354 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA [No. 55 



coppery brown in typical specimens, but grading westward into the purplish 

 black of orarius. Specimens from the west base of the Cascades could be re- 

 ferred to orarius on color alone, but they show a slight increase in size over 

 the strictly coast form. Two specimens from the top of the Cascade Range 

 at the north base of Three Sisters Peaks are clearly referable to this form, 

 but others from McKenzie Bridge and Vida are apparently nearer to orarius. 

 Measurements. Type specimen, adult male : Total length, 170 mm ; tail, 35 ; 

 foot, 23. Adult male topotype: 165; 34; 23. Weight 2% ounces. Adult female 

 topotype: 163; 35; 22. Weight: 2 ounces. 



Distribution and habitat. From the Blue Mountains and Cascades 

 of northern Oregon through central Washington to extreme south- 

 western British Columbia, mainly in Transition Zone, except at the 

 type locality and some places along the Columbia near The Dalles 

 that are in Upper Sonoran (fig. 82). They are absent from the 

 really arid sagebrush soil but keep to the moist valleys or the more 

 humid plateau tops. 



On top of the Cascades at the north base of the Three Sisters 

 Peaks two of these little silvery moles were caught at 5,000 and 

 5,500 feet at the lower edge of Canadian Zone, and a few other run- 

 ways were seen lower down on the slope. At the east base of the 

 range near the town of Sisters their ridges were often seen in the 

 open yellow pine forest and near the moist banks of irrigation ditches. 

 In the Blue Mountains country near Prineville Jewett secured a 

 specimen that was drowned out of its burrow in an irrigated alfalfa 

 field, and he caught two more along the banks of Ochoco Creek about 

 6 miles above Howard. Specimens have been collected at Cornu- 

 copia, Halfway, and near Baker, and unmistakable mole signs have 

 been noted near Meacham and Palmer. 



General habits. So far as at present known the habits of this 

 pale form of the little coast mole are not different from those of its 

 dark western relative, unless in the generally more sandy and mellow 

 soil of the semiarid region it more rarely makes mounds, and its long 

 ropelike ridges over the surface of the ground are generally more 

 conspicuous. Like the other moles they live underground, where 

 they find abundance of small life to supply their ravenous appetites. 

 Too small to have any fur value or to disturb noticeably the green 

 turf of lawn^or meadow, they are little noticed, and while of no 

 great economic importance they are mainly beneficial. 



NEUROTRICHUS GIBBSII GIBBSII (BAIRD) 

 GIBBS' s MOLE 



UrotricTius gibbsii Baird, Maniin. North Amer., p. 76, 1857. 



Type. Collected at White River Pass, north of Mount Rainier, Wash., by 

 George Gibbs, July 15, 1854. 



General characters. Size small, nose long and pointed, naked only at tip; 

 tail moderately long and thickened in middle, bristly haired ; legs short and feet 

 moderately stout ; eyes and ears minute and generally invisible ; skull slender 

 and shrewlike in appearance ; teeth 36 in total number ; fur dense and velvety, 

 flecked with short, shiny hairs ; color blackish all over, with purple iridescence. 



Measurements. Adult male from type region: Total length, 115 mm; tail, 

 44 ; foot, 16.5. Apparently no sexual difference in size. Weight of largest male 

 12 g (Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale, 1930, p. 432). 



Distribution and habitat. Northwestern California to southwest- 

 ern British Columbia and west of the Cascades in Oregon and Wash- 

 ington (fig. 83). In the Fort Klamath section they cross over to the 



