1912] Grinnell: A New Cony from Mount Whitney 127 



Range, Utah, or with 0. saxatilis I Bangs, 1899, p. 41), from the 

 Snowy Range, Colorado, the two species named being the south- 

 ernmost forms previously described. 



As far as it goes, the cranial material at hand discloses no 

 significant variations. Unfortunately nearly all the skulls in 

 the series of both schisticeps and albatus were badly shattered 

 by shot. 



Distribution: Specimens representing albatus are at hand 

 only from the localities listed in the table of measurements. In 

 our field work in the vicinity of Mount Whitney we found plen- 

 tiful evidence of the presence of conies close to timber-line, from 

 the immediate slopes of Mount Whitney south to Cottonwood 

 Pass. None were seen above 12,000 feet altitude nor below 

 10,600, except at one point on the Inyo side of the mountains 

 near Little Cottonwood Creek, where unmistakable sign was seen 

 and the characteristic bleat of the animals heard at about 9500 

 feet. In all this area the conies lived in the interstices of loose 

 piles of huge granite rocks, especially as left in moraines by 

 former glaciers. In such retreats the animals could often be 

 heard, when it proved impossible to catch sight of them. Two 

 specimens were trapped in "Out-o '-Sight" rat-traps baited witli 

 rolled oats and set for wood rats. There is no evidence, however, 

 that the conies were attracted by the bait. The rest were shot 

 by dint of much stalking. Usually only the head of the animal 

 would be exposed and then only momentarily. This resulted 

 in snap shooting with heavy charges of shot at long range, a very 

 unsatisfactory method of capture, for the skulls were invariably 

 badly damaged. 



The rodent here described adds another name to the list of 

 alpine mammals having distinct, though not distantly related 

 representatives both in the Mount Whitney region and in the 

 central and northern Sierra Nevada. Attention is called to 

 Thomomys, Microtus, and Eutamias as genera affording examples 

 of this. The faunal distinctness of the Mount Whitney region of 

 the southern Sierra Nevada may in part be due to its much more 

 arid climate, and in part to its long existence as a land mass of 

 high elevation. 



