SCIURIDAS—ARCTOMYS MONAX, 915 
about 3.20 to 3.60, and in width from 2.15 to 2.48. Specimens from the 
United States average about 3.40 in length of skull, and rarely exceed 3.50. 
The habitat of Arctomys monaz extends from the Carolinas northward 
to Hudson’s Bay and Liard River, and westward from the Atlantic coast to 
Western Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota. There are specimens in the collec- 
tion from Nelson’s River, H. B. T., James’s Bay, Fort Simpson, Fort Che- 
pewyan (Athabasca District), Fort Liard, and Peale’s River, that scarcely differ 
from specimens from New York and New England. Some of them are rather 
more rufous than the usual phase met with in the United States, but are not 
apparently otherwise different. According to Mr. B. R. Ross, it ranges north- 
ward to latitude 62°. He speaks of obtaining specimens at Lake Athabasca 
and Salt River, but adds that he thinks its range does not extend beyond Fort 
Simpson.* Audubon and Bachman state that it exists sparingly in the mount- 
ainous districts of North and South Carolina, but add that it is not found in 
the maritime districts of either of those States.t 
Although the present species has very few synonyms, technically speak- 
ing, it has a very complicated history. The specific name monaz was first given 
to this animal in 1758 by Linnzeus, who based it on the description of the 
““Monax, or Marmotte of America,” of Edwards, whose description and figure 
were published in 1747, Edwards's work being the only one quoted by Linnzeus 
in either the tenth or the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturee. Edwards's 
figure was drawn from a living specimen in the possession of Sir Hans Sloane, 
brought from Maryland. Thus the name monaz is unequivocally applicable 
to the Marmot, ‘‘Ground Hog”, or ‘‘Woodchuck” of the Atlantic States. 
Somewhat before this date, however, Catesby, in his Natural History of Caro- 
lina (published 1731 to 1743), described and figured an animal called by him 
the “‘Bahama Coney”; in the appendix of the same work he described the 
““Monax”. The former belongs to a family wholly unrepresented in the 
United States, being referable to some species of Capromys; perhaps to the 
C. fournieri, as was first suggested by Audubon and Bachman. The latter is 
the common Marmot of the Atlantic States, the Arctomys monaz of authors.t 
* MS. notes in Smithsonian Institution. 
t Their reference to its occurrence on the Upper Missouri and in the Rocky Mountains to Texas 
relates of course to A. flaviventer. iP ‘ : ; nia 
t As Catesby’s vague and unsatisfactory descriptions of these animals have an important historical 
bearing, I subjoin them in full : — 
“CUNICULUS BAITAMENSIS. 
“The Bahama Coney. 
“This Creature is a little less than the common Wild Rabbit, and of a brown Colour, with a Mix- 
ture of gray Hairs. Its Ears, Feet and Tail resemble those of a Rat, in other Parts it is somewhat like 
