SOIURIDiE— AIJCTOMYS MONAX. 



917 



and Forsler.* While tlio "Quebec Mftriiiot" of tlic Inttcr is also certainly 

 referaljle to SpcrmophUus jiarryi, the "Quebec Murmot" of Pennant is in all 

 probability to be assigned to Arctomys monax, altiiough the onlv really tangi- 

 ble character givfjii is, "rather larger limn a Kal)bot". The Arctomys emjiefra 

 of Sciirober is strictly the Mux emi>etia of Pallas, Schrcber not only quoliiig 

 Pallas's diagnosis and references, but also giving a figure of Pallas's Mux eni- 

 petra, furnished him Ity Pallas himself, and lie based his account of the animal 

 mainly on Pallas's description. lie, however, eked out the history ol' the spe- 

 cies l>y a summary of Penna.it and Forster's descriptions of their "Quebec 

 Marmot". Thus, with the exception of the reference to Pennant, the Mus 

 einpetra of Pallas is the Spermophilus parryi of later writers. Sabine, however, 

 in 1822, described a specimen of .i^rc/owys nwnff.T, from Hudson's Bay, under 

 the name Arctomys empetra, to which he referred the Quebec Marnu)t of Pen- 

 nant and Forster, and the several names based thereon, together with the Mus 

 empetra of Pallas. The Arctomys empetra of Sabine is i)roperly the A. empetra 

 of most subsequent authors down to Audubon and Bachman, who correctly 

 referred the A. empetra, as at that time understoi-l, to A. monax, after having 

 seen Hudson's Bay specimens of the former in England, and becoming con- 

 vinced that tliey were identical. As already stated (see atitca, p. 843), Sabine 

 noticed the discrepancies between the various accounts of the Arctomys 

 empetra of authors, bcth among themselves and with his specimen, especially 

 the shortness of the tail, as described by Pallas and figured by Schreber. 

 These discrepancies were also referred to by Richardson in 1825.t 



The Glis canadensi' of Erxleben (1777) is based wholly on the Quebec 

 Marmot of Pennant and Forster, and thus certainly refers mainly to the Arc- 

 tomys parryi of Richardson, and (through the reference to Pennant) in part 

 also to the A. empetra of Sabine. The Arctomys melanopus of Kuhl was 

 based on a specimen of A. monax, and is thus strictly and exclusively a 

 synonym of that species. The ^'Marmota qucliekana Pennant", cited by 

 Pallas, is merely a citation in Latin of Pennant's English name. 



* "Marmola qiubekana Pbnnamt Syn. p. 270. Hp. I'JU. tub. 24. f. 2. bona. Fokbteu Act. aogl. ToL 

 UCII. p'. 378." 



t Parry's Second Voy. App. p. 316. 



