MAMMALS. 
15 
NEOTOMA FLORID ANA, S a y & 0 r d .—Wood Rat. 
“ Musjloridana , Ord, Bull. Soc. Philom. 1818.” 
Neotoma floridana, Aud. & Bach. N. Am. Quad. 1,1849, 32; pi. iv. 
Baird, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 487. 
Sp, Ch.—T ail with short stiff hairs, not concealing the scaly annuli; about three-fourths the length of the head and body. 
Ears very large. Feet large. 
Color. —Above, mixed lead color, dark brown, and yellowish brown; lighter on the sides. Under parts and feet, white. Tail 
dusky above, white beneath. Skull elongated and narrow. 
A specimen, supposed to be of this species, was collected by Mr. Mollhausen in the Antelope 
Hills, on the Arkansas river. 
? NEOTOMA MEXICANA, Baird .—Bush Rat. 
Baird, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 490. 
Many specimens of Neotoma were collected west of the Rocky mountains, where they appear 
to abound ; all, however, were lost on the Isthmus. About Camp 96 we found them in a country 
covered by a growth of the rough-barked cedar, (Juniperus joachyderma.) They seem to select 
a hollow tree with a hole near the root; then around it they pile vast heaps of dry twigs and 
fragments of the several species of cactaceie ( Opuntia ) which grow there. The latter is probably 
a protection against the depredations of wolves. Numerous lodges of this kind were found 
throughout the forest, into one of which we dug until w T e reached the hole at the root of the 
tree, when, applying a match, we soon compelled the animal to leave it, which it did by finding 
its way out several feet above, and fell to the ground apparently dead. Its food seemed to 
consist mainly of the fruit of the cactus. 
Another specimen (115 b. White Cliff creek, N. M.) was much the largest we saw. We 
found, around a pile of rotten drift wood near the creek, tracks and other evidences of the 
presence of some animal, and applying a lighted match to the bushes awaited the result; when 
nearly the entire pile was consumed, the rat emerged, having four young ones adhering to it. 
The little ones were very young, and after the mother was killed they were placed on an open 
spot on the sand, where they crawled awkwardly about for a while, uttering all the time a 
plaintive whining cry, not unlike that of a very young kitten. They were caught early in 
February. 
SIGMODON BERLANDIERI? 
Baird, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 504. 
Among our lost specimens was one probably of this species, certainly, I think, of this genus, 
obtained on the Little Colorado river, (No. 105.) We found them very abundant in many 
places in the valley of this river. They lived in the sand in very tortuous holes, and extending 
for many yards, though rarely more than fifteen inches below the surface. The entrance to 
their abode was generally in a pile of earth heaped around the base of a mezquite bush, ( Alga - 
robia,) upon the roots of which it seemed to feed. So far as we noticed, they were entirely 
nocturnal in their habits. On several occasions we attempted to dig them out with spades, but 
were always forced, after hours of labor, to relinquish the task without having accomplished 
our purpose. The specimen procured had, during the night, gotten into an empty bucket, 
where it was found alive in the morning. The body measured about three and a half inches, 
and the tail the same; the hair was coarser and darker than in the neotomas. 
