474 University of Califorma Publications in Zoology | Vou. 17 
Type.—A skin and skull in the Berlin Museum. 
Type Locality—Assumed to be the Sierra Nevada of California 
(Grinnell, 1913, p. 344) ; specimens from Blue Cafion in the central 
Sierra may be regarded as typical. 
The tenability of Peters’ name for this subspecies depends on 
answers to two questions: first, was Peters’ specimen an Aplodontia 
at all, and, second, if an Aplodontia, what was its souree? Answering 
the first, it seems clear from Peters’ description, which is fairly de- 
tailed, which takes account of both skull and skin, and which was 
evidently drawn up with Baird’s figure of the skull of Aplodontia 
leporina at hand, that the mammal discussed is an aplodontia. The 
fact that Peters fell into error in a portion of his description does nos 
appear to alter the case from the nomenclatural standpoint. Aplo- 
dontia is the only known mammal occurring in California or North 
America which possesses approximately the characters set down by 
Peters. His references to the inflected angle of the jaw of the animal 
he had in hand and to its short tail alone suffice to demonstrate its 
position. 
The following considerations seem germane to a discussion of the 
second question: The discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada of 
California in 1848 brought great numbers of people to this section 
from all parts of the world. It is well known that aplodontias occur 
in the Sierra not far from the center of early mining activity, and if 
is highly probable that some early naturalist collected here the speci- 
men which later became the basis of Peters’ new form.* 
The type of ‘‘H|[aplodon]. leporinus var. Californicus’’ is stated 
‘ , 
to have come ‘‘aus den Gebirgen Californiens.’’ From early times 
the Sierra Nevada have impressed travelers and map makers as the 
most noteworthy mountains within the state. The only other moun- 
tains within its boundaries in which aplodontias occur are the Trinity- 
Siskiyou ranges of northern California. The chance that Peters’ 
specimen came from these then little known mountains rather than 
from the Sierra Nevada is slight. 
Absolute finality of decision as to the name of the Sierra aplo- 
dontia is impossible without access to Peters’ specimen. In deference 
1 Soon after the discovery of gold California became comparatively well known, 
even in Europe. Phillips (List of Maps of America in the Library of Congress, 
1901, pp. 183-186) lists no less than four maps published in Europe between 1848 
and 1865 (the date of Peters’ publication of the name californica), according to 
which the boundaries of the state are approximately correct. The maps are those 
of Duflot de Mofras, Paris, 1849; Desfontaines, Paris, 1849; Reimer, Berlin, 
1856; and Rossi, Paris, 1863. 
