642 



REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



with a sprinkling of yellowish brown, which is brightest on the 

 sides ; belly pure white ; tail the color of the back above and white 

 below. The hairs are long and dense enough to obscure the scales 

 which are so prominent on the tail of a house rat and the fur is 

 everywhere softer and denser than in the house rat. 



Range and habits. — The Allegheny wood rat is found in the 

 mountains of southern New York, Pennsylvania and the Virginias. 

 The species has also been found in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. It is 

 an inhabitant of caves and limestone hills and ledges. There is 

 much territory suited for its habitation in southern Indiana, and 

 it could easily reach this region from central Kentucky. Indeed it 

 is rumored that these rats lived in Wyandotte Cave before the cats 

 which now inhabit the cave, exterminated them. I have not been 

 able to confirm the rumor and know of no record from the State. 

 The occurrence of the species in Indiana is not improbable, how- 

 ever. 



In Mammoth Cave they live at some distance from the entrance 

 and hide away in the inaccessible clefts. Although they probably 

 never see daylight their eyes are in no way degenerate. In Penn- 

 sylvania Mr. Rhoads has found them barricading the clefts in which 

 they live with the bones of animals and other debris. In the Vir- 

 ginia caves they are said to build globular nests as large as a bushel 

 basket on the cave floor. 



Genus Evotomys Coues. 

 Evotomys Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1874, p. 186. 

 Dental Formula.— I, ^J; C, |}E-o; Pm, 1^3=16. 



Fig. 34. — Enamc'l pattorn of molar tooth of Evotomys. After Millor, N. Am. 

 Fauna No. 12, Buroau of the Biol. Sur., U. S. Dept. of Agri. 



Generic characlers. — Size and proportions, about as in Microtus; 

 color of back reddish; ears somewhat larger than in Microtus; 

 upper incisors without grooves ; molars rooted in adult, the crowns 

 narrow, with the angles of the enamel rounded (fig. 34). 



