MAMMALIA, iG: 
form of its claws, however, the second fore-toe being the longest, together with 
the shortness of its tail and ears, and the quality and colours of its fur, induce me 
to think that it is a true spermophile, nearly allied to A. Franklinii and A. Beecheyi. 
Tt agrees with these two, in the length, form, and colours of its tail; and the 
colours exhibited by its fur have such a general resemblance, that, although they 
can be readily distinguished by any one who has compared them, it is not easy to 
convey a distinct idea of the differences by description. The A. Douglasii is 
larger than either of the other two referred to ; and its claws are shorter. Its ears 
are less than those of A. Beecheyi ; but considerably larger in proportion than 
those of A. Franklini. | 
DESCRIPTION. 
The fur, as in the other marmots, is of two kinds,—a short down, and longer and coarser 
hairs, The longer hairs are slender at their roots, become thicker upwards, and then taper 
suddenly near the points, which are acute. They are not so long, nor do they produce so 
fine and close a covering as the fur of any of the North American squirrels which have come 
under my notice. On the back the down has a blackish-brown colour, deepening into black 
over the spine ; on the sides, and also on the belly, it has a clove-brown colour; but the skin 
being apparently a summer one, there is very little down on the belly. The longer hairs are, 
for about two-thirds of their length, of a brownish-black colour, then brownish-white for a 
space, and lastly, terminated by fine black tips of various lengths. On the shoulders the 
hairs near their tips are pure white, instead of brownish-white, and the black tips are slender, 
and not conspicuous, except in the hairs covering the spine, 
Colours of the surface of the fur.—The sides of the mouth, and a narrow space round the 
eyes, are of a soiled, white hue. The tip of the nose is covered with very short, brownish 
hairs. The upper surface of the head is hoary, with a slight tinge of brown; the hairs 
covering this part are short, and their black tips are much less conspicuous than their 
brownish-white parts. The ears are clove-brown posteriorly, deepening into blackish-brown 
at their margins ; they are of a paler brown anteriorly. The superior surface of the neck and 
anterior part of the back appear hoary from an intimate mixture of pure white and blackish- 
brown, in which the former greatly predominates except over the spine, where there is a stripe 
of blackish-brown, varied by a very few of the hairs being ringed with white. The predo- 
minating colour of the surface of the fur on the posterior part of the back, is brownish-white, 
on which there are many small, transverse, blackish specks, not distinctly marked. The 
whole under parts are of a soiled white colour, with a brownish tinge on the throat, on the 
inside of the thighs, and close to the tail. The extremities are whitish, with more or less 
of a brownish tinge. 
The tail is long for an animal of this genus, and exactly resembles in form and colour that 
of A. Franklinit. It is clothed with long hairs, white or brownish-white at the roots, then 
