July 5, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



19 



mentioned under the name T. maerotus — • 

 an animal unknown to American mammalo- 

 gists, and it may be added tliat no representa- 

 tive of the eastern chipmunk occurs in west- 

 ern America. Then, turning to the western 

 chipmunks, which he regards as varieties 

 of the Siberian T. asiaticus, he says: " The 

 Siberian chipmunk ranges in North America 

 from Lake Superior and the neighborhood 

 of the Barren Grounds to New Mexico and 

 Arizona, and extends from the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific seaboard." This is a mistake, 

 as no member of the group in question ap- 

 proaches the eastern States; and if Mr. 

 Lydekker could see a dozen of our American 

 species (without reference to the subspecies) 

 I am sure he would never again think of 

 them as ' varieties ' of the Siberian animal. 



The ground squirrels of the genus Spermo- 

 philus (which by the way is antedated by 

 Anisonyx, as already pointed out in this 

 journal. Science, I., 1, Jan. 4, 1895, p. 18), 

 are said to ' have very nearly the same dis- 

 tribution as the chipmunks.' But in 

 America considerably more than half of 

 the numerous species are desert animals, 

 living where chipmunks never go. It is 

 also stated that nearly all the American 

 species have long tails, whereas more than 

 half of them have short tails. 



Our ' prairie dogs ' ( Cynomys) are called 

 ' prairie marmots,' a much better name, but 

 one it would be exceeding difficult to bring 

 into general use. Only three species are 

 recognized (instead of four), the two of the 

 Hocky Mountain plateau {gunnisoni and 

 leucurus) being confounded under a name 

 belonging to neither, namely, C. eoluinbianus. 

 This name, as shown several years ago, 

 belongs to a ground squirrel or suslik inhab- 

 iting northern Idaho and parts of Canada.* 

 The distribution given for this imaginary 

 animal (made up of two genera and three 

 species) is equally remarkable, for it is said 

 to range from the ' Columbia through Colo- 



* N. Am. Fauna, No. 5, July, 1891, pp. 39-42. 



rado and Arizona to the Sierra Nevada.' 

 No species of the genus Cynomys occurs 

 anywhere in the Columbia region, or in the 

 Great Basin ; and no species comes nearer 

 than about 400 miles of the Sierra Nevada. 

 The account of the habits quoted from 

 Lewis and Clark relates exclusively to the 

 northern suslik {Anisonyx columbianus) . 



In the case of the true marmots (Arc- 

 tomys), as in the prairie marmots, only 3 

 species instead of 4 are recognized — the 

 Rocky Mountain and Sierra-Cascade species 

 being confounded under the name flaviventer. 

 The name given for the Arctic- Alpine hoary 

 marmot, pruinosiis, is antedated by ealigatus. 



The jumping mouse (Zajms) is said to 

 range from Great Slave Lake and Hudson's 

 Bay to Arizona and Mexico. It has been 

 found in the mountains of Colorado, but I 

 am not aware of a record for Arizona or 

 Mexico. 



The American white-footed mice, of which 

 there are several genera, are all lumped 

 with the European Hamsters in the genus 

 Crieehis. 



Our wood rats (Neofoma), of which about 

 25 species are known, are spoken of as 'a 

 small genus ! ' The lemmings, singularly 

 enough, are interposed between the voles 

 {Microtus~) and muskrat (Fiber). Had Mr. 

 Lydekker compared the skull of Fiber with 

 that of Microtus amjiiliibius it is doubtful if 

 he would have recognized it even as a sub- 

 genus. 



In characterizing the family of pocket 

 gophers ( Geomyidce) the same mistake made 

 in Flower and Lydehker's Introduction to the 

 Study of Mammals is repeated, namelj', the 

 supposed anterior extension of the cheek 

 bone of jugal. Some remarkable things are 

 said concerning the burrows of these ani- 

 mals. 



The ' common Kangaroo rat,' " which in- 

 habits the desert regions to the eastward of 

 the Rocky Mountains," is said to be Dipodo- 

 mys phillijm. This is perpetuating an old 



