October, 1902.] MAMMALS OF KEEWATIN. 47 



base, on breast, bell 3% and sides tipped with rather bright rufous; 

 legs, feet, and throat rufous to base of hairs, this color deepest on 

 upper side of legs; sides and thighs more or less flecked with black 

 hairs; fur on back from nape to base of tail with a broad zone of 

 yellowish-brown, which forms the ground color, succeeded l)v a subter- 

 minal zone of yellowish gi'ay and tipped with black. The black tips 

 and the wholl}' black hairs which are interspersed through the fur 

 predominate in places, causing the grayish zone of color to be broken 

 up into more or less distinct spots; top and sides of head Aarying 

 from light rufous to dark chestnut rufous, deepest on cheeks and top 

 of head and interspersed with many black hairs; ears light rufous; 

 hairs of upper side of tail dark gray at base, this color succeeded by 

 a narrow zone of black, a narrow zone of dull yellowish, and a broad 

 zone of black, and narrowly tipped with rufous; pencil of tail, com- 

 prising about a third of its length, nearly all black; most of under 

 side of tail bright rufous. 



The three males average : Total length 386.6; tail vertebrae 117; hind 

 foot 6i.3. The female measured: 392; 114; 57. 



Arctomys monax empetra (Pallas). Canadian AVoodchuck. 



3{ufi empetra Pallas, NovEe Species Quad, e Glirium Ordine, p. 75, 1778. 



The name Jlax empetra of Pallas, usually of late years applied in a 

 general way to the spermophiles inhabiting the Barren Grounds and 

 the northern Rocky Mountains, was evidently based on a specimen of 

 the Canadian woodchuck, as has been recognized by Sabine," Rich- 

 ardson,* and others. Pallas cites (as MavhuAa qtiebeJeana) the 'Que- 

 bec Marmot' of Pennant,'' qualifying the reference to Pennant's jSgure 

 with the word iona. Pennant's 'Quebec Marmot," apparently based 

 on a live specimen in the possession of Mr. Brooks, is unquestionably 

 a woodchuck.'^ Forster's 'Quebec Marmot,'^ which Pallas also cites, 

 is as certainly a spermophile. Pallas's description of Jfvs empetra 

 follows his citations. Dr. C. Hart Merriam and I have gone care- 

 fully over this description with specimens of both Arctomys and 

 Sj>ermophilus from Hudson Baj^ before us, and he agrees with me 

 that the description applies to the woodchuck. The description of 

 the color of those parts which are most unlike in the two animals (the 

 head and feet) applies unquestionably to the woodchuck, and the 

 entire description fits that animal far better than it does the spei'mo- 

 phile. 



The 'wenusk,' as the animal is called in the Hudson Bay country, 



a Trans. Linn. Soc. London, XIII, p. 584, 1822. 

 6 Fauna Boreali- Americana, I, p. 147, 1829. 

 c Synopsis of Quad., p. 270, pi. 24, fig. 2. 



(^Pennant, Hist. Quad., 3d ed., 1793, p. 129, says: "It has lately been described 

 by Pallas under the name of Mus empetra." 

 f Phil. Trans., LXII, p. 378, 1772. 



