RODENTIA-GEOMYINAE-GEOMYS BURSARIUS. 
378 
Geornys oregonensis, Leconte, Pr. Phil. Ac. N. Sc. VI, Sept. 1852, 160. 
Gopher ; Pocket gopher ; pouched rat. Vulgo. 
Sp. Ch.—U pper incisors, with a small groove near the inner edge, and a much larger one bisecting the remaining space. 
Fore feet considerably longer than the hinder ones. Second claw reaching to about the middle of the fourth. Cheek 
pouches ample. 
Cblffr. —Reddish brown above, with a plumbeous tinge along the vertebral region. Under parts paler and more yellowish. 
Inside of pouches reddish brown in parts. Skull sub-elongated, the zygomata converging as straight lines behind—widest 
apart at the end of the superior maxillary process. Forehead convex. 
Sometimes dark plumbago colored above ; tinged.with brownish beneath. 
The upper incisors of this species have a small, not very acute, groove close along the inner 
edge, and a second much deeper and more conspicuous one half way between the first and the 
outer edge of the incisor. This second groove is rounded at the bottom and on the sides, ‘and 
the two portions of the incisors on either side are nearly symmetrical in shape and entirely 
rounded, no portion of their anterior surface being plane ; the incisors of both jaws are about 
as wide as they are deep, the axes of their cross sections being nearly equal. 
The ears are entirely obsolete, or represented merely by a thickening of the skin round the 
auditory aperture. The cheek pouches are very wide and well coated with hairs, except 
towards the bottom, where they are rather thin. The tail is contained not quite three times in 
the length of the body ; in some specimens it is densely hairy to the tip ; in others it is 
somewhat naked at the extremity ; in none examined could the tail be called naked. 
The fore feet are considerably longer than the hinder ones ; the claws being excessively 
developed. The third claw, measured above and applied on the palmar surface, reaches from 
the end of the third finger to a little beyond the base of the border of the tubercle ; measured 
below, it occupies about three-eighths of the whole length ; the first claw reaches likewise over 
about three-eighths of the hand. The cleft between the second and third fingers is quite deep, 
extending almost half way from the end of the finger proper to the beginning of the hand. 
The fourth finger is decidedly longer than the second, and its claw is much larger and longer, 
the tip of the second claw only reaching about halfway down the fourth, (measured below.) 
The first claw extends beyond the base of the fifth, and the fifth barely reaches the base of the 
second. On the hind feet the first claw reaches nearly half way between the tips of the fourth 
and fifth ; the second is much longer than the fourth, its claw reaching to the end of the third 
or longest toe ; the second claw being, in fact, the largest on the foot. 
The upper parts are of a dark reddish or chestnut brown along the middle of the back, 
glossed with plumbeous ; the sides are rather paler, and the under parts are even of a yellowish 
brown. The edges of the mouth and the chin are yellowish white, as are the outer walls of 
the pouches ; the inner are chestnut. The tail is chestnut at the base ; at the extremity and 
the inferior surface generally it is whitish, as are the feet and the posterior edge of the arm. 
The hairs are everywhere plumbeous at the base, those on the central area of the back not 
varying materially at their tips. 
These specimens may be considered to represent the genuine Pseudostoma bursarius of Say, 
as described in Long’s Expedition, having been obtained from the same locality. There is, 
however, a Geornys from Iowa, in the -collection of the National Institute, in Washington, 
which presents some important points of distinction. With a much larger body, and much 
stouter incisors, the tail is absolutely shorter, as well as the single vertebrae themselves, and 
the feet of much the same size. The grooves of the upper incisors are much as described in the 
