I 



LEOPARD-SPERMOPHILE. 295 



is obtuse, and v,'iih the exception of the nostrils and septum is completely 

 covered with very short hairs. The mouth is far back ; the cheek- 

 pouches of moderate size. Whiskers, a little shorter than the head ; 

 eyes, large ; ears, very short, consisting merely of a low short lobe be- 

 hind and above the auditory opening ; they are covered with very short 

 hairs. The hair on the whole body is short, adpressed, and glossy. 



Legs and feet, rather slender ; nails, long, slightly arched, and chan- 

 neled beneath toward their extremities. On the fore-feet the thumb has 

 one joint, with an obtuse nail ; the second toe is longest, (as in the sper- 

 mophiles, and not the third, as in the squirrels ;) the first and third are 

 of equal length ; the fourth shortest, and removed far back. The tail is 

 linear ; for an inch from the root the fur lies so close that it appears 

 rounded, it then gradually widens, becomes flattened, and seems capable 

 of a slight distichous arrangement. Mamma, twelve, situated along the 

 sides of the abdomen. 



A line around the eye and a spot beneath, inner and outer surfaces of 

 the legs, and the whole under part of the body, of a pale yellowish 

 colour ; on the sides of the neck, the fore-legs near the shoulders, and on 

 the hips, there are tinges of reddish-brown ; the feet near the nails, and 

 the under-jaw, are dull white. On the head, there are irregular and 

 somewhat indistinct alternate stripes of brown and yellowish-white, 

 being an extension of the stripes on the back, which, from the irregular 

 blending of the colours, give it a spotted appearance. 



On the back there are five longitudinal brown stripes, each having 

 regular rows of square spots of yellowish- white ; the dorsal stripe, ■which 

 runs from the back part of the head, and extends for half an inch beyond 

 the root of the tail, is a little the broadest. These dark-coloured stripes 

 are separated from each other by straight and uniform lines of yellowish- 

 white. There are also on each side, two less distinct brown stripes, that 

 are not spotted. Thus the animal has five brown stripes that are 

 spotted, and four that are plain and without spots, together with eight 

 yellowish-white stripes. 



The hairs in the tail are yellowish-white at the roots, then broadly 

 barred with black, and at the tips yellowish-white, giving it when dis- 

 tichally arranged a bar of black on each side of the vertebra. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Head and body ....... 6§ inches. 



Tail (vertebrae) . , 3J do. 



