1915. ] 



THOMOMYS ALPINUS GEOUP. 



63 



Measurements. — Average of 5 topotypes ( c? ad.): Total length, 

 269; tail vertebrae, 78; hind foot, *34. Average of 5 topotypes (9 

 ad.): 224, 64, 30. SluU (of topotype, old ^):^ Basal length, 46; 

 nasals, 17; zygomatic breadth, 30; mastoid breadth, 24; alveolar 

 length of upper molar series, 10. 



Remarks. — TJiomom ys altivallis apparently has its nearest relative in 

 pallescens, which stands intermediate in characters and geographic 

 position between it and hoUse. It is probably a robust, mountain form 

 of the hottde group occupying the higher levels of the San Bernardino 

 Mountains. The exact type locality is unknown other than as 5,000 

 feet altitude in the San Bernardino Mountains. Herron, who col- 

 lected it, is no longer living, and S. N. Rhoads, who described the 

 species, has no further information as to its location. The t3rpe speci- 

 men, however, is of the large, high-mountain form, agreeing with the 

 large series from Bluff Lake and vicinity. 



Specimens examined. — Total number, 155, as follows: 



California (at various altitudes from 2,700 to 9,200 feet in the San Bernardino 

 Mountains): Bear Lake, Bear Valley, Bluff Lake, Doblg, Dry Lake, Fish 

 Creek, Santa Ana River, Seven Oaks, Sugarloaf, Waterman Canyon, and 

 Fawnskin Park. 



Thomomys alpinus Group. 

 THOMOMYS ALPINUS ALPINUS Merriam. 

 Mount Whitney Pocket Gopher. 



(PI. V, fig. 13.) 



Thomomys alpinus Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, XI, 216, 1897. 



Type. — Collected on Big Cottonwood Meadows (8 miles southeast 

 of Mount Whitney), at 10,000 feet altitude in the Sierra Nevada, 

 California, hy B. H. Dutcher, August 6, 1891. Type specimen in 

 U. S. Nat. Mus., Biological Survey collection. 



Distribution. — Southern part of the Sierra Nevada, Cal., at alti- 

 tudes between 6,000 and 11,000 feet, from Mount Whitney south to 

 Siretta Meadows (fig. 6). 



OJiaracters. — Size large; hind foot about 30 mm. in both males and 

 females; sexes very similar; ears large and conspicuous; colors dull 

 and dark; skull not ridged or angular; mammae in 4 pairs, inguinal 

 2-2, pectoral 2-2. 



Color. — Summer pelage: Dull dark ochraceous (much as in lottse), 

 becoming blackish along middle of back, paler on belly; nose blackish; 

 throat white ; feet and distal two- thirds of tail whitish. One inmiature 

 specimen is paler, more ochraceous above and buffy below. Winter 

 pelage (long and faded on rump and sides in July specimens): Dull 

 dark clay color. 



1 No. 89968, U. S. Nat. Mus. 



