RODENTIA MURINAE SIGMODON BERLANDIERI. 



505 



the fourth. The central three toes are equal and longest, the first and fifth extend to the same 

 distance (just heyond the base of the longer toes) and rise nearly opposite each other. The first 

 claw is, however, the larger ; the palms are broad and naked from the heel. 



The upper parts, generally, are of a gray yellow brown, lined with dark brown, a little clearer 

 along the sides. The under parts, with the top of the hind foot, are dull grayish white. The 

 hairs everywhere are plumbeous at base, this color above becoming darker near the yellowish 

 brown ends, which are tipped with black. Everywhere interspersed on the back are many 

 longer hairs entirely black. 



Measurements. 



This species is readily distinguishable from S. hispidus by the much lighter color above, 

 where it is grayish yellow brown, instead of distinct reddish brown ; the tail is considerably 

 longer and covered by finer annuli. The toes are shorter and the metatarsus shorter, while 

 the feet are nearly the same length. The claws, however, are much weaker. The tail is com 

 posed of twenty-one vertebras. 



This species bears some resemblance to the Arvlcola texiana of Audubon and Bachman, and 

 may possibly be the same. According to these authors, however, this last mentioned species is 

 of a very different genus ; the tail is very little shorter than the head and body (4 inches to 

 4 T V,) the hind feet 1.25 inch ; the back brownish yellow, spotted with irregular small blotches 

 of black, a faint, obscure stripe of black on each side ; sides reddish brown, belly whitish gray. 

 All these features, if properly belonging to the species, render it very different from S. berlandieri, 

 although it is quite possibly a Sigmodon. 



64 L 



