168 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 
‘[53.] 9. Arcromys (Spermopuitus) Franxxinu. (Sabine.) 
Franklin’s Marmot. 
Arctomys Franklinii. Sasine, Lin. Trans., vol. xiii. p. 19. Franklin’s Journ., p. 662. Hanrian, Fauna, p. 167. 
Franklin’s Marmot. Gopman, Nat. Hist., vol. xi. p. 109. 
A. SpERMoPHILUS (Franklinii) corpore super cervino ferrugineove creberrime nigro maculato subter albido, vultu ea 
nigro canescenti, caudd elongata cylindricé pilis albis nigro ter quaterve torquatis vestitd. 
Franklin’s Marmot, with cheek pouches ; the upper surface of the body spotted thickly with black, on a yellowish-brown 
ground, under surface grayish-white ; face black and white, intimately and equally mixed ; tail long, cylin- 
drical, and clothed with hairs which are ringed alternately with black and white. 
Prate xt, 
This animal was seen only in the neighbourhood of Carlton-house, where it lives 
in burrows dug in the sandy soil, amongst the little thickets of brushwood that 
skirt the plains. It is about three weeks later in its appearance in the spring than 
the Arctomys Richardsonii, probably from the snow lying longer on the shady 
places it inhabits than on the open plains frequented by the latter. It runs on 
the ground with considerable rapidity, and never, as far as I could learn, ascends 
- trees. It hasa louder and harsher voice than the A. Richardson, more resembling 
that of the Sciwrus Hudsonius when terrified. Its food consists principally of the 
seeds of leguminous plants, which it can procure in considerable quantity as soon 
as the snow melts and exposes the crop of the preceding year. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Franklin’s Marmot has somewhat the shape of the Hudson’s Bay Squirrel, but is larger. 
It is more slender than the Arctomys Richardsonii. Its nose is not so obtuse as that of the 
latter, but the difference is not great. The septum, naked margins of the nostrils, and margins 
of the lips are of a light flesh-colour. In the Arctomys Richardsonii these parts are dark, 
approaching to black. The ears are longer than those of the A. Richardsoni, having a 
more conspicuous erect rounded flap, covered with hairs similar to those on the crown of the 
head; they resemble in form the ears of the Hudson’s Bay Squirrel, but are not so large. 
Eye larger than that of Sciurus Hudsonius. Cheek-pouches of a moderate size. Whiskers 
mostly black. 
The fur is coarser than that of A. Richardsonii ; it is about four or five lines long. The 
colour of the back is pale reddish-brown, minutely and regularly speckled with black. The 
tips of all the hairs are brown; the black forms a ring beneath the brown; below the black 
