98 



NOKTH AMEEICAN FAUNA. 



[ NO. 39. 



Remarks. — ^The name talpoides has long been applied to the gophers 

 of North Dakota and Manitoba on the supposition that they were 

 the same as those from the Saskatchewan. A series of specimens 

 recently collected at Borden, Saskatchewan, the lowest point at 

 which they could be found along the North Saskatchewan River, 

 and only about 40 miles above the site of old Fort Carlton, prove to 

 be separable from the Dakota animal, which therefore takes the 

 name rufescens. The fact that Richardson did not get specimens or 

 even see the gopher which he described is probably due to their 

 absence from the immediate vicinity of Fort Carlton where he records 

 them in an indefinite way. He may have seen their molelike mounds 

 on a short trip up the river or may only have heard of them from 

 trappers and other explorers in that region, possibly from Drum- 

 mond or Douglas. It, therefore, seems safe to assume that speci- 

 mens from Borden are typical of talpoides of Richardson. 



Loring reports gopher hills 20 miles, and Preble 40 miles, north of 

 Edmonton. 



Specimens examined, — ^Total number, 98^ as follows: 



Alberta: Blindman River, 4; Buffalo Lake, 2; Calgary, 2; Didsbury, 2; Ed- 

 monton, 22; Irwin Lake, 1; Red Deer, 23; St. Albert, 2; Waghorn, 1. 



Montana: Bearpaw Mountains, 1; Big Snowy Mountains, 2; Blackfoot, 12; 

 Highwood, 3; Zortman, 1. 



Saskatchewan: Borden, 16; Indian Head, 4. 



THOMOMYS TALPOIDES RUFESCENS Wied. 



Prairie Pocket Gopher; Dakota Pocket Gopher. 



(PL I; PI. II, fig. 5; PI. VII, fig. 1; text figs. 2, 3). 



Thomomys rufescens Wied, Nova. Acta. Phys. Med. Acad. Cses. Leop. -Carol, XIX, 

 pt. 1, 378, 1839. 



Type. — Collected at ''The Minnetaree Village," now Old Fort 

 Clark, Oliver County, North Dakota (about 6 miles south of Stanton), 

 on the west side of the Missouri River, by Maximilian, Prince of 

 Wiedin. 1833. Type specimen in Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 



Distribution. — Greater part of North Dakota, eastern South Dakota, 

 and southwestern Manitoba (fig. 10). . 



Characters. — Size large; feet large and claws stout; ears prominent 

 and pointed, not a mere thickened rim as in some western species; 

 color dull and dark gray; skull heavy, with parallel temporal ridges 

 and wide basioccipital; rostrum slender; incisors abruptly decurved, 

 distinctly grooved; mammae in 6 pairs, inguinal 2-2, abdominal 2-2, 

 pectoral 2-2. 



Color. — Thin summer pelage (July and August) : Upperparts dull 

 brownish gray; ear and surrounding fur black; underparts buffy gray 

 with more or less pure white on chin, throat, and breast; feet whitish; 

 tail whitish or gray at base. Early winter pelage (October): Dark 

 buffy gray above, almost as dark as in summer. Full winter pelage 



