Natural History of District of Columbia — McAtee 53 



''beautiful island" and alludes to Plummers Island, the 

 Home of the Washington Biologists' Field Club, near and 

 upon which the types of the two species respectively were 

 collected. Included in the total number for the region are 

 the opossum, 5 species of squirrels, the woodchuck, 9 species 

 of mice and rats, the musk-rat, rabbit, house-cat, 2 foxes, 

 the raccoon, skunk, otter, mink, weasel, 5 shrews, 2 moles, 

 and 8 species of bats. One other species, the golden mouse 

 (Peromyscus nuttallil) of more southern distribution has 

 been reported,"^ but the record needs verification. The rice 

 rat (Oryzomys palustris) has been taken at Colonial Beach, 

 Virginia, and sooner or later probably will be captured 

 within tbe accepted limits of the District fauna. 



The red squirrel is about at its eastward limit in this 

 region, ranging but little farther out upon the coastal 

 plain, while the wood rat is restricted to the Piedmont 

 Plateau. Cooper's lemming mouse and Sorex fontiimlis 

 seem to be confined to sphagnum bogs; the distribution of 

 former is more to the northward and in the mountains. The 

 District is at the northern limit of the range of the harvest 

 mouse. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



Bailey, Vernon. 



List of the mammals of the District of Columbia. 



Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. X, pp. 93-101, May 28, 1896. 



The list names 37 species (including Felis domestica) known to 

 occur within 20 miles of the Capitol and most of them within the 

 District limits. The record for the wildcat is conjectural and prob- 

 ably should have been added to the list of locally extirpated species 

 which consists of 7, the white-tailed deer and pine marten being 

 omitted. 



Mearns, L. Z. 



On the occurrence of the genus Reithrodontomys in Virginia. 



Am. Nat. 31, 1897, pp. 160-161. 



Records R. lecontii from Ft. Myer, Va. This form is now called 

 R. humulis impiger. (See Howell, A. H., N. A., Fauna, 36, 1914, 

 pp. 20-21.) 



3* Haley, W. D. In Philip's Washington Described, 1861, P. 23. 



