20 MONOGRAPHS OF NORTH AMERICAN RODENTIA. 
notice is the length of tail. In NV. floridana, the tail only exceptionally equals 
the trunk without the head; in WV. fuscipes, the tail is only exceptionally so 
short as this, ranging usually from a little more than length of the trunk to 
the full length of the trunk and head together. Besides its length, the tail in 
the dried specimens shows the peculiarity remarked by Professor Baird, being 
compressed for its terminal third, somewhat as in the muskrat. At first, we 
thought this was a taxidermal or other accident, but all the specimens show 
the same thing; so that, whether or not the tail be compressed in life, it, at 
any rate, dries in that shape. Nothing of the sort oceurs in NV. floridana. 
The pilosity of the tail is about the same in the two species. The ears 
of fuscipes are larger than those of floridana, although the general size of the 
two animals is nearly the same. The soles of fuscipes are nearly naked 
throughout, but not perfectly so; a scant hairiness occupying the posterior 
third of the sole, which is densely furry in floridana. The general pelage 
of fuscipes is coarser and harsher than it is in floridana, although the differ- 
ence is not very noticeable; not more so than that between prairie and forest 
examples of JV. cinerea. In other respects, of size, form, and pelage, we note 
no essential characters. 
In color, however, there are likewise marked features, the most promi- 
nent of which is the nearly uniform blackishness of the tail, and the next 
most so is the duskiness of the hind feet. This peculiarity is uniform and 
very conspicuous in all the specimens examined. he surface of the meta- 
tarsus is dark-brown, like the outside of the leg; the toes being abruptly 
white. This coloration and that of the tail are especially interesting in the 
geographical connection mentioned below. In general color, the animal is 
of a darker and warmer shade than ordinary floridana, and many times deeper 
than the pale desert-breed of the latter from neighboring regions: The main 
color is a strong reddish-brown, overpowered with blackish on the back, but 
very bright on the sides. The under parts are white, as usual; the hairs on 
the middle line white to the very roots, but those along the sides of the belly 
ashy at root. On the fore leg, the dark color runs to the wrist and then stops 
abruptly ; on the hind, as stated, it reaches the roots of the toes. 
We have not specimens enough to show the full range of variation in 
size and proportions; but these, no doubt, are perfectly parallel with those 
of floridana ; and, similarly, we cannot give the entire variation in color. We 
should judge, from the restricted area that this species occupies, that its colors 
