R0DENT1A-CASTORINAE-APLODONTIA LEPORINA. 
353 
APLODONTIA LEPORINA, Rich. 
Sewellel; Showt’l. 
Aplodmtia leparina, Richardson, Zool. Jour. IY, Jan. 1829, 335 .—Ib. Fauna Bor. Am. I, 1829, 211; plate xviii, 
C, fig. 7—14. 
Peale, Mam. & Birds Ex. Ex. 1848, 56. Wood cut fig. of skull. 
Aud. &. Bach. N. Am. Quad. III. 1853, 99 ; plate cxxiii. 
Enplodon leporinus, Waglek, Syst. Amph. 1830. 
Wagnee, Suppl. Schreb. Ill, 1843, 396. 
Anisonyx rufa, Rafinesque, Am. Month. Mag. II, 1817, 45. 
Arctomys rufa, Harlan, F. Am. 1825, 308. 
Sewellel, Lewis & Clarke, Travels, II, 1815, 176. 
Sp. Cn —Size of muskrat, with much of its general appearance; reddish brown all over, with a more plumbeous cast below. 
The eyes of this species are very small, and situated about midway between the nose and the 
ear. The whiskers are longer than the head, stiff, of a plumbeous brown and dark gray, 
intermixed. The ears are short and rounded, covered on both sides with short hair. The tail 
is shorter than the hind foot; it is much depressed—this character very distinct in the vertebrae. 
The third finger is longest; the fourth a little shorter, next the third. The claw of the fifth 
reaches a little beyond the base of that of the third ; the claw of the first does not extend to 
the base of the other fingers. On the hind foot the three central toes and claws are nearly 
equal. The fifth claw reaches not quite to the middle of the fourth ; the first a little beyond 
the base of the second. The palms and soh;s are naked; the former with two large basal 
tubercles, as in Geomys. 
The fur consists of a soft dense woolly fur, with longer and bristly hairs interspersed. This 
fur is of a grayish plumbeous at the base ; at the ends it is of a dull reddish brown. On the 
under parts the plumbeous predominates. The interspersed hairs are black. Some specimens 
are of a darker cast above. 
As the skins before me are somewhat distorted, I add the dimensions of a mounted specimen 
brought home by the United States Exploring Expedition, under Captain Wilkes. 
General dimensions. 
Inches. 
Lines. 
Nose to occiput__,_ 
3 
7 
1 
5 
ear_ 
2 
5 
root of tail along the curve_-_ 
15 
6 
Tail from root to end of vertebrae___,_ 
10 
hairs_ 
1 
6 
Ear, height, posteriorly - - - _ 
5 
width___ _ 
6 
Arm, fore foot to end of claws___ 
1 
n- 
7 
longest claw _ __ 
Leg, hind foot from heel to end of claws_ 
2 
1 
longest claw__ 
4 * 
Tliis animal, though not rare in the vicinity of Puget’s Sound, is yet very little known to 
45 L 
