58 Umversity of California Puhlications in Zoology [Vol. 21 



Altitudinally, the subspecies cinerea ranges from 5000 to 13,000 

 feet. Such extreme stations of occurrence are, Kings River Canon, 

 Fresno County (see pi. 1, tig. 2), and the very summit of Mount Lyell, 

 in the Yosemite National Park. Very few mammals have been found 

 at an altitude exceeding 13,000 feet in this State. (See pi. 1, fig. 1.) 



The zonal distribution of '^Teonoma" is essentially Boreal, but 

 on the eastern slopes of the Panamint Mountains N. c. cinerea occurs 

 well down witliin the piiion belt. Upper Sonoran probably, and as has 

 just been pointed out, the same subspecies occurs on the Yery crest 

 of Mount Lyell, above glaciers and Alpine-Arctic in zone. 



LOCAL ASSOCIATIONS 



Wood rats of the bushy-tailed tribe, while living in widely different 

 regions as regards altitude and zonal position, show an almost exclu- 

 sive preference for cliffs, boulder piles, rock slides and logs for home 

 sites (see pi. 2, figs. 3, 4). In such places they find it possible to pursue 

 an active existence beneath the winter's snows, and among the multi- 

 tudinous narrow cracks and crevices between the granite blocks they 

 find safe refuges from their larger enemies. Here, also, dry nest sites, 

 sheltered from the fiercest Sierran storms, are easily secured, and the 

 only remaining need, food, is usually to be had near by. 



Some idea of the local associations in the home of this animal may 

 be obtained from the following instances. "Teonoma" wood rats were 

 taken September 9, 1915, at Walker Lake, Mono County, under a 

 fallen juniper, and also beneath a buckthorn bush {Ceanofhus cor- 

 dulatns), both of which grew beside a rock slide. At Ten Lakes, in 

 Yosemite National Park, a bushy-tailed wood rat was taken in a trap 

 in a willow thicket near a rock slide. At Castle Lake, Siskiyou 

 County, on August 23, 1911, a male was taken in a trap set under 

 a log; while at Telescope Peak, in the Panamint Mountains, Inyo 

 County, bushy-tails were found along a high broken granite crest 

 overlooking Death Valley. Near Kearsarge Pinnacles, Fresno County, 

 wood rats were taken in the huge granite rock piles at the lower edge 

 of the talus slopes near the margin of a lake. 



MANNERISMS AND BEHAVIOR 



Since the activities of the bushy-tailed wood rat are restricted rather 

 closely to the hours of darkness, the actions and behavior of individuals 

 of this species are difficult to observe under normal conditions. In an 



