Soa RODENTS. 
American Three well-defined species of marmot inhabit North America, 
Marmots. namely the woodchuck (A. monax), the Rocky Mountain marmot 
(A. flaviventer), and the hoary marmot (A. pruinosus). Of these the last is the 
largest, and agrees closely with the Alpine species, though the length of the head 
and body is said to reach from 23 to 25 inches. The second does not exceed 18} 
inches in length of head and body, but has a much longer tail, of which the length 
is from 9 to 10 inches. This species ranges from California through the Rocky 
Mountains to about the 49th parallel of latitude ; it appears to be a strictly Alpine 
animal, and is to some extent gregarious, like the Old World species. 

THE ALPINE MARMOT (+ nat. size). 
The woodchuck is the smallest of the three species, averaging only 144 inches 
in length of head and body, with a tail of nearly half this dimension. It is 
generally mixed fulvous, brownish black, and grey above, and yellowish or 
brownish red below; but some specimens are almost wholly black. The range of 
the woodchuck extends from Manitoba to Carolina, and westwards from the 
Atlantic to Missouri and Minnesota. 
In habits this species appears to differ considerably from the Old World forms. 
According to Dr. Hart Merriam, it delights in the open meadows and rocky hill- 
sides in the cultivated area round the Adirondack Mountains, where it feeds 
chiefly upon grass and clover. Although generally living in burrows of its own 
