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184 



MONOGRAPHS C ' NORTH AMERICAN RODENTIA. 



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Bachmmi claims some attention on account of the very singular characters 

 upon which it rested. It is stated to be " larger than Arvicoin pennsylvanica : 

 tail shorter than the head ; legs small and slender ; nose sharper than in 

 Arvicolfle generally ; length 5? ; head H , dl H ; heel to point of nail J^". It 

 is based upon a specimen from Boston, Mass., and others are cited from New 

 York and Michigan. As will be seen from the foregoing tables, we have 

 several specimens ranging from five to nearly six inches — three from Massa- 

 chusetts, six from Pennsylvania, and five others, and their tails range from 

 1.50 to 1.80. But there is nothing like the shortness of the feet, us slated. 

 Tliis is certainly an error. Even the diminutive A. oregonus has the feet 

 considerably over half an inch ; and this length, for an animal nearly six 

 inches long, does nol, we are confident, obtain in this genus. There are other 

 indications of error in the account, and we are satisfied that no such char- 

 acter as unusual sliarpness of the nose occurs in any of the many specimens 

 we have exaniined, although several of them are labeled " nasutus ". The 

 authors evidently had before them some very large, overgrown specimen of 

 riparim, like those old individuals above enumerated from Williamsport, Pa., 

 and committed some error, typographical or otherwise, in their measurements. 



The Arvkola "oneida" of DeKay is certainly based upon a young 

 example of riparim. The only other animal it could possibly be is the A. 

 pinetorum; but the measurements given preclude this reference. Audubon 

 and Bachiiian refer "oneida" in one place (ii, 219) to pinetorum, and in 

 another (iii, 287) to their own fuloua or dekayi, wliich latter, however, is 

 Evotomys gapperi. The Arvkola rufeixens of DeKay is certainly npariug 

 also. Some of the expressions point toward Evotomys gapperi; but the 

 statement "upper molars with nine external angles" is only applicable to 

 the section of the genus to which riparius belongs, while the dimensions 

 given ("head and body 3 inches; tail 2") apply to no species of Arvkola 

 with which we are acquainted. 



The two specimens above enumerated (557, 659) from Prairie Mer 

 Rouge, La., are the first ever quoted from the Gulf States, and are in fact 

 the only Gulf specimens we have ever seen except pinetorum, and one 

 example (No. tsW, Ca'casieu, La.) referred, with a shade of doubt, by 

 Professor Baird to Pcdomys austerus. They are both unusually rufescent, 

 and one of them has the minimum length of tail (1.10 inches) we have 

 'seen in adults of this section of the genus; the skulls, however, show them 



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