830 MONOGRAPHS OF NORTH AMERICAN RODENTIA. 
gray shoulder-patches being darker,—black instead of brown. ‘This space 
varies from dark brown to black, and is either concolor or mixed more or less 
with touches of white. It extends generally from the nape to the middle of 
the back, but is variable in respect to both length and width: The passage 
into var. beecheyi is by almost imperceptible steps. 
The specimen (No. 1180) representing the most extreme phase of dif- 
ferentiation from the beecheyi form is from Klamath Lake, Oreg. Another 
quite similar (No. 5897) is marked as probably from Fort Crook, Cal.; it is, 
however, somewhat browner. No. 536, from Fort Crook, is much like the 
last; though marked ‘‘beecheyz”, it seems to belong to the douglassi series. 
Another specimen (No. 3616), from Fort Tejon, is but a step removed from 
the typical douglassi phase. Some of the numerous Fort Tejon specimens 
(var. beecheyi) have the middle of the back uniformly dark brown, with a 
very few touches of white; while the pattern of markings is typically like 
that of beecheyi, the mesial band, though brown rather than black, is darker 
than any other portion of the dorsal region. In both vars. beecheyi and doug- 
lassi, the scapular mantle is often divided by merely a very narrow line, and 
at other times by a broad band. The shoulder-patches also vary from very 
broad silvery-white areas, with slight touches of black, to those that are much 
narrower, and with a much greater admixture of black. No. 9318, from Vir- 
ginia City, Nev., has the shoulder-patches nearly obsolete, as in var. gram- 
murus, to which this specimen should perhaps be referred. It is, however, 
very like No. 3618 from Fort Tejon. The intergradation between vars. 
beecheyi and douglassi is most thorough. ; 
Hasirat.—Northern California, northward to Washington Territory. 
Three skulls of var. dowgdassi give an average length of about 2.30, being 
somewhat larger than var. beecheyi and rather smaller than var. grammurus. 
The skulls of dowgdassi afford no characters by which they can be separated 
from those of the other varieties. 
GENERAL REMARKS RESPECTING SPERMOPHILUS GRAMMURUS AND ITS VARIETIES. 
DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS AND AFFINITIES.—Spermophilus grammurus is 
widely distinct from all other members of the genus. It is at once recognizable 
by its long, full, bushy tail, large pointed ears, and its general Sciurine form. 
It also differs greatly from all the others in color and size, except S. empetra, 
