SCIURIDAZ.—SPERMOPHILUS MOULIS. 861 
subterminal band; tail below brownish-yellow, edged with whitish. Ears 
nearly obsolete ; muzzle much compressed; tail very short, flattened. Pelage 
very soft and furry. 
In coloration, this species somewhat resembles S. spilosoma, but shows 
no tendency to spotting. It differs from it also in its fine, soft, instead of 
coarse, harsh pelage, in having a very much shorter and more flattened tail, 
and in being rather smaller. The muzzle is also much narrower, and the 
auditory bulla are much less inflated. The anterior half of the dorsal surface 
in S. mollis is uniform yellowish-brown, faintly varied with gray and dusky, 
with no tendency to differentiation into spots; more posteriorly, the dorsal 
surface tends to a mottled appearance, but the light spots are very small and 
indistinct. In coloration, S. mo/is approaches very closely to some phases of 
S. richardsoni var. townsendi, particularly as seen in the types of Mr. Kenni- 
cott’s S. “elegans”, but it is on the whole more yellowish, especially over the 
shoulders; it lacks also the brownish nose- patch, and the tendency to differ- 
entiation into spots is less marked. It differs further from var. townsendi in 
being nearly one-half smaller, in having smaller ears, a narrower and less 
bushy tail, and in its strongly compressed muzzle. There are also welt 
marked cranial differences aside from those resulting from size. Full-grown 
skulls of S. modlis give a length of only 1.45 against a length, in correspond- 
ing skulls of var. townsendi, of 1.85; width of the former 0.95; of the latter 
1.20. The skulls of 8. mollis have a relatively much greater interorbital 
breadth, while the facial portion of the skull is relatively much the narrower, 
with narrower and longer nasals. The zygomatic arches are also much less 
expanded posteriorly, giving to the skull quite a different lateral outline. 
This form appears to have been first described (as above indicated) by 
Mr. Kennicott, in 1863, from specimens collected at Camp Floyd, Utah, and 
other neighboring localities. Other specimens have since been obtained in 
Nevada and Utah. Its exact geographical range remains unknown. It is 
evidently a species very distinct from its nearest allies, though it strongly 
resembles in coloration some phases of S. richardsoni yar. townsendi, from 
young examples of which, as represented by badly prepared skins, it is not 
readily distinguishable. In my preliminary notice of these forms, I provis- 
ionally referred S. mollis to S. townsendi, but a re-examination of the subject, 
aided by additional material, has shown this reference to be erroneous. 
