Yellow Pocket Gopher 85 
Genus GEOMYS (Grk. ge, the earth + mus, mouse) 
Geomys Rafinesque, Am. Month. Mag., ii., No. i, p. 45 (181 7). 
Type G. tuza. 
Revision, Merriam, N. A. Fauna, No. 8 (1895). 
Pocket Gophers with the common external features of the family; 
dentition: i., \ ', pm., y;m., | X2=2o; the upper incisors broad and 
strongly bisulcate, with a principal sulcus or groove slightly to the 
outer side of the median line and a small inner groove close to the 
inner edge of each tooth ; upper premolar without posterior enamel 
plate; anterior and middle upper molars with posterior enamel 
plates complete. 
The species of this genus are spread over the central portion 
of the United States from Minnesota to the Mexican boundary 
and from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi, 
together with the southern half of Alabama and Georgia and 
the northern half of Florida. 
Nine species are recognized by Elliot in his Check-list 
and only one of these has been found within the limits of 
Colorado. 
Geomys lutescens (Lat. lutescere, to turn to mud, suggest- 
ing clay color) . Yellow Pocket Gopher. 
Geomys bursarius lutescens Merriam, A^, A. Fauna, No. 4, p. 51 
(1890). 
Type locality. — Sandhills on Bird wood Creek, Lincoln Co., 
Nebraska (A. B. Baker, 1889). 
Measurements. — Total length, 9.6; tail vert., 2.75; hind foot, 
1.25. 
Description. — (From a specimen taken at Colorado Springs, Oct. 
19th): Upper parts pale fulvous; upper surface of feet whitish; 
under parts whitish, with buffy cast. Basal half of tail above 
like back, end blackish; whitish below. 
Distribution. — The Yellow Pocket Gopher is found in south- 
western South Dakota, w^estern Nebraska and Kansas, eastern 
Wyoming and Colorado, western Oklahoma and Texas, ranging 
about as far east as the 99th meridian. In Colorado it has been 
recorded from Larimer, Weld, Boulder, Denver, Jefferson, Adams, 
Yuma, Cheyenne, El Paso, Prowers, and Baca counties. The 
Arkansas River is apparently the south boundary of its range, 
except in Prowers County and the extreme eastern part of Baca 
