MURID^ 109 



than elsewhere. They appear to breed at all times of year. The 

 litters are small, oftenest consisting of three young. 



Peromyscus eremicus Baird. (Hermit.) 



HERMIT MOUSE. 



Pale colored; tail long, very slender, scant haired; soles 

 naked; ears large; above broccoli brown, grayer on the head, 

 mixed with black hairs on the back ; sides ochraceous buff, strong- 

 est on the lower part of the sides ; belly white, distinctly outlined 

 against the buff sides; feet white; tail dusky above, pale gray be- 

 low, but not distinctly bicolored. Young; darker, with little 

 or no buiff on the sides. 



Length about 195 mm. (7.70 inches); tail vertebrae 107 

 (4.20); hind foot 21 (.83); ear from crown 17 (.67). 



Type locality, old Port Yuma, California. 



Hermit Mice are generally distributed through the eastern 

 parts of the Colorado and Mojave Deserts, the valleys and deserts 

 of western Arizona, southern Utah, southern Nevada, Sonora 

 and northeastern Lower California. They are perhaps most com- 

 mon in rocky ground in the hills and barren mountains of this 

 region, occurring up to 4,000 feet altitude; but they are also 

 occasionally common miles out on the plains in the rare patches 

 of grass and weeds and in the vegetation- about springs or the 

 sinks of the infrequent springs. Their food is mostly seeds, but 

 beetles and other insects are also eaten. The young number three 

 or four in a litter. 



Peromyscus eremicus Stephens! Mearns (For F. 



Stephens.) 



PALM DESERT MOUSE. 



Very similar to eremicus; averaging smaller with proportion- 

 ally longer tail; paler; belly white. 



Type locality, canyon below Mountain Spring near the Mexi- 

 can boundary, San Diego County, California. 



