HOWELL — A NEW FLORIDA WATER-RAT 
79 
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW RACE OF THE FLORIDA WATER- 
RAT (NEOFIBER ALLENI) 
By Arthur H. Howell 
Attention has already been called by Bangs to the differences existing 
between typical Neo fiber alleni of the east coast of Florida and the 
form inhabiting the fresh water lakes of the interior of the State.* 
Acquisition of a considerable series of specimens from the shores of 
Lake Okeechobee confirms this opinion and shows the necessity for 
recognizing this form by name. It may be described as follows : 
Neofiber alleni nigrescens subsp. nov. 
everglade water-rat 
Type, No. 228,392, U. S. National Museum, Biological Survey collection; adult 
(f , skin and skull; from Ritta, Florida (south shorg Lake Okeechobee), March 
2, 1918; collected by A. H. Howell; original number, 2269. 
Subspecific characters. — Similar to N. alleni alleni, but coloration more blackish 
(less brownish) above and more whitish (less buffy) below. 
Color. — General tone of upperparts fuscous-black, sometimes with a slight 
brownish tinge; sides paler, sometimes faintly washed with buffy wood brown; 
feet fuscous; tail fuscous-black; underparts grayish white, faintly washed with 
avellaneous, the chin with an irregular patch of fuscous or hair-brown. Young 
individuals are even darker than adults, being uniform chsetura-black above. 
Skull. — Not appreciably different from that of alleni. 
Measurements. — Type: Total length, 328; tail vertebrae, 127; hind foot, 44. 
Skull: Basal length, 43.2: condylo-basal length, 44.8; zygomatic breadth, 27.4; 
length of nasals, 12; alveolar length of maxillary tooth row, 11.5. 
Remarks . — ^This new race of the Florida water-rat or round-tailed 
muskrat is represented by a series of 25 specimens from southern 
Florida; nearly all are from the type locality — Ritta, on the south 
shore of Lake Okeechobee — ^but two are from Canal Point on the eastern 
shore, at the mouth of the West Palm Beach Canal, one from Zona on 
the North New River Canal, near Fort Lauderdale, and one from the 
head of Barnes River on the west coast near Chokoloskee. The species 
doubtless ranges locally throughout the Everglade region, south to 
Cape Sable, where, on a burnt marsh within half a mile of the coast 
I picked up several weathered skulls of the animal. 
1 Bangs, 0., Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. 28, p. 183, 1898. 
