166 BULLETIN NO. VII. 



tail, 1.0; lower incisors, 0.30; claw of thumb, 0.10; cheek pouches, 

 1.50 deep from incisor. The prevailing color is pale lemon 

 yellow with almost a greenish tinge, this is everywhere warmed 

 with suffusions of rusty orange so that at a distance the ground 

 color might be called rusty yellow; about the lips, throat and 

 eyes the color is nearly white; the upper part of the head is 

 enlivened with bright orange anteriorly and chestnut with an 

 admixture of dark brown posteriorly; the back is marked with 

 about nine broad stripes of very dark brown locally suffused 

 with chestnut, one of these stripes passing down the middle of 

 the back beginning upon the occiput and fusing into the brighter 

 colors on the upper surface of the tail; anteriorly this stripe is 

 divided by a narrow band of the general body color, but back of 

 the shoulders this breaks up into rather regular blotches oc- 

 cupying the middle of the dark band; the two dark bands on 

 either side of the central one also contain rows of light spots, 

 while the remainder of the dark bands are narrower and un- 

 spotted. The appearance thus produced is that of a dark 

 dorsal surface broken by alternating continuous narrow, light- 

 colored lines and rows of spots. The outer side of the hind 

 legs is brindled and at the ankle there is a considerable suffu- 

 sion of rufous. The tail is orange or chestnut with a bar of 

 white near the end of the hairs, the longest of which are white 

 tipped. The tail is scantily hairy and the hairs are dichotom- 

 ously arranged. The posterior part of the sole is hairy. The 

 vibrissse are black and the longest reach to the ear. The ears 

 are covered without and within with close fur. The muffle is 

 very small. There is a pale depauperate variety (pallidus 

 Allen) occupying the prairies of Colorado, Wyoming, and parts 

 of. Missouri and Arkansas. The species ranges from the 

 Saskatchawan region to Texas and from Ohio to Utah. Minne- 

 sota is thus the peculiar home of the typical form and thus 

 deserves the name "Gopher State." 



Spermophilus franklini (SABINE) LESSON. 



GRAY GOPHER. 



Length, 9.50-10.50; tail to end of vertebrae, 5.50-6.50; to end 

 of hairs, 6.50-8.50; nose to eye, 0.95; hind foot, 2.00. 



General color brownish yellow above, pied everywhere by 

 the black of the base of the hairs, which shows in wavy lines 

 so as to produce almost a marbled appearance. The yellowish 



