844 MONOGRAPHS OF NORTH AMERICAN RODENTIA. 
““Arctomys alpina”, which Richardson says is the same as his Arctomys parryi, _ 
probably from knowing personally the specimens referred to, since Parry's 
allusion gives no clue, further than the significance of the name, to the char- 
acter of the animal to which he refers. Richardson, the same year (1825), 
gave a detailed account of the species, including much relating to its habits 
and distribution, and bestowed upon it the specific name by which it has 
since been currently known. In 1829, it was again described by the same 
author, at which time he characterized and named two additional varieties, 
namely, erythrogluteia and pheognatha. Of the latter, Richardson says :— 
‘“‘Tt is characterized chiefly by a well-defined, deep, chestnut-colored mark 
under the eye.” It was based on a specimen in the Museum of the Zodlog- 
ical Society of London, brought from Hudson’s Bay; the particular district, 
however, not being stated. In one of my specimens of var. erythrogluteus, 
there is also a well-defined chestnut-colored line beneath the eye, and a similar 
mark is faintly indicated in quite a number of the examples of var. empetra. 
It hence seems probable that Richardson’s “‘ var. pha@ognatha” may be based 
merely on a specimen of var. empetra in which this mark was developed with 
unusual distinctness. 
The species was redescribed by Baird in 1857, who directed attention to 
its close resemblance to S. eversmanni. In 1861, Mr. B. R. Ross gave to it 
the name “‘Arctomys kennicottii”, under the impression that it had not been 
previously described.* In 1874, in my Synopsis of the North American Sc7- 
urid@, 1 briefly characterized the variety kodiacensis. F 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.—According to Richardson, ‘This Spermo- 
phile inhabits the Barren Grounds skirting the sea-coast from Churchill in 
Hudson’s Bay round by Melville Peninsula, and the whole northern extremity 
of the continent to Behring’s Straits, where specimens precisely similar were 
procured by Captain Beechey. It abounds in the neighborhood of Fort 
Enterprise, near the southern verge of the Barren Grounds, in latitude 65°, 
and is plentiful on Cape Parry, one of the most northern parts of the conti- 
nent. It is found generally”, he adds, ‘‘in stony districts, but seems to 
delight chiefly in sandy hillocks amongst rocks, where burrows, inhabited by 
different individuals, may be often observed crowded together. One of the 
*I tind no further description of the 4. kennicottii than the following :—“ Arctomys Kennicottii (Ross). 
This I consider to be a new species; but I may be wrong. It is of small size, and inhabits the North- 
ernmost ranges of the Rocky Mountains.”—(B. R. Ross, Nat. Hist. Review, 1862, p. 274.) As shown by 
specimens thus labelled by him in the National Museum, his 4. kennicottii is the true S. empetra (=S. 
parryi auct.). 
