THE RED-BACKED MOUSE. 



643 



KA'OTOMVS (iArPEltl lillOADSI Stono. 



REDBACKED MOUSE. 



Krolomys gapperi rJwadsl Stone, Am. Naturalist, Vol. 27, p. 55, 

 189:1 Evermann and Butler, Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci. for 1893, 

 p. 127, 1894. 



Description. — Color bright reddish chestnut on the back, this 

 color being somewhat overlaid with h)nger l)lack hairs; sides yel- 

 lowish; belly light gray, often with a tinge of yellowish; skull 

 (fig. 35) short and rounded. 



Fig. nr».— Skull of Erofoiiii/s. After Miller, N. Am. Fauna No. 12, Bureau of the 

 Biol. Sur., U. S. Dept. of Agri. 



'Distribution and habits. — The limits of this subspecies are not 

 known, but it, or closely related forms, occur in the woods and bogs 

 from Quebec to the Carolinas. Evermann and Butler included it, 

 with an interrogation, in their list under the name of Evotomys 

 rutilus gapperi. They mention a specimen from Montmorenci in 

 the collection of C. L. Reynolds, ''which seems to belong to this 

 species." I have been unable to obtain any other record from the 

 State, and do not consider this one sufficiently well established to 

 repeat, except in the appendix. 



Rhoads states that this form inhabits the cold bogs in New Jer- 

 sey. This is also true of Stone's lemming, which, however, we find 

 in the grassy uplands in Indiana and the occurrence of the red- 

 backed mouse in this State is by no means an impossibility. It 

 should be looked for especially in the sphagnum bogs and tamarack 

 sw^amps of the northern half, although it might also be found in 

 ether situations. 



