62 
ZOOLOGY. 
FIBER ZIBETHICUS, Cuv. 
The Muskrat. 
Baird, Gen. llep. Mammals, 1857, 5G1. 
I have yet to obtain evidence of the existence of the muskrat in California, or even in Oregon, 
though I suspect it may he found in some parts of that Territory. In the Sacramento valley, 
in the Klamath lake region, in the basin of the Des Chutes, places apparently fitted by nature 
to he paradises of muskrats, shallow rush-grown lakes and rush-bordered canal-like streams, 
just where, in the eastern States, muskrats would abound, though I looked carefully, I never 
saw the animal, his track, his habitations, nor even his characteristic heaps of emptied shells 
of Unio and Anodonla. I therefore concluded that in all this region the muskrat does not exist. 
At Steilacoom, Washington Territory, and from there across the country to Fort Colville, 
and thence to the Rocky mountains and the head of Snake river, the “ musquash ” is found, if 
not plentifully, at least generally. Specimens from several localities which I have seen differ 
in nothing, to my eye, from the muskrat of the eastern States. 
ERETHIZOH EPIXANTHUS, Brandt. 
Yellow-haired Porcupine. 
Erethizon epixanthus, Brandt, Mem. Acad. St. Petersburgh, 1835, 389, 416; table i, animal ; table ix, fig. 1—4, 
skull.—I b. Mamm. exot. 55, (same as preceding.) 
Schinz, Synopsis Mamm. II, 1845, 266. 
Waterhouse, N. II. Mamm. II, 1848, 442. 
Baird, Rep. Mammals, 1857, 569. 
Sp. Ch. —General color dark brown, nearly black ; tlie long hairs of the body tipped with greenish yellow. Nasal bones 
nearly one-half or two-fifths the length of upper surface of the skull. 
The porcupine is an inhabitant of all our western territories. Most abundant in Oregon and 
Washington; it is not uncommon in the wooded portions of California. The fine specimen which 
I brought home was killed at Fort Reading, California, by Dr. J. F. Hammond, U. S. A. 
The food of the porcupine is exclusively vegetable ; in the eastern States, in winter, it feeds on 
the hark and small branches of hemlock, birch, poplar, &c.; in California, whenever driven by 
the snows to the trees for subsistence, it eats the cotton-wood, and in Oregon both that and the 
hemlock. 
LEPUS CAMPESTRIS, Bach. 
Prairie Hare. 
Lepus campeslris, Bach., J. A. N. Sc. Pbila. VII, ii, 1837, 349.—Ib. VIII, i, 1839, 80. 
Baird, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 585. 
Lepus townsendii, Bachman, J. A. N. Sc. Pliila. VIII, i, 90 ; pi. ii. 
Aud. & Bacii., N. Am. Quad. I, 1849, 25 ; pi. iii. 
Lepus virginianus, Rich., F. B. Am. I, 1829, 224. 
Sp. Cii.—L arger than Lepus americanus. Ears about one-fiftli longer than the head. Fur soft and full, especially in winter. 
Tail as long as the head. Hind feet considerably longer than the head; somewhat longer than the ears. 
In summer, back, rump, sides of limbs, external and internal bands of the ear, and the throat, yellowish grey, varied more 
or less with brown. Beneath white. Tail entirely white, above and below ; in some specimens only with a faint wash of 
ash above. Nape and interior surface of ears white, except as stated ; the latter tipped with black. 
In winter, pure white all over, with a yellowish tinge. Ears white, tipped with brown ; the external and internal bands 
rusty grey. Fur on the ears and elsewhere much longer and fuller than in summer. Fur on the upper part and sides pure 
white on the basal half. 
