SOIDRID^-SPBBMOPDILUS RICOAllDSONI. 



855 



Geogkahiical DI8TKIBUTION. — Tlic exact limits of the range of S. rich- 

 ardsoni still remain unknown. Richardson gives its range as not extending 

 beyond latitude 55°,* andas being a common inhabitant of the plains between 

 the north and south branches of the Saskatchewan River. Along the forty- 

 ninth parallel, it occurs, according to Dr. Coues, abundantly as far eastward as 

 the Pembina Mountains,f and is common thence westward to the Rocky 

 Mountains. It occurs southward along the James River to its sources, and 

 probably throughout the more northern portions of the Territories to the 

 westward. t There are numerous specimens in the National Museum from 

 various localities in Western Montana, Western Wyoming, Northern Utah, 

 and Eastern Oregon. It is also reported by Richardson from the western 

 slope of the Rocky Mountains north of the forty-ninth parallel. The most 

 southern localities represented are the Laramie Plains and the Medicine Bow 

 Mountains. 



Var. richm koni is quite typically represented for some distance south of 

 the forty-ninth parallel, in Dakota and Montana; but more to the southward 

 and westward, including Southern Montana, Western Wyoming, and thence 

 westward, it gives place to var. totcttsendi. 



examples, ao apiiarent objection to referring theBe names to any form of & richardtoni ; bat I find in 

 many of the speoimena of var. riduirdtoni tliat the ear is so sbrivelled and rolled down as to appear to be 

 merely a thiokened rim rather than s distinct anriclo ; yet, in other respects, tlie specimens ore not dif- 

 ferent from those in whioh the ear is prominent. The specimens having the ears closely rolled woald be 

 nutarally described as having the oar obsolete. 



* His reference in Franlilin's Jonrney (p. 662) to its occnrrence on the "shores of the Arctic Sea" 

 he afterward states to be incorrect.— (iViiina Ilor.-Amer. vol. i, p. 165.) 



i Professor Baird refers to a" very imperfevt skin of a Spormophile " obtained " on an island in 

 the Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan", which he says "approaches very closely to this species", bat adds that 

 the specimen is not in a condition to admit of a satisfactory description. Its claws are referred to as being 

 more Scinrinc in character than those of 5. richardtoni. An examination of this very poorly i>reserved 

 and imperfect specimen satisfies me that it is referable to Scitinit hmboHtuB. It presents, however, 

 an abnormal condition of pelage. 



t Referring to the distribution of this species near the Jbrty-ninth parallel, l)r. Cones observes: — 

 "Speaking generally, they extend from the Red River of the North westward to the Rocky Mountains. 

 Baird [see preceding foot-noto] speaks of their occurrence in Michigan ; but I have never seen any in 

 Minnesota, nor indeed in the immediate valley of the Red River, even on the Dakota side. There the 

 genns is represented by Spermophiltufranklini and S. trideoemlinetttut. But they appear in abundance Just 

 oa soon as, in passing westward, we cross the low range of the Pembina Munntains, and strike perfect 

 prairie, characterized jy the presence of snch birds as Spragne's Lark, and Baird's and the Chestnut- 

 collared Bantings. From this point they stretch clear away to the Rocky Monntains, subsiding only 

 among the foot-hills of the main range, where the Pocket Qophers (species of Thomomyi) begin to claim 

 the soil : but a day's march, indeed, from the rocky haunts of the Little Chief Ilare {Lagomj/i priiicept). 

 The region of the Milk River and its tributaries, most of which, as well as the river itself, cross 49", is 

 their centre of abundance." — {Amer. Xat. vol. ix, 1675, pp. 149, ICO.) , 



