RODENTIA GEOMYINAE GEOMYS BURSARIUS. 373 



Geomys oregonensis, LKCONTE, Pr. Phil. Ac. N. Sc. VI, Sept. 1852, 160. 

 Gopher ; Pocket gopher ; pouched rat. VULGO. 



SP. CH. Upper incisors, with a small groove near the inner edge, and a much larger one bisecting the remaining space. 

 Fore feet considerably longer than the hinder ones. Second claw reaching to about the middle of the fourth. Cheek 

 pouches ample. 



Color. Keddhh brown above, with a plumbeous tinge along the vertebral region. Under parts paler and more yellowish. 

 Inside of pouches reddish brown in parts. Skull sub-elongated, the zygomata converging as straight lines behind widest 

 apart at the end of the superior maxillary process. Forehead convex. 



Sometimes dark plumbago colored above ; tinged with brownish beneath. 



The upper incisors of this species have a small, not very acute, groove close along the inner 

 edge, and a second much deeper and more conspicuous one half way between the first and the 

 outer edge of the incisor. This second groove is rounded at the bottom and on the sides, and 

 the two portions of the incisors on either side are nearly symmetrical in shape and entirely 

 rounded, no portion of their anterior surface being plane ; the incisors of both jaws are about 

 as wide as they are deep, the axes of their cross sections being nearly equal. 



The ears are entirely obsolete, or represented merely by a thickening of the skin round the 

 auditory aperture. The cheek pouches are very wide and well coated with hairs, except 

 towards the bottom, where they are rather thin. The tail is contained not quite three times in 

 the length of the body ; in some specimens it is densely hairy to the tip ; in others it is 

 somewhat naked at the extremity ; in none examined could the tail be called naked. 



The fore feet are considerably longer than the hinder ones ; the claws being excessively 

 developed. The third claw, measured above and applied on the palmar surface, reaches from 

 the end of the third finger to a little beyond the base of the border of the tubercle ; measured 

 below, it occupies about three-eighths of the whole length ; the first claw reaches likewise over 

 about three-eighths of the hand. The cleft between the second and third fingers is quite deep, 

 extending almost half way from the end of the finger proper to the beginning of the hand. 

 The fourth finger is decidedly longer than the second, and its claw is much larger and longer, 

 the tip of the second claw only reaching about halfway down the fourth, (measured below.) 

 The first claw extends beyond the base of the fifth, and the fifth barely reaches the base of the 

 second. On the hind feet the first claw reaches nearly half way between the tips of the fourth 

 and fifth ; the second is much longer than the fourth, its claw reaching to the end of the third 

 or longest toe ; the second claw being, in fact, the largest on the foot. 



The upper parts are of a dark reddish or chestnut brown along the middle of the back, 

 glossed with plumbeous ; the sides are rather paler, and the under parts are even of a yellowish 

 brown. The edges of the mouth and the chin are yellowish white, as are the outer walls of 

 the pouches ; the inner are chestnut. The tail is chestnut at the base ; at the extremity and 

 the inferior surface generally it is whitish, as are the feet and the posterior edge of the arm. 

 The hairs are everywhere plumbeous at the base, those on the central area of the back not 

 varying materially at their tips. 



These specimens may be considered to represent the genuine Pseudostoma bursarius of Say, 

 as described in Long's Expedition, having been obtained from the same locality. There is, 

 however, a Geomys from Iowa, in the collection of the National Institute, in Washington, 

 which presents some important points of distinction. With a much larger body, and much 

 stouter incisors, the tail is absolutely shorter, as well as the single vertebras themselves, and 

 the feet of much the same size. The grooves of the upper incisors are much as described in the 



