120 University of California Publications in Zoology. ["Vol. 7 



stomach was filled with a mass of berries, mushrooms, etc. Along 

 the Taku River they remained in the alder thickets, these 

 impenetrable tangles forming secure retreats, whence their shrill 

 chatter could frequently be heard, though the squirrels them- 

 selves were but seldom seen. 



The number of young produced at birth seems to be two; 

 pregnant females shot the middle of April contained each two 

 embryos, while the two juvenals secured on the Chiekamin River 

 were apparently of the same litter, and were the only ones 

 seen at the place where they were secured. 



Compared with a series of thirteen skins from Vancouver 

 Island, all in winter pelage, these Alaska squirrels differ so 

 slightly that it seems best to use the name Vancouver ensis for the 

 form, though there appear to be certain appreciable differences. 

 The Vancouver Island squirrels have larger ears, the upper 

 surfaces of which are mostly brownish in color; while in the 

 Alaskan squirrels they are black, in striking contrast to the color 

 of the crown. The former are also not quite so heavily 

 vermiculated with gray underneath. Two from Mitkof Island, in 

 summer pelage, have some tawny fulvous underneath, but those 

 from more southern points — Etolin Island and Chiekamin River 

 — are almost pure white below. These specimens are also the 

 smallest of the series, and thus least like typical vancouverensis 

 in all respects, though nearest it geographically. 



In his description of Sciurus h. petulans Osgood (1900, p. 27) 

 lays some stress on cranial characters, ascribing to that form a 

 sharp indentation or notch on the orbital arch, which (by impli- 

 cation at least) he denies to vancouverensis. This feature is 

 present in all the specimens I collected, in quite as great a 

 measure as in examples of petulans from Glacier Bay. If it 

 should prove to be constantly absent from the Vancouver Island 

 squirrels it would be an effective means of distinguishing them 

 from those living in southern Alaska. The Vancouver skins 

 seen by me had the skulls inside, so they could not be examined. 



Marmota caligata (Bschscholtz). Hoary Marmot. 



Found at several points on the mainland, but at no island 

 locality. The species has sometimes been considered as peculiar 



