RODENTIA CASTORINAE APLODONTIA LEPORINA. 



353 



APLODONTIA LEPORINA, Rich. 



Sewellel; Showt'l. 



Aplodontia lepai-ina, RICHARDSON, Zool. Jour. IV, Jan. 1829, 335. IB. Fauna Bor. Am. I, 1829, 211; plate xviii, 



C, fig. 714. 



PEALE, Mam. & Birds Ex. Ex. 1848, 56. Wood cut fig. of skull. 



AUD. &. BACH. N. Am. Quad. 111. 1853, 99 ; plate cxxiii. 

 Ilnplod&n leporinus, WAGLER, Syst. Ampli. 1830. 



WACNKR, Suppl. Schreb. Ill, 1843, 39(5. 

 Anisonyx rttfa, EAFINESQUE, Am. Month. Mag. II, 1817, 45. 

 Arctamys rufa, HARLAN, F. Am. 1825, 308. 

 Sewellel, LEWIS & CLARKE, Travels, II, 1815, 176. 



SP. CH Size of inuskrat, with much of its general appearance; reddish brown all over, with a more plumbeous cast below. 



The eyes of this species are very small, and situated about midway between the nose and the 

 ear. The whiskers are longer than the head, stiff, of a plumbeous brown and dark gray, 

 intermixed. The ears are short and rounded, covered on both sides with short hair. The tail 

 is shorter than the hind foot ; it is much depressed this character very distinct in the vertebrae. 

 The third finger is longest ; the fourth a little shorter, next the third. The claw of the fifth 

 reaches a little beyond the base of that of the third ; the claw of the first does not extend to 

 the base of the other fingers. On the hind foot the three central toes and claws are nearly 

 equal. The fifth claw reaches not quite to the middle of the fourth ; the first a little beyond 

 the base of the second. The palms and soles are naked ; the former with two large basal 

 tubercles, as in Geomys. 



The fur consists of a soft dense woolly fur, with longer and bristly hairs interspersed. This 

 fur is of a grayish plumbeous at the base ; at the ends it is of a dull reddish brown. On the 

 under parts the plumbeous predominates. The interspersed hairs are black. Some specimens 

 are of a darker cast above. 



As the skins before me are somewhat distorted, I add the dimensions of a mounted specimen 

 brought home by the United States Exploring Expedition, under Captain Wilkes. 



Tli is animal, though not rare in the vicinity of Puget's Sound, is yet very little known to 



45 L 



