3G 



M A M M A L G Y. 



al^out half the length of the body. About the mouth and nose, light 

 gray; rest of the head brownish, and darker than the body; weight, 

 five to seven pounds ; female had five teats on each side. I could only 

 learn from the Indian that he brought these specimens from ' afar off,' 

 but it is very probably this animal, the holes of which we have found 

 frequently in the open country, though perhaps some may have been 

 of the Badger. It is worthy of remark, that we did not find any of 

 these west of the Coast Range." 



2. Genus APLODONTIA, Eicharclson, Zool. Jour. IV, p. 3-34 (1829). 

 1. Aplodontia lepoeina, Richardson. — Zool. Jour, IV, p. 335 (1829). 



Arctomi/s rufa, Harlan, Faun. Am. p. 308 (18'2.5) ? 



Rich. Faun. Bor. Am. Plate XVIII ; Aud. and Bach. Quad, of N. A. 

 Plate CXXIII, Oct. ed. II, Plate CXXIII. 



Though fine specimens of this remarkable animal are in the collec- 

 tion, we prefer citing a description by Mr. Peale, which appears to 

 have been made very soon after they were obtained. At present, the 

 colors have in some degree faded ; a result to be expected, nearly 

 twenty years having elapsed since these specimens were obtained. 

 Mr. Peale's description and observations are as follows : 



" General form rounded, thick, and short, with a flat and broad 

 head, the wdiole covered with fur and hair intermixed ; the former 

 fine, half an inch long, dark plumbeous tipped with umber-brown ; the 

 hair from eight-tenths to an inch in length, very thin, and of a brown 

 color at the roots and tips, but much inflated and black in the middle ; 

 very glossy, and at certain angles reflecting light of a cobalt-blue 

 color; whiskers, tufts of bristles, on the ulna and cheeks, white; ears 

 very small, rounded, and nearly covered with fur ; eyes, small ; nose, 

 large, tumid; tail, scarcely perceptible; fore feet, larger and stronger 

 than the hind ; the claws strong, curved, compressed ; the thumb with 

 a flattened, blunt nail ; hind feet, with the three middle toes nearly 

 equal; the outer and inner toes almost equal; the inner one being 

 shortest; the nails less curved, and less compressed than those of the 

 fore feet. Incisors, very strong, and of a clear yellow color. 



" Length of the head and body, fourteen and two-tenths inches ; 

 tail, including the hair, one and four-tenths; hair at the end of 



