114 Notes on some Small Rodents found in North America. 



Ou-ka-la, and made me understand that it lived on roots and 

 vegetable matter, and burrowed holes in the ground. 



As the daylight faded out, I again took my seat, and just 

 as before, when everything was silent, the woods echoed with 

 the Ou-ka-la' s cry. I longed for morning, and hardly waited 

 for light, but hastened off to my trap, and, joy of joys, I had 

 him sure enough, caught by the neck. Poor Ou-ka-la, your 

 friends had heard, and you had given, your " last whistle.'" 

 He was dead and cold, trapped, perhaps, whilst I listened, 

 wondering, keeping my lonely vigil. A very brief examination 

 revealed the fact that I had caught a magnificent specimen of 

 the Ajplodontia leporina, of which I had only read. 



Captains Lewis and Clark obtained some vague informa- 

 tion about this animal, which is given in their journal of travel 

 Across the Rocky Mountains, in 1804. All they say of its 

 habits is, u that it climbs trees and digs like a squirrel." They 

 obtained no specimen of the animal, but saw, probably, robes 

 made of the skins. It was subsequently described by Rafin- 

 esque, and by him named Anisonyx rufa, and by Harlan Arc- 

 tomys rufa. In 1829 Sir John Richardson obtained a speci- 

 men, and after a careful anatomical examination, this eminent 

 naturalist determined it to be a new genus, and re-named it 

 generically and specifically. The generic name Aplodontia is 

 founded on its having rootless molars, or grinding teeth, aifkoos, 

 aploos, simple ; oSov?, bdons, a tooth. It belongs to the sub- 

 family Castorinas ; dental formula f-^rg- -ff 22; 



Sp. ch. — Size that of a musk rat ; tail very short, barely 

 visible. Colour, glossy blackish brown. Male, length about 

 14 inches ; female, resembling the male, but smaller. The fur 

 is dense and woolly, with long bristly hairs thickly interspersed ; 

 the short fur is blueish grey at the base, the ends of the hairs 

 being tipped with reddish brown ; the bristles are black, and 

 when smoothed give a lustrous appearance to the fur. The 

 eyes are very small, and placed about midway between the 

 nose and the ear. The whiskers, stiff and bristly, are much 

 longer than the head, and dark grey. The ears are covered 

 on both sides with fine soft hair, rounded, and very short, and 

 not unlike the human ear in shape. 



Skull. — The skull is much like that of the squirrel's, with 

 the marked exception of having rootless molars, and the 

 absence of post orbital processes; the occipital crest is well 

 developed, the muzzle large, and nearly round. The bony 

 orbits are largely developed ; the auditory bullse are small, but 

 open at once into wide auditive tubes ; the first molar is un- 

 usually small, oval, and situated against the antero-internal 

 angle of the second ; all the molars are rootless ; the lower 

 grinders are much like the upper, but somewhat longer and 



