552 U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS ZOOLOGY GENERAL RRPORT. 



ARVICOLA RUFESCENS, Dekay. Northern New York. 



Arvieola ntfescens, DEKAT, N. Y. Zool. I, 1842, 85 ; plate xxii, fig. 1. 



Ears large ; rounded. Soles with six tubercles. Fur about three lines long. Upper molars with nine external angles, 

 olor above, a bright reddish brown ; the hairs light rufous at tips, intermixed with black pointed hairs. Beneath, bluish 

 white ; lighter on the inside of the thighs. Muzzle, darkish brown. Feet, li^ht brown. Tail, dark brown above, cinereous 

 beneath. Length of head and body, 3 inches ; of tail, 2. 



Whether this species is more than a rusty variety of some other, I am unprepared to say. It 

 does not attain the vivid and continuous chestnut brown of the A. rufidorsum. 



ARVICOLA SAYI, Bachman. 



I have somewhere seen a reference to a species under this name, but cannot find that it has 

 been anywhere described. 



ARVICOLA TEXIANA, Audubon and Bachman. Texas. 



Arvieola texiana, AUD. & BACH. N. Am. Quad. Ill, 1853, 229 ; plate cxlviii, fig. 2. 



Smaller than the cotton rat ; ears large, ovate, extending beyond the fur. Outer and inner hind toes of equal length ; 

 the central three much longer, and nearly equal. Soles naked from the heel. Back brownish yellow, spotted with irregular 

 small blotches of black. When the hair is laid smooth there is an obscure black stripe on the sides of the back, running 

 from behind the shoulders towards the rump, and converging across the buttocks to a point at the insertion of the tail ; the 

 remainder of the back is irregularly or slightly waved or barred with dark brown spots on a yellowish ground. Head, 

 yellowish brown. Sides of neck, and along the flanks to the hips, brownish yellow. A narrow line of yellowish white 

 under the chin and on the belly. Tail, grayish white beneath. Ears, brownish yellow. Length to root of tail, 4.60 

 inches ; to ear, 1.25 ; to eye, . 50. Tail, 4 ; hind foot, 1.25. Found first on the Brasos, afterwards seen along the Nueces 

 and Rio Grande. 



This species is, in every probability, zSigmodon, as shown by the short and nearly equal inner 

 and,outer toes, the naked soles, the long tail, &c. It appears to differ in important points of 

 coloration from S. berlandieri, (page 504.) Should it really be a Sigmodon, there will be no 

 record of the occurrence of Arvieola in Texas. Indeed, the only species of this genus I know, 

 from the southern and gulf States, are the A. pinetorum and A. austera. 



ARVICOLA XANTHOGNATHUS, Leach. Labrador and Hudson' Bay Territory. 



Arvieola xanlhognatha, LEACH, Zool. Misc. I, 1814, GO, pi. xxvi. 



J. SABINE, Zool. App. Franklin Narr., 18 , 660. 



RICH, F. RA. 1,1829, 122. 



AUD. & BACH., N. Am. Quad. Ill, 1853, 67 ; pi. cxv, (description from Richardson.) 



Ears large ; tail shorter than the head, palms broader than the soles, the posterior half of the latter hairy. Fur long and soft; 

 nine lines long on the back. Color above, a mixed dark brown and black, without spots, and varying in shade with the light ; 

 sides a little paler. Beneath, silvery bluish gray, darkening into blackish gray in two patches anterior to the shoulders. A 

 blackish brown stripe along the centre of the nose, on each side of which is a reddish brown patch extending from the mouth to 

 the orbit. Tail whitish beneath. Length to root of tail, 5 to 8 inches. Head, 1.83 ; tail 1.50 ; ears, .60 ; hind foot, 83. 



This species has never been established as occurring within the limits of the United States. 

 DeKay 1 , indeed, gives it as found in New York, but, as suggested by Audubon and Bachmam, 

 he probably had a variety of some better known species before him. 



lArvicola xanUtoffnatha, DE KAY, N. Y. Zool., I, 1842, 90 ; pi. xxiii, f. 2. 



