RODENTIA SCIURINAE SPERMOPHILUS PARRYI. 323 



SPERMOPHILUS PARRYI. 



Parry's Marmot. 



Ardamys parryi, RICHARDSON, App. Parry's Second Voyage, 1825, 316. 



HARLAN, F. Am. 1825, 170. 



GRIFFITH'S Cuvier, V, 1827, 247. 



FISCHER, Synopsis Mam. 1829, 344. 



GODMAX, Am. N. H. II, 120. 



WAGNER, in Schreber Saugt. IV, pi. ccx, D. (No text.) 

 Arclomys (Spermophilm) parryi, RICH. F. B. A. I, 1829, 158 ; pi. x. IB. var. 6 erythrogluteia, and y phaeognatha, 161. 



F. Cuv. Suppl. Buffon, I, Mammif. 1831, 314. 

 Spermophilus parryi , BRANDT, Bull. Phys. Math. Acad. St. Petersb. II, 1844, 372. 



AUD. & BACH. N. Am. Quad. I, 1849, 77 ; pi. ix. 

 " Ardomys alpina, PARRY, Narrative 2d Voyage, 61." 

 ' ' Arctomys citillus specimina camtschatica, PALLAS, Glires, 127." 

 " Citilli americani, PALLAS, Zoog. Rosso-Asia I, 158." 

 " Jevrachken or Piscktschungen, STELLER, Kamtschatka, 126." (The three last references borrowed from Brandt.) 



SP. CH. Size of fox squirrel. Tail full and bushy, with long hairs ; nearly half as long as the head and body. Soles 

 naked in summer. Above, mixed black, white, and yellowish brown, with crowded subquadrate whitish blotches, 

 beneath, rusty white. Top of the head uniform chestnut. A light ring round the eye. Length about 12 inches ; tail, 

 5 to 6 inches ; hind foot, 2. 30 inches. 



It is somewhat questionable whether this spermophile ever comes within the limits of the 

 United States ; at least, its presence has not been detected by any of our recent expeditions. 

 For the purposes of completing the account of the American species, I make use of a skin 

 collected on the island of Arikamtchitchi, in Behring's Straits, by the North Pacific Exploring 

 Expedition, under Captain Rodgers. Many specimens were obtained by the expedition, both 

 as skins and in alcohol, and the published report of the zoology of the party will contain much 

 fuller details respecting the species. 



In size this animal appears nearly equal to the fox squirrel of the eastern United States, or 

 about the size of the larger specimens of the California ground squirrel (Spermophilus beecheyi). 

 The head is much more curved than in this last mentioned species, and is broad in comparison 

 with the length. The ears are very short, in fact, they form little more than a rim to the 

 auditory aperture. The whiskers are long and black. The end of the muzzle only is naked, 

 or the portion immediately round the nostrils and the septum, which is indented by a furrow. 



The feet are large and strong, especially the anterior ones, which are eminently fossorial, 

 with their claws longer and stronger and a little more curved than those on the hind feet, which 

 are nearly straight. The thumb is rudimentary, armed with a very small pointed claw, not a 

 nail. The third finger is longest, the fourth and second successively a little shorter. The soles 

 are quite naked from the heel, except that the hairs on the side of the heel grow over towards 

 the central line, and impart to it a hairy appearance. 



The tail is quite short, the outstretched hind feet reaching nearly to the end of the vertebras. 

 With the hairs it is about half as long as the trunk, (exclusive of the head.) It is quite full 

 and bushy, as much so as in the woodchuck, (Arctomys monax,) decidedly depressed, with 

 terminal hairs half the length of the vertebrae. 



The prevailing color of this species is a mixed black, whitish and yellowish brown above, 

 ghter on the sides, and rusty white beneath. On the back the white is in the form of thickly 



