162 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27 



and King noted it on Back River, above Pelly Lake.^ Pike also 

 found it numerous on Back River, above Lake Beechey, in July, 1890.'^ 

 Hubert Darrell, who accompanied Hanbury down the Thelon or 

 Ark-i-linik in the summer of 1901, informs me by letter that ground 

 squirrels were very numerous along its banks, and in the summer of 

 1902 were common also along the Arctic coast between Bathurst 

 Inlet and the Coppermine. Hanbury mentions that one was killed 

 on May 29 of the same year near Melbourne Island, and implies that 

 it was the first observed that season. He states that the animals 

 are easily taken by hand when surprised at some distance from their 

 burrows, and that they form the chief food of the wolverene during 

 the summer months.^ 



Citellus (Colobotis) parryi kennicotti (Ross). Mackenzie Spermophile. 



Arctomijs l-cnnicottii Ross, Canadian Nat. and GeoL, VI, p. 434, 1861. 



In an article on the animals useful to the Chipewyan Indians, Ber- 

 nard R. Ross proposed the name Arctomys kennicottii for the 

 spermophile of the lower Mackenzie region. The name has hereto- 

 fore been overlooked or not taken at its full value, from failure to 

 trace it to the place where it was first used, where it is accompanied 

 by a fairly full description. 



In order to present the matter clearly the original description is 

 here quoted. Under the head of Marmots {Arctomys) ^ Ross says: 



Tliere are three, if not four, species of this animal in the Maclcenzie's River 

 District, viz, A. pruinosus — inhabiting the northern Rocl^y Mountains and 

 Nahaunay Hills; A. Kennicottii — dwelling in the same localities, with a more 

 northern range, and extending eastward to the Anderson River. * * * As I 

 do not think that the Marmot, which I have named A. Kennicottii (after my 

 friend the enterprising Naturalist Mr. Robert Kennicott,) has been yet de- 

 scribed, I shall here insert a brief notice concerning it. 



It is in size as large as a small muskrat, and in color a silvery gray, inter- 

 spersed with orange hairs on the back, but changing on the flanks into a decided 

 yellow, palest on the belly ; the tail is short. It has cheek pouches, and is de- 

 cidedly smaller than A. monax. In habits, so far as I know, it assimilates 

 closely to the other marmots. It is a social animal and digs its den on the 

 mountain's side, or in the banks of rivers. * * * Very far north there is a 

 variety which is perfectly black, instead of hoary and yellow. 



The habitat, as above given, is somewhat indefinite. Fortunately, 

 however, on a succeeding page (p. 442) , he lists specimens from [near] 

 Fort Good Hope and Anderson River, which may be considered to 

 fix the name on the animal of the lower Mackenzie region. Since 

 specimens from this region prove identical in characters with topo- 

 types of Spermophilus harrowensis^ recently described from Point 

 Barrow,^ the latter name becomes a synonym of kennicotti. 



« Narrative Journey to Arctic Ocean, I, p. 281, 1836. 

 & Barren Ground of Northern Canada, p. 183, 1892. 

 « Sport and Travel in Northland of Canada, p. 154, 1904. 

 ^ Merriam, Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci., II, p. 19, March, 1900. 



