No. 37. 



KOETH AMERICAN FAUNA, April, 1915. 



REVISION OF THE AMERICAN MARMOTS. 



By Arthur H. Howell, 



INTBODTJGTION. 



The American marmots, more often called woodchucks or ground 

 hogs, are among the best known of our native wild mammals. They 

 naturally divide into three distinct groups: (1) The woodchucks 

 (Marmota monax group) of eastern United States and Canada; (2) the 

 yellow-footed marmots {M.jiamverdris group) of western United States 

 and southern British Columbia; and (3) the hoary marmots {M. caligata 

 group), chiefly restricted to the higher mountains of western North 

 America. The present paper is a revision of the American species 

 only, as it was not possible at this time to include a discussion of the 

 Eurasian forms of the genus. 



HISTORY AMD NOME^^CLATURE. 



Widely distributed, in many places abundant, diurnal in habit, and 

 frequently destructive to crops, the eastern species (monax) quickly 

 attracted the attention of the early settlers, and through the medium 

 of skins or captive animals sent to Europe soon became known to 

 naturahsts. 



The first reference in Hterature to the American marmots dates 

 from 1703, when Baron La Hontan published a very brief account of 

 the woodchuck of eastern Canada, based on his observations in the 

 region about Lake Champlain.^ The name ''siffieur" vfhich he ap- 

 plied to the animal was carried by the French voyageurs throughout 

 the northwestern fur countries and still is current among the French 

 Canadians of the Eastern Provinces. 



Catesby, in 1743, gave a brief description of the eastern woodchuck 

 under the name of ''The Monax, and a few years later, in 1747, 

 Edwards pubhshed a more extended account with a very inaccurate 

 figure of the animal under the title of ''The Monax or Marmotte of 

 America."^ Edwards's description and figure were copied by many 

 subsequent authors and furnished also the basis of the first technical 



1 La Hontan, Baron de. Voyages dans FAmerique, 1703, p. 81. 



2 Catesby, Mark. Nat. Hist, of Carolina, etc., II, 1743, App., p. xxviii. 



3 Edwards, George. Nat. Hist. Uncommon Birds, II, 1747, p. 104, pi. civ. 



