1915.3 



iNTlRODtJCTlON. 



7 



figure of the hoary marmot in the Quadrupeds of North America/' 

 but the illustration is colored much too brown to represent the animal 

 correctly. In the work referred to ^ the authors gave also an ex- 

 tended account and a good drawing of the eastern woodchuck, and 

 a shorter account, with a figure, of the yellow-bellied marmot of 

 western North America, first described by them in 1841 under the 

 name Arctomys flaviventer. This is the first appearance in literature 

 of the widely distributed group of yellow-footed marmots, and the 

 work of Audubon and Bachman was the first treatise in which all 

 three groups of American species were recognized. 



Little advance in knowledge of the genus was made for nearly half 

 a century, and the three groups (monax, flaviventris, and caligata) con- 

 tinued to be known by only a single species in each. The Canadian 

 woodchuck, so clearly described by Sabine and Richardson, was con- 

 sidered by both Baird and Allen to be identical vdth monax (of which 

 it is, indeed, a subspecies) and the names based on it {canadensis 

 Erxleben, empetra Pallas, melanopus Kuhl) were placed by them in 

 synonymy, but were later revived by several authors. ^ 



In 1889 Merriam described dacota, a member of the flaviventris 

 group, from the Black Hills, S. Dak.; and in 1898, olympus, a member 

 of the hoary marmot group, from the Olympic Mountains, Wash. In 

 1899 Bangs named ignava from Labrador and avara from southern 

 British Columbia; in 1905 J. A. AUen described engelhardti from 

 Utah; in 1909 Heller proposed vigilis for a hoary marmot from 

 Alaska; in 1911 Swarth named ochracea from Alaska and vancouver- 

 ensis from British Columbia; and in 1912 HoUister proposed the name 

 sihila for a hoary marmot from the northern Rocky Mountains, but 

 as this name was found to be preoccupied the species was renamed 

 by him oxytona in 1914. The present writer, after making a prehmi- 

 nary study of the group, added, in 1914, 10 new forms to the 13 cur- 

 rently recognized.^ Two additional new races are here described and 

 one old name {okanagana) is revived, making a total of 26 forms rec- 

 ognized in this revision. 



VERNACULAR NAMES. 



The marmots of the monax group are known in the Northern States 

 as woodchucks, and in the Southern States as ground hogs, the Euro- 

 pean name marmot being practically unlmown in eastern North 

 America. In eastern Canada, among the French Canadians, the 

 name '^siffleur'^ is current, and in central Canada the Cree Indian 



1 Audubon & Bachman. Quad. N. Am., 1, 1841, pp. 16-24,;pl. ii; m, 1854, pp. 17-20, pi. ciii; pp. 160-162, 

 pi. cxxxiv. 



2Rh.oads, S. N., Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1897, p. 30; Allen, J. A., Bui. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., X, 

 1898, p. 456; Preble, E. A., N. Am. Fauna No. 22, 1902, p. 47; Ibid., No. 27, 1908, p. 159. 

 3 Howell, A. H. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, XXVIl, 1914, pp. 13-18. 



