180 Vniversitij of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 24 



no "houses" to be seen anywhere. Apparently the animals were 

 living in the shallow banks bordering some of the ponds, but this 

 must have been farther back in the alder thickets than we penetrated, 

 for we found no occupied burrows. 



Muskrats presumably occur the length of the Stikine River, but if 

 so they are scarce, or else, perhaps, in widely scattered colonies that 

 are easily overlooked. Fresh sign was found about a beaver pond at 

 Flood Glacier, but evidently of but a few individuals. We were told 

 of the occurrence of muskrats at Doch-da-on Creek, but we, ourselves, 

 saw no evidence of their presence. 



The specimens obtained present such marked peculiarities of 

 appearance as may very well be indicative of an undeseribed race 

 from the coast of southeastern Alaska, but at present it does not seem 

 advisable to affix a name to this isolated series. In color they are dark 

 dorsally, and extremely gray elsewhere. Spatulata, as represented in 

 this Museum by comparable specimens from various parts of its range 

 to the northward of the Stikine, is decidedly reddish. Our Sergief 

 Island specimens are closely similar to fall examples of osoyoosensis 

 from the Puget Sound region. Some of the latter have an indication 

 of cinnamon on the underparts and sides, which is seen in none of the 

 Sergief Island specimens, but there are certain skins from the neighbor- 

 hood of Seattle that are exactly like them in color. Osoyoosensis, 

 however, is a large species, and the specimens in question are of small 

 size, agreeing with spatulata in this respect. Thus the Sergief Island 

 muskrats are like osoyoosensis in color, like spatulata in size. The 

 skull is of the spatulata type, being relatively broad, with wide spread- 

 ing zygomata. , 



There are five muskrats at hand (Mus. Vert. Zool., nos. 8353-8357) 

 from Revillagigedo Island, Alaska, which lies south of the Stikine 

 River, hence nearer the range of typical osoyoosensis. These specimens, 

 according to Hollister (1911, p. 23), "while typical of spatulatus in 

 size and color, show a slight approach toward osoyoosensis in the shape 

 of the audital bullae and in the high, rounded jugals. " It is obviously 

 necessary that specimens be taken from various points along the coast 

 between the known habitats of spatulata and osoyoasenm before the 

 peculiarities of the series at hand from Revillagigedo and Sergief 

 islands can be explained. In the meantime, while those from the 

 latter point are not particularly like spatulata, I prefer to list them 

 by that name, as the race they most nearly resemble, rather than 

 apply a new one, based upon characters the meaning of which is not 

 understood. 



