October 31, 1914 
\ V ,t>oV 
Vol. XXVII, pp. 207-208 
PROCEEDINGS 
OF TIIK 
BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 
A NEW RACE OF ^MICROTUS 
CENTRAL SIERRA 
MONTANUS FROM THE 
NEVADA. 
r.V JOSEPH GRINXELL. 
(('ontrilmlion frt^ni tho ^ruseinn of Vortelirato ZooloKy of the I'nivcrsity of California.) 
The viontan us group of meadow mice occupies the uortheasteru 
section of California, in tlie Modoc region west to the vicinity" 
of Mount Shasta, and thence south along the Sierra Nevada to 
and including the Mount Whitney region. A curious thing in 
its distrihution is that in the northern part of this general area 
this S})ecitic Wpe belongs to a lower life zone than in the south¬ 
ern part. The species ax)pears to tip up zonally from north to 
south. Material accumulated in the California Museum of 
Wrtehrate Zoology indicates that three subspecies are recog¬ 
nizable, and that typically these belong to three different levels 
of zonal position. The two extreme races have been named, 
and it remains to characterize and name tlu' middle-lying form. 
Rut this new subspecies, of iutermediate position, is not alto¬ 
gether intermediate in characters. Geograiihic variation in the 
woutdi)us gvonp of meadow mice has alreadly been referred to 
hrietly by Vernon Railey (N. Amer. Fauna, No. 17, 1900, p. 2(S). 
Microtus montanus yosemite now sul)«i)(H‘ios, 
VOSKMITK MKADOW MOUSK. 
7 ’^,^__l,>inalo adult, Xo. E3,'.»7S, Muh. Vert. Zonl.; VoFOinito Valley, 
4000 f(H‘t altitude, Mariposa County, Galiinnda : May 27, 1011; e.olleeted 
by J. and 11. W. Crinnell; Orig. Xo. (no. 
‘ Diagnosis.— to topotyiu's ..f Min-otn^ wonlanoH mont^niis 
(Peale), frofii Sis.son, Siskiyou (^lunty, California, but coloration notably 
pak'r; les.s black, more gray, black hairs dorsally Ic'ss in pro|)ortion, 
bully hairs, paler, more grayish iu tone; teid. and tail U'ss blackish, the 
;>()_Proc. I'.ioc. Soc. W.VSH., Vor. XXVII, HIM. (-'*d 
