56 University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 2i 



Neotoma cinerea occidentalis Baird 

 Western Bushy-tailed Wood Rat 



Neotoma occidentalis Baird (1855, p. 335). Oi'iginal description. 

 Neotoma cinerea occidentalis, Merriam (1891, p. 58). 

 Teonoma cinerea occidentalis, Elliot (1903o, p. 187). 



Teonoma spelaea Sinclair (1905, p. 148). Original description of supposed 

 new fossil form. 



Type locality. — Shoalwater Bay, Pacific County, Washington. 



Diagnosis (of subspecies). — Size larger and color darker than in 

 N. c. cinerea; ankles conspicuously dusky. Ten adults of N. c. occi- 

 dentalis average, in millimeters : total length 386.5 ; tail 170.5 ; hind 

 foot 42. Thirty-nine adults of cinerea average : total length 361 ; 

 tail 155.5 ; hind foot 40.5. 



Pelage and color. — The darker color on the dorsal surface in N. c. 

 occidentalis as compared with N. c. cinerea is due to the presence of 

 a larger number of dark tipped hairs and also to this dark tipping 

 on the individual overhairs being more extensive. A typical overhair 

 measures 22 millimeters in length, the terminal 8 millimeters being 

 black. The buffy band on the individual hairs of the underfur is not 

 so wide as in cinerea. 



The light ochraceous-buff of the underfur on the back is overlaid 

 by the black-tipped guard hairs, thus giving this portion of the body 

 a brownish buify tone. On the sides the black-tipped guard hairs are 

 much less numerous and the buffy tone is more pronounced than on 

 the back. Underparts soiled white, the hairs neutral gray at base, 

 except over pectoral and inguinal regions; fore and hind feet white 

 contrasting strongly with the buffy brown legs. The young of occi- 

 dentalis are deep neutral gray, thus being darker than young of 

 ci^ierea, from which the}' can usually be told at a glance. 



Crawial characters. — Essentially the same as in cinerea. 



Measurements. — See accompanying table. 



Distribution area in California. — "Transition and Boreal zones of 

 the northern end of the state ; west nearly to the sea-coast nortli of 

 Humboldt Bay ; east to the Warner Mountains, Modoc County ; south 

 along the inner coast ranges as far as mountains near Elk Creek, 

 Glenn Countv, and along the Sierra Nevada through Plumas County" 

 (Grinnell, 1913, p. 315). (See map, fig. C.) 



Specimens examined. — A total of 47 specimens from the following 

 localities in California: Del Norte County: Rock Peak, 4500 feet, 1. 

 Glenn County: near Elk Creek, 1. Lassen County: Lassen City, 2. 

 Modoc County: Dry Creek, 5 ; Parker Creek, 6 ; Sugar Hill, 7. Tehama 

 County: Mount Lynn, 1; 2 miles south of South YoUa BoWy Moun- 

 tain, 1. Trinity County: North Fork Coffee Creek, 4500 feet, 8 ; 

 head of Grizzly Creek, 6000 feet, 2. Siskiyou County: Castle Lake. 

 5434 feet, 1 ; Jackson Lake, 5900 feet, 7 ; Kangaroo Creek, 2 ; Mount 

 Shasta, 1 ; Sisson. 1. 



