34 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



defined dorsal stripe slightly mixed with the color of the sides, broad- 

 est just back of the shoulders, tapering gradually to base of tail, and 

 becoming indistinct on the head after passing between the ears. Ears 

 externally concolor with back, internally buff-yellow; muzzle grayish- 

 brown; whiskers mixed brownish and whitish, the longest hairs reach- 

 ing beyond shoulders; tail thinly haired, so that the aunulation shows 

 distinctly, sharply bicolor, dark brown, except ventrally and at tip." 1 

 There is very little seasonal variation in this species, and the white of 

 lower parts is never suffused with the color of sides. 



Cranial characters. Skull rather broad and stout; frontal region 

 much swollen; brain case broad and rather flat; interorbital constric- 

 tion broad as compared with that of all other species of the genus. 



Measurements. Nine specimens from Nova Scotia average: Total 

 length, 238; tail vertebrae, 146.7; hind foot, 31.1. Sixteen from Peter- 

 boro, N. Y., average: Total length, 236; tail vertebrae, 147; hind foot, 

 30.25. One from Pocono Mountain, Pennsylvania: Total length, 224; 

 tail vertebrae, 140; hind foot, 31. Two from Lake Hopatcong, New 

 Jersey, average: Total length, 231; tail vertebrae, 140; hind foot, 31.5. 

 Skull: Two skulls from type locality average: Basilar length, 18.7; 

 zygomatic breadth, 12.3; nlastoid breadth, 10.2; interorbital constric- 

 tion, 4.9; incisor to postpalatal notch, 8.8; foramen magnum to post- 

 palatal notch, 7.8; fronto-palatal depth at middle of molar series, 6. 

 Four skulls from New York average: Basilar length, 19.6; zygomatic 

 breadth, 12.9; mastoid breadth, 10.8; interorbital constriction, 5; incisor 

 to postpalatal notch, 9; foramen magnum to postpalatal notch, 8.6; 

 fronto-palatal depth at middle of molar series, 6.1. 



General remarks. Apparently the first published record which refers 

 unmistakably to this species is that of Prof. J. W. Dawson, who, in 

 1856, in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, called attention to 

 the fact that two distinct species of Jumping Mice inhabited Nova 

 Scotia. The present species he wrongly referred to Meriones labradorius 

 (= Zapus hudsonius), and described true Z. hudsonius as a new species, 

 calling it, provisionally, Meriones acadicus. In the National Museum 

 are two specimens of Zapus deposited by Dawson ; though mounted, they 

 are in good condition for examination and are plainly referable respec- 

 tively to Z. insignis and Z. hudsonius. Both Baird and Coues examined 

 them, or at least similar specimens received from Dawson, but did not 

 consider the two animals specifically distinct. Zapus hudsonius also 

 occurs throughout the range of the present species, but the two prefer 

 different situations Z. hudsonius, shrubby fields and meadows, and Z. 

 insigniSj deep woods near streams. 



This species presents remarkably little variation throughout its range. 

 Specimens from central Pennsylvania, in the collection of Mr. S. N. 

 Rhoads, are practically indistinguishable from examples taken near 

 the type locality. Three specimens from Lake Hopatcong, N. J., have 



i G. S. Miller, jr., Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., VIII, p. 2, 1893. 



