178 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



Ixo. 27. 



30 miles above Athabaska Landing, Alberta. The range of the 

 species in the region is thus ascertained to extend from central Alberta 

 to a point about halfway between Great Slave and Great Bear lakes. 

 It has not been detected on the Mackenzie. 



Phenacomys intermedius Merriam. Kamloops Phenacomys. 



A female, taken by J. Alden Loring at Fishing Lake, 90 miles 

 north of Jasper House, Alberta, September IT, 1896, has been 

 recorded, under the name P. orophilus^ by Miller, who calls attention 

 to some of its peculiarities." It measured: Total length 133, tail 

 vertebrse 33, hind foot 17. Another adult female (measuring 137, 

 31, 17) , taken near the mouth of Muskeg Creek, a tributary of Smoky 

 Kiver, near latitude 55°, has come to light since Miller's revision of 

 the genus was published. A careful comparison of these specimens 

 with the descriptions of P. intenneclius (the type and only known 

 specimen not being available) shows several resemblances and no 

 differences which may not be individual. The broad interorbital 

 constriction and ascending branches of the premaxillse ascribed to 

 intermedins are probably due to immaturity. In the character of 

 the fur, which is much less soft and Avoolly than in orophilus, the 

 Alberta specimens agree closely with the description of intermedius. 

 The teeth also agree closety, except that in the Alberta specimens the 

 outer anterior angle of the anterior lower molar is much less pro- 

 nounced. Compared with P. orojyMlus^ the teeth are narrower. In 

 color the one recorded b}^ Miller (loc. cit.) agrees perfectly with 

 ordinary examples of P. orophilus, but the Muskeg Creek specimen is 

 very different, the upper parts, including the head, being A^ery much 

 more reddish. These specimens were taken less than 300 miles froni 

 the type locality of P. intermedius. 



Evotomys gapperi athabascse subsp. nov. Athabaska Eed-backed 

 Mouse. 



Type from Fort Smith, Slave River, near the Athabaska-Mac- 

 kenzie line, Canada. Male adult (skin and skull). No. 109945, U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., Biological Survey collection. Collected June 27, 1901, by 

 Edward A. and Alfred E. Preble. Original number, 4235. 



General characters. — About the size of Evotomys gappem.^ with 

 sides and lower parts lighter and face grayer. 



Color. — Dorsal stripe averaging in color about as in specimens of 

 E. gapperi from North Bay, Ontario, but ending rather abruptly a 

 short distance in front of the ears; face much clearer gray: sides 

 grayer, with less ochraceous; lower parts white, very rarely tinged 

 with creamy, as is usually the case with gapperi. 



ff Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XT, p. SI, 1897. 



