MILLER: MAMMALS OF ONTARIO. 
27 
shore of Lake Superior the animal hibernates at the end of Sep¬ 
tember or beginning of October. Shortly after the latter date I 
found several recently used burrows near Peninsula Harbor, but 
traps set in them yielded only a few stray rabbits. At Nepigon I 
was told that the Indian name is wenusk. 
It is with great hesitation that I refer the three woodchucks taken 
at Nepigon to the form to which Mr. S. N. Rhoads has recently 
applied the name melanopus Kulil. 1 These specimens represent a 
race which is distinct from true monax , but which appears to be 
characterized by small size, short ears and tail, and small, weak 
skull. The Nepigon specimens may be described as follows: — 
Color. — (<J juv. No. 4014, collection of Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., 
Nepigon, Ontario, September ‘24, 1896) ; fur of back, throat, and 
most of ventral surface deep plumbeous at base; hairs on back of 
two kinds, those of the soft short under fur (about 20 mm. long) 
with only two distinct color bands, the basal half plumbeous and the 
terminal half yellowish cinnamon (some of the hairs forming the 
under fur have indistinct dark tips), those of the longer coarser 
outer fur (about 35 mm.) plumbeous at base, then successively yel¬ 
lowish, cinnamon, black, dirty white, and black, 2 producing a griz¬ 
zled mixture very hard to describe; whitish element in mixture 
most noticeable on shoulders and sides of neck, least conspicuous on 
rump and buttocks; feet, hands, ankles, and wrists black; tail dark 
brown slightly sprinkled, especially near edge and tip, with russet; 
ears dirty whitish, dark brown at tips; muzzle, lips, and chin whitish ; 
throat, chest, belly, front legs, and inner side of hind legs bright 
clear russet, palest on throat, clearest and brightest on chest and 
front legs, the dark bases of the hairs forming a distinct median line 
broadest across mid ventral region ; cheeks and sides of head dis¬ 
tinctly paler and yellower than surrounding parts; top of head very 
dark glossy brown. 
The other two specimens are melanistic, one clear black through¬ 
out except for the white muzzle and lips, the other with the black of 
the feet extended up the legs, and the rump, buttocks, middle of 
back, and middle of neck entirely unsprinkled with whitish. In this 
specimen the fur otherwise retains its normal color. 
1 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., February, 1897, p. 30. 
2 The width of the hands varies in different regions. In a hair 33 ram. long from the 
middle of the hack the plumbeous basal hand occupies 13 mm., the russet band 6 mm., 
the ffrst black band 10 mm., the dirty white band 2 mm., and the terminal black band 
2 mm. 
