784 MONOGRAPHS OF NORTO AMBRICAN RODENTIA. 
rather broader and shorter than the inner. The inner is narrowly edged on 
the inner side with chestnut, as is the outer on the outer side. They are 
separated by a rather broad stripe of yellowish-white, which extends rather 
further both anteriorly and posteriorly than its enclosing stripes of black. 
The light stripes begin at a point directly above the shoulder, and are often 
faintly traceable to within half an inch of the base of the tail. The space 
between the dorsal line and the first lateral line on either side is gray, as is 
the region over the shoulders. The top of the head is more brownish; the 
sides of the head, neck, and body are yellowish, brightest on the sides of 
the neck. The extreme basal portion of the tail and the posterior fifth of 
the dorsal region and sides are dark reddish-brown or chestnut, generally 
with no indication of stripes. The hairs of the tail above are yellowish- 
white at the base, with a broad subterminal bar of black, and tipped with 
white. The middle of the lower surface of the tail is generally fulvous or 
even bright golden. The ears, which are well developed and pointed, are 
clothed internally and on the anterior surface with short yellowish- or reddish- 
brown hairs; the posterior border is narrowly edged with whitish, and there 
is a white spot at the base of the ear postero-internally. 
The very large number of specimens before me indicate that the preseut 
species preserves great constancy of coloration. The variation exhibited by 
nearly a hundred New England skins consists merely in the more or less 
grayer cast of the upper surface in some than in others, in the sides being 
more strongly yellowish, and the rump of a darker or lighter shade of chest- 
nut; the stripes vary somewhat in breadth and in the purity of their color. 
In a few specimens, the light stripes on the sides are nearly pure white (some- 
times quite so anteriorly); in others, they are strongly yellowish or deep 
cream-color. 'The dark stripes are, in some specimens, twice as broad as 
in others. In No. 1568 (Coll. M. C. Z.), from Maine, the stripes are all 
very obscure, almost as pale as in the T. “dorsalis” of authors, and presents 
an exactly parallel phase of coloration. Melanistic examples are rare in this 
species. No. 1592 (Coll. M. C. Z.), however, from Norway, Me., is intensely 
black throughout, excepting a narrow white streak on the breast. Dr. Adams,* 
however, states that he has met with several instances of melanism in this 
animal in New Brunswick. 
Specimens from southern localities are considerably brighter-colored 
* Field and Forest Rambles, p. 100. 
