78 



NORTH AMEEICAN FAUNA. 



[No. 36. 



REITHE-ODONTOMYS TENUIEOSTIIIS GROUP. 

 REITHRODONTOMYS TENUIROSTRIS TENUIROSTRIS Merriam. 

 WooLY Harvest Mouse. 

 Reithrodontomijs tenuirostris Merriam, Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci., Ill, 1901, p. 547. 



Type locality. — Todos Santos, Guatemala (altitude 10,000 feet). 



Bistribution. — Known only from the type locality. 



Characters. — Size very large (equaling R. Jiirsutus, except in 

 length of tail); pelage long, soft, and wooly; color rich tawny; tail 

 unicolor; skull with much swollen braincase and narrow rostrum. 



Color. — Adults: Upperparts deep tawny, darkest on the dorsal 

 area where the color becomes hazel* an indistinct blackish ring around 

 eye; underparts light pinkish cinnamon; ears and tail fuscous ; ankles 

 and hind feet clove-brown; tips of toes v/hitish; upper surface of fore 

 feet hair-brown ; toesbuffy. Young: Upperparts Front's brown, with 

 a tinge of tawny ; underparts paler than in the adult; toes buffy white. 



SJcull. — Braincase broad, much inflated, depressed posterior^; 

 anterior portion of frontals abruptly depressed, forming a shallow 

 sulcus at posterior end of nasals; rostrum long and narrow; nasals 

 narrowed to a point posteriorly, ending on a line with premaxillse; 

 zygomata slender, slightly contracted anteriorly; palatal foramina 

 relatively short, not reaching plane of first molars; interpterygoid 

 fossa broad (about as wide as outer wall of anteorbital foramen) ; 

 bullae small and rather flat. 



Measurements. — Type ( c? ad.): Total length, 210; tail vertebraB, 

 124; hind foot, 23. Skull: (See table, p. 81). 



Remarlcs. — This is one of the largest and most striking members 

 of the genus. Eesembling R.m. mexicanus in the color of the upper- 

 parts, it is readily distinguished by its cinnamon belly. Its skull is 

 so peculiar that it is placed in a different group from the latter. 



Specimens examined. — Two, from type locality. 



REITHRODONTOMYS TENUIROSTRIS AUREUS Merriam. 

 Calbl Harvest Mouse. 

 (PI. Ill, fig. 8; PI. VI, fig. 8; PI. VII, fig. 2.) 

 Reithrodontomys tenuirostris aureus Merriam, Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci., ITT, 1901, p. 548. 



Type locality. — Calel, Guatemala (altitude 10,200 feet). 



Distribution. — Known only from the type locality. 



Characters. — Shghtly smaller and paler than tenuirostris. 



Color. — Adults: Upperparts ochraceous-tawny moderately dark- 

 ened on dorsal area with black; underparts light ochraceous-buff 

 (a little yellower than in tenuirostris); ears fuscous-black; tail fus- 

 cous, slightly paler beneath; fore feet dark hair-brown; hind feet 

 clove-brown, both edged with white; toes whitish. Young: Upper- 



