MAMMALS OF THE MEXICAN BOUNDARY. 



485 



[Neotoma] intertnedia, Elliot, Field Col. Mus., Zool. Ser., II, 1901, p. 161 (Synop. 

 Mam. N. Am.); IV, 1904, p. 284 (Mam. Mid. Am). 



Type-locality. — Dulzura, San Diego County, California. (Type, 

 skin and skull, in the collection of S. N. Rhoads, of Philadelphia.) 



Geographical range. — Sonoran Zone of the Pacific Coast Tract of Cal- 

 ifornia and Lower California. 



Description. — Size medium. Length, 320 mm.; tail vertebrse, 150; 

 hind foot, 34; ear, 24. Skull, 44 by 21. Tail sharply bicolor, short, 

 and tapering. Color above superficially brownish gra}^, with a slight 

 tinge of olive, and thickly lined with blackish; basal portion of the 

 pelage dark plumbeous. Head more grayish, 

 lacking the olive tone. Tail blackish above, 

 white on sides and below. Feet all pure white, 

 except the bare soles, which are flesh-color, 

 those of Neotoma fuscipes macrotis being of a 

 livid, purplish color. Under surface of head 

 and body white, or very faintly tinged with 

 ecru-drab across the abdomen; underfur and 

 basal portion of the long hair plumbeous, the 

 color often showing through, between the white 

 tips. Ears rather large, scantily coated with 

 dark, drab-colored hairs. 



Cranial and dental characters. — The skull of this species combines 

 the cranial characteristics of Neotoma Tnexicana and N.leucodon. The 

 front upper molar (fig. 119) is relatively broad and has the anterior one 

 of the three transverse loops into which the tooth is divided but faintly 

 notched by the antero-internal groove. There is a plainly marked 

 supraorbital bead. The interpterygoid space is remarkably con- 

 tracted. The frontals are shaped much as in N. nnexicana, not sud- 

 denly bulging posteriorly. 



Habits and local distribution. — The Rhoads wood-rat usualh^ lives 

 among cactuses; but one individual was shot from an oak tree. It 

 not infrequently travels about during the day, though it is chiefly 

 nocturnal. 



Fig. U9.— Neotoma inter- 

 media. Crowns of molar 

 teeth of a young indi- 

 VIDUAL, a, UPPER series; 



6, LOWER SERIES. 



