58 



NOEm AMEEICAi^ PAUXA. 



[No. 38. 



Descriptions of Species and Subspecies of Scapanus. 



SCAPANUS TOWNSENDII (Bachman). 

 Townsend's Mole. 

 (PI. IV, fig. 1; PI. V, figs. 1, la; PI. VI, fig. 10.) 



Scalops canadensis Pichardson, Fauna Boreali-Amer., part 1, p. 9, 1829. (Not of 



Desmarest or Harlan.) 

 Scalops Townsendii Bachman, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, vol. 8, part 1, 



p. 58, 1839. 



Scalops Townsendi Bachman, Boston Journ. Nat. Hist., vol. 4, p. 31, January, 1842. 

 Scapanus Towsendii (sic) Pomel. Archiv. Sci. Physiques et Nat., vol. 9, p. 247, 1848. 

 Scalops metaUescens Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci, Philadelphia, vol. 6, 1853, p. 242, 



1854. (Nomen nudum.) 

 Scalops seneus Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 6, 1853, p. 299, 1854. 



Type locality, Oregon. 

 [TaZpa] s:nea Le Conte, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 6, 1853, p. 327, 1854. 

 Talpa Townsendii Le Conte, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 6, 1853, p. 327, 



1854. 



Talpa tseniata Le Conte, Proc. Acad. Nat.. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 6, 1853, p. 327, 1854. 



Type locality, banks of Columbia River. 

 Sclapanusi Townsendi Peters, Monatsber. Konig. Preuss. Akad. Wissensch., Berlin, 



1863, p. 656, 1864. 

 Scapanus To207isendii Tme, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 7, p. 607, 1885. 



Type locality. — ''Banks of the Columbia River." Probably from 

 the vicinity of Fort Vancouver, Clarke County, Washington, which 

 it seems well to consider the type locality. 



Type specimen. — Cotype, No. 449, Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia; 

 collected May 9, 1835,^ by J. K. Townsend. 



GeograpTiic range. — Extreme northwestern California, Oregon, and 

 Washington west of the Cascade. Mountains. 



General cJiaracters. — Size largest of the genus; color dark, almost 

 black; skull large, mastoids relatively heavy, rostrum long; uni- 

 cuspid teeth evenly spaced and not crowded. The young of 8. 

 townsendii in superficial skin characters often resemble adults of S. 

 orarius, but are easily separated from the latter by their large fore 

 feet, with thick, heavy claws. 



Color. — Winter pelage: Upperparts blackish brown, fuscous-black, 

 sooty black, to almost black, usually with a purplish sheen; under- 

 parts very shghtly paler than the back and frequently stained with 

 brown. Summer pelage: Much hke winter pelage, but very slightly 

 paler, with pmplish sheen more pronounced. 



Slcull. — ^Large (greatest length of smallest skulls more than 40 

 mm.), flat, and angular; mastoids angular and rather heavy; inter- 

 parietal relatively narrower antero-posteriorly than in S. latima- 

 nus; slight but distinct sagittal crest between anterior portions 



1 The date is not on the labels now attached to the specimen, but Bachman (loc. cit.) states it was col- 

 lected May 9, 1835. 



