WOOD-CHUCK OR GROUND-HOG. 17 



Quebec Marmot, Pennant, Hist. Quad., 1st ed.. No. 259. 



Mds Empetba, Pallas, Glir., p. 75. 



Arctomys Empetra, Salt, Linn., Trans., vol. xiii., p. 24. 



Arctomys Empetra, Godman, Nat. Hist., vol. ii., p. 208. 



Arctomys Monax, et Arctomys Empetra, Sabine, Trans. Linncean Soc, vol. xiii., pp. 



582, 584. 

 Arctomys Empetra, Richardson, Fauna Boreali Americana, p. 147, pi. 9. 



DESCRIPTION. 



The body is thick, and the legs are short, so that the belly nearly touches 

 the ground. Head short and conical ; ears short, rounded, and thinly 

 clothed with hair on both surfaces ; eyes moderate ; whiskers numerous, 

 extending to the ear ; a membrane beneath the ears, on the posterior parts 

 of the cheek, and a few setae on the eye-brows ; legs, short and muscu- 

 lar ; fore-feet, with four toes, and the rudiment of a thumb, with a minute 

 nail ; hind-feet, with five toes. Toes long and well separated, palms 

 naked, ■with tubercles at the roots of the toes. The middle toe longest — 

 the first and third, which are nearly equal to each other, not much shorter; 

 the extremity of the nail of the outer, extends only to the base of the nail 

 of the adjoining toe ; fore-claws moderately arched, obtuse and com- 

 pressed ; the soles of the hind-feet long, and naked to the heel ; hind-feet 

 semi-palmated ; nails channelled near the ends. Tail bushy, partly dis- 

 tichous ; body clothed with soft woolly fur, which is mixed with coarse 

 long hairs. 



COLOUR. 



This species (like the foregoing one) is subject to many variations in the 

 colour of its fur, which may account perhaps for its numerous synonymes. 

 We will, however, describe the animal in its most conunon colouring. 



The finer woolly fur is for two-thirds of its length from the roots upwards, 

 of a dark ashy brown, with the extremities light yellowish-brown. The 

 long hairs are dark brown for two-thirds of their length, tipped sometimes 

 with reddish white, but generally with a silvery white. The general tint 

 of the back is grizzly or hoary ; cheeks, and around the mouth, light gray ; 

 whiskers black ; head, nose, feet, nails and tail, dark brown ; eyes black. 

 The whole under surface, including the throat, breast, belly, and the fore 

 and hind legs, reddish orange. 



The specimens before us present several striking varieties of colour ; 

 among them is one from Lower Canada, coal-black -with the exception 

 of the nose and a patch under the chin, which are light gray ; the fur is 

 •short, and very soft ; and the tail less distichous than in other varieties 

 of this species. 



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