RODENTIA SCIURINAE ARCTOMYS PRUINOSUS. 345 



The following specie^ of Arctomys I have not had an opportunity of examining : 



ARCTOMYS PRUINOSUS, Gmelin. 



Hoary Marmot, Whistler. 



Jlrclomys pruinosus, GMELIK, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 144. 

 SHAW, Gen. Zool. II, 1801, 121. 

 SABINE, Trans. Linn. Soc. XIII, 1822, 586. 

 HARLAN, Fauna Americana, 1825, 169. 



RICHARDSON, Zool. Jour. Ill, 1828, 518. IB. F. Bor. Amer. 1, 1829, 150. 

 FISCHER, Synopsis, 1829, 343. 

 ADD. & BACH. N. Am. Quad. Ill, 1853, 17; pi. ciii. 

 ? Jlrctomys caligatus, ESCHSCHOLTZ, Zoolog, Atlas, II, 1829, 1; pi. vi. 

 RICH. Zool. Blossom, 1839, 7. 

 WAGNER, Suppl. Schreber, III, 1843, 260. 



? Jlrctomys okanaganus, KING, Narrative Back's Jour. II, 1836, 257; plate ii, vol. I. 

 Jlrctomys sibila, WOLF, Linne's Natursystem, II, 1808, 481. (Made to embrace both Jl. empdra and prutnoa, 



supposed to be the same.) 



Hoary Maimot, PENNANT, Hist. Quad. II, 1781, 130. IB. Arctic Zoology, I, 1784, 112. 

 ? Jlrctomys monax, MIDDENDORFF, Sibirische Reise, II, 11, 1853, 85. 



The whistler appears to be about the size of the common woodchuck, which it resembles in a 

 great many respects ; nor, indeed, have the precise differences been fully pointed out. The 

 animal was first described by Pennant, as the hoary marmot, in the following terms : 



"Tip of the nose black; ears short and oval; cheeks whitish; crown dusky and tawny; hair on all parts rude and long; on 

 the back, sides, and belly, cinereous at the bottom, black in the middle, and tipped with white, so as to spread a hoariness over 

 the whole; legs black; claws dusky; tail full of hair and ferruginous. Size of the Maryland marmot" (From F. R A.) 



To this Richardson adds the testimony of some gentlemen of the fiir countries, who state 

 that it is the size of the badger, or smaller, with much the same appearance ; covered with 

 beautiful long silver gray hair, and having a long bushy tail. Another account says that the 

 breast and shoulders to the middle of the body are of a silver gray color ; the rest of the body 

 and the brush (or tail) of a dirty yellowish or brown. 



The first satisfactory account of the supposed whistler is by Dr. King, in his "Narrative of 

 a Journey to the Shores of the Arctic Ocean, in 1833-' 35, under command of Captain Back," 

 2 vols. 12mo. Bentley, London, 1836. He describes a living specimen brought from Fort 

 Okanagan, and, as furnishing a better means of comparison with the woodchuck, I here intro 

 duce it entire. 



" Jlrctomys okanaganus, KING. Okanagan marmot, with the head somewhat oval and flattened; nose short, obtuse, and 

 covered with very minute hairs; incisor teeth slightly curved, upper ones anteriorly of a pale yellow, lower ones whiiish; 

 whiskers few, black, and of various lengths, but none exceeding two inches ; ears semi-oval, shorter than the fur on the neck, 

 but, from the arrangement of the hair covering the cheeks, perfectly distinct, and thickly covered on both sides with short 

 appressed hairs ; extremities short and strong ; fore feet shaped for grasping, having four toes well divided, and armed with 

 strong claws, which are compressed, curved, and rather sharp-pointed, well adapted for digging ; third toe is the longest, then 

 the second, next the inner one, and lastly the outer one ; in p'ace of a thumb there appears a rounded projection of the palm, 

 having a small but well defined elaw ; palm black and bare ; five hind toes, of which the middle is the longest, the one on the 

 right next, and afterwards that on the left, then the outer one, and lastly the inner one ; claws resembling those of the fore 

 feet ; sole bare and black. 



" Fur around the nose and margins of the mouth grey ; crown inclined to black, with a few long and irregularly scattered 

 grey hairs ; tip of the nose brown ; from either side of the dorcal aspect of the head a blackish band extends in an arched form 

 down to the fore shoulders, somewhat resembling a ram with his horns laid back ; and a slight bar of the same color is spread 



44 L 



