382 



University of California Puilications in Zoology ["^'ol. 24 



Marmota monax petrensis Howell. British Columbia Woodchuck 



A resident of the lowlands of the Hazelton region; possibly 



common but, from its shyness and the nature of its surroundings, 



difficult to see. "We collected two specimens in Kispiox Valley, all that 



we encountered, and were told of several others seen nearby. The two 



collected were an adult female (no. 32758), taken August 21, and a 



male of the previous year (no. 32759), on September 8. The year 



following our visit to the region four additional specimens (nos. 



32965-32968, three males and one female), were sent me by an 



acquaintance, Mr. Charles Lindahl, who shot them at the same locality, 



in May, 1922. 



TABLE 3 



Measurements in Millimbtbes op Skolls of Marmota monax petrensis fkom 



Kispiox Valley, B. C. 



*Estimated. 



Howell (1915), upon the basis of skulls without skins, ascribes to 

 Marmota monax ochracea a r|inge extending south to the Babine Moun- 

 tains and Stuart Lake, a little soiitheast of the place where we were 

 collecting. Our specimens, however, are not ochracea; in color at least 

 they are widely different from that subspecies. Five of the six are 

 almost imiformly black. The one in 'normal' pelage is in markings 

 closely similar to a Wisconsin specimen of rufescens at hand, though 

 darker colored throughout; it has not the cinnamon-colored tail of 

 ochracea. 



The five black skins came all from the same small clearing on the 

 Kispiox Eiver, but nevertheless the melanism exhibited by them is 

 not to be regarded as peculiar to a limited strain, a single family 

 group. We were told by several people that most of the lowland 

 woodchucks of this general region were black, and that it was only an 

 occasional one that showed the yellow-brown type of coloration. Of 



