MAMMALIA, 151 
and herbs, produce two young at a time, and sit upon their hind-feet when they 
give their young suck. They do not come abroad in the winter. 
Mr. Macpherson describes one killed in the month of May on the south branch 
of the Mackenzie as follows :—“ It was 274 inches long, of which the head 2z, 
and the tail 83. It is, I think, of the same genus with the Quebec Marmot. In 
the fore-teeth, and in the shape of the head and body, it resembles a beaver. 
The hair, especially about the neck and shoulders, is rough and strong. The 
breast and shoulders, down to the middle of the body, is of a silver-gray colour ; 
the rest of the body, and the brush, are of a dirty yellowish or brown. The head 
and legs are small and short in proportion to the body.” 
Mr. Harmon represents them as about the size of a badger, covered with a 
beautiful long silver-gray hair, and having long bushy tails. Mr. Drummond says 
they resemble the badger of the plains (Meles Ladradoria) in colour, but are 
of a rather smaller size. The Indians take the Whistlers in traps set at the mouths 
of their holes, consider their flesh as delicious food, and by sewing a number of 
their skins together, make good blankets. 
[49.] 3. Arcromys Bracuyurus. (Harlan.) Short-tacled Marmot. 
Burrowing squirrel. Lewtsand Crarx, vol. iii. p.35. (but not of vol. i.) 
Anisonyx brachyura. RarinESQUE-SMaALTZ, Am. Month. Mag., 1817, p.45. DrEsmMarEstT, Mamm., p. 329. 
Arctomys brachyura. Haran, Fauna, p. 304. 
A. (brachyurus) auriculis obtusiusculis, corpore super xerampelino rubro tincto et sub-maculato, naso ventre pedibusque 
lateritiis, caudé depress elliptica fulva albo marginata ; subter grisea. 
Short-tailed Marmot, with short obtusely pointed ears, the head and body above of a brownish-gray colour, eneed 
with red, and speckled with a lighter colour; nose, feet, and under surface of the body, brick-red; a flat 
oblong eal tail, fox-red above, with a white margin, and iron-gray colour.on the under surface. 
This animal inhabits the plains of the Columbia. It is known to us only by the 
description quoted below from the narrative of Captains Lewis and Clark. M. 
Rafinesque, evidently from a misapprehension of the account of its feet, has con- 
stituted for its reception the genus Anisonyx, the characters of which are fictitious *; 
* The Seweilel, which is also provisionally referred to Anisonyx, by M, Rafinesque, belongs to a distinct genus to be 
hereafter described under the name of Aplodontia, 
