situations 

 as we ramble over the hill-sides, where the smaller masses of rocks are to 

 be found. Occasionally it chooses for its home the shelter afforded by 

 the gnarled roots of a piiion, where the elements have forced them above 

 ground, or, more rarely, the hollow trunk of one of these trees, should 

 it occur in a favorable situation. 



Until the 16th of March, 1885, during my collecting excursions 

 about Fort Wingate, I never experienced any difiiculty in capturing, 

 whenever I chose, a few specimens of this rat. All one had to do was 

 to simply tear open one of their nests and pounce on its inhabitant with 

 gloved hands. After the date mentioned; however, they suddenly dis- 

 appeared, and on that very day I opened seven of these nests, appar- 

 ently all new ones, only to find in each instance the owner missing. 



On my way home from this unsuccessful hunt my attention was at- 

 tracted to the outer covering of another nest protruding from an open- 

 ing in the dead and hollow trunk of a small piiion, at least 2 feet 

 above the ground. This was an uncommon site for the nest of a Neo- 

 toma^ and taken in connection with the absence of the usual pile of rub- 

 bish about the entrance, and the small size of the trunk chosen, my 

 curiosity was suflficiently aroused to determine me to investigate the 

 occupant's stronghold. 



The nest, composed of the fine fibers of the inner bark of the pinon, 

 was soon pulled out, and its owner dislodged and captured alive and 

 unhurt. It proved to be a mouse about half the size of the average 

 Neotoma., colored very much like one, but possessing a pair of ears that 



