MAMMALIA. 147. 
[47.] 1. Arcromys empeTra. (Schreber.) The Quebec Marmot. 
GENus Arctomys. GMELIN. CUVIER. 
Quebec Marmot. PENNaNT, Hist. Quadr., \st ed., No. 259°; 3d ed., No.321. Arctic Zool., 
vol. i. p. 111. BrEwicx’s Quad., Ist ed., p.346. Fig. . 2ded., p. 369. Fig. 
Mus empetra. Paxtuas, Glir., p.75. An. 1778. 
Glis Canadensis. ERXLEBEIN, Syst., p. 363. 
Arctomys empetra. ScHREBER, Quad., p. 743; pl. 210. 
Common Marmot. Lanesporrer’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 75 ? 
Arctomys empetra. SaBinE. Ltnn., Trans., vol. xiii. p.24. Harwan, Fauna, p. 160. 
Quebec Marmot. Gopman,Nat. Hist., vol. ii. p. 108. 
Weenusk. CrerInpians. Kath-hille-kooay. CHEPEWYANS. 
Thick-wood Badger. Hupson’s Bay REsIDENTs. 
Siffeur. FRENcH CANADIANS, who apply the same name to the other species of marmot, and 
to the badger. 
Tarbogan. RusstAN RESIDENTS ON Kopiak ? 
A. (empetra) super ex spadiceo nigroque canescens: subter helvolus, capite pedibusque nigrescenti-brunneis, genis 
albescentibus, auriculis mediocribus planis rotundatis, cauda ex fusca canescenti apicem versus nigrescentt 
dimidium corporis vie superaniti. 
Quebec Marmot, on the upper parts hoary, with an intermixture of black, and bright wood-brown shining through; 
on the inferior parts reddish-orange; and on the head and. feet, blackish-brown ; cheeks, whitish; flat, 
round ears, of a moderate size; tail, about half the length of the body, brown and hoary, with a black tip. 
PLATE 1x. 
This animal was first described by Pennant, under the name of Quebec Marmot, 
from a specimen kept alive in Mr. Brooks’s menagerie. Pallas afterwards noticed 
what was supposed to be an animal of the same species, giving it the name of mus 
empetra ; and Mr. Sabine, in the Linnean Transactions, has given a good descrip- 
tion of a specimen presented by the Hudson’s Bay Company to the British 
Museum. The animal mentioned by Forster, in the Philosophical Transactions, 
as the Quebec Marmot, is not this species, but the Arctomys Parryi, to be after- 
wards noticed. 
The Quebec Marmot inhabits the woody districts from Canada to latitude 61°, 
and perhaps still further north. I was able to collect but little information 
respecting it. It appears to be a solitary animal, inhabits burrows in the earth, 
but ascends bushes and trees, probably in search of buds and other vegetable 
matters, on which it feeds. Mr. Drummond killed two individuals,—one, on some 
low bushes, and the other upon the branch of a tree. Pennant says, that the one 
which he saw was very tame, and made a hissing noise. Mr. Graham mentions, 
that this Marmot burrows in the earth, in a perpendicular manner, selecting dry spots 
at some distance from the coast, and feeds on coarse grass, which it gathers by the 
river-sides, ‘The Indians take it by pouring water into its-holes. When fat, its 
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