MAMMALS OB' THE MEXIDAN BOUNDARY. 



345 



(-'ranidl measurements of four adults of Cynomj/s ludovicianus arizonensis from southern 



Arizona. 



a American Museum of Natural History. 



CYNOMYS GUNNISONI Baird. 



SHORT-TAILED PRAIRIE-DOG. 



Cynomys gunnisoni Baird, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., VII, Apr., 1855, p. 334 

 (original description); Mam. N. Am., 1857, p. 335. — Mekkiam, North Ameri- 

 can Fauna, No. 3, 1890, p. 58, pi. ix, figs. 5, 6, 7 (skull); No. 5, July 30, 1891, 

 p. 40.— Price, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., VII, 1895, p. 237, note. 

 [Cfynomys'] gunnisoni, Elliot, Field Col. Mus., ZooL, Ser. II, 1901 (Synop. Mam. 

 ^N. Am.); IV, 1904, p. 156 (Mam. Mid. Am.). 

 TUck-se' of the Hualapi Indians. 

 TtlVkehd of the Hopi Indians. 



Type-locality. — Cooachetope (Cochetopa Pass), Rocky Mountains, 

 Saguache County, Colorado. (Type, skull, Cat. No. 501 (skin lost), 

 U. S. National Museum.) 



Geographical range. — Transition zone of the Colorado Plateau and 

 mountains of northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico, 

 and thence northward. 



Description. — Size small. Length, 350 mm.; tail vertebrae, 70; 

 hind foot, 60; head 67. Skull, 60 by 43. Mammae, 5 pairs. In sum- 

 mer, tawny fulvous above, grizzled and much mixed with black hairs; 

 forehead blackish, especially above the eyes; tail without terminal 

 black, but often with many blackish hairs above and a narrow sub- 

 terminal bar, resulting from broad black annulation of the hairs, the 

 dark rings increasing in extent from the base of the tail to its 

 extremitj'. In winter, pale buff above, mixed with black hairs, which 

 aggregate to form blackish patches over the eyes; color below varying 

 from pale yellow to fulvous. It appears less grizzled than Cynomys 

 ludovicianus., because it lacks the strong vinaceous tint. 



The short-tailed prairie-dog is abundant on the mesas and open 

 parks of Arizona, often living in pine forests, and sometimes in cliffs, 

 where it climbs over the rocks like the large ground-squirrel ( Otosper- 



