IM 



NORTH AMERICAN, FAUNA 66 



Other records and reports (from Dozier, 1948?), unless otherwise 

 noted). — Baltimore County: Bare Hills-Lake Roland area (Bures, 

 1948, p. 68) ; Loch Raven (Kirkwood, 1931, p. 317) ; Patapsco State 

 Park (Hampe, 1939, p. 7). Dorchester GovMy: Best Pitch Ferry; 

 Elliotts Island; Fishing Bay; Joe's Point; Robbins, near; Taylors 

 Island; World End Creek, near Golden Hill. Garrett County: Piney 

 Run, near Piney Dam (trapping record, Maryland Nat. Res. Inst.) ; 

 Pawn Run, as it enters Deep Creek (trapping record, Maryland Nat. 

 Res. Inst.) . Kent County: above and below Chestertown, on the Chester 

 River; Chestertown (specimens in Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. collection) ; 

 Fairlee Creek near its Chesapeake Bay Mouth. Montgomery County: 

 Mainland across from Plummers Island (iGoldman and Jackson, 1939, 

 p. 133). Prince Georges County: Patuxent Research Refuge (Uhler & 

 Llewellyn, 1952, p. 81). Queen Annes County : Booker's Wharf. 



Remarks. — I have not been able to examine specimens from the Ridge 

 and Valley and the Allegheny Mountain sections, but one specimen I 

 examined from Jefferson, Frederick County, just to the east of the 

 Blue Ridge Mountains, is clearly an intergrade with Ondatra z. zihethi- 

 cus in size and coloration, and almost near enough to typical zibethicus 

 to be assigned to that subspecies. On the basis of this specimen, and 

 because of the known distribution oi O. z. zibethicus in Virginia and 

 Pennsylvania, the muskrats of the Ridge and Valley and Allegheny 

 Mountain sections probably are referable to the subs,pecies zibethicus. 

 This subspecies appears to intergrade with the Coastal Plain sub- 

 species macrodon throughout most of the upper Piedmont section. 



Published reports of this species in western Maryland are by Brown- 

 ing (1928, p. 213) who saw muskrats around 1825 in the vicinity of 

 Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County, and by Mansueti, (1958, p. 83), 

 who observed them in Cranesville Swamp, Garret County, in the 

 1950's. The species is present in suitable streams and ponds through- 

 out the Ridge and Valley and Allegheny Mountain sections at the 

 present time, and according to Flyger (in verbis, 22 June 1964) trap- 

 pers report that they are not uncommon. 



Ondatra z. zibethicus differs from O. z. macrodon in its darker 

 pelage (in normal color phase), and in its smaller size. It is of in- 

 terest to note that Merriam in his original description of rwacrodon 

 (specimens from Dismal Swamp, Virginia) considered the subspecies 

 to be a much darker form than zibethicus. Merriam's specimens, how- 

 ever, were mostly dark phase animals, and as Hollister (1911, p. 18) 

 has shown, macrodon (in normal color phase) is actually a lighter 

 and brighter colored subspecies than zibethicus. 



