378 
U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS—ZOOLOGY-GENERAL REPORT. 
GEOMYS BKEVICEPS, Baird. 
Short-headed Gopher. 
Geomys breviceps, Baird, Pr. Ph. Acad. Nat. Sc. VII, April, 1855, 334. 
Sp. Cii.—U pper incisors with a small groove near the inner edge, and a much larger one bisecting the remaining space. 
Fore feet decidedly longer than the hinder ones. The second claw reaching half way down the fourth. Cheek pouches 
quite ample. 
Colors. —Above, dark chestnut brown, with cloudings caused by darker tips to the hairs. Beneath, paler, mixed with 
grayish. Inside of pouches and surrounding region entirely yellowish white. Skull short, broad. Forehead plane. 
Outline of zygomata, as viewed from above, curved ; separated most‘widely at the junction of malar and temporal. 
This species, from the indications afforded by the skulls of the two specimens under exami¬ 
nation, is much the smallest of those with bisulcate incisors. The ears are quite obsolete in 
one specimen ; in another, rather more distinct than usual in this group of - Geomys, the 
encircling ridge of skin being quite prominent. The whiskers are very short. The cheek 
pouches are large and deep, amply coated wPh hair everywhere. The tail is contained between 
two and three times in the length of the body. It is scantily coated with hair, most densely 
near the base. The fur is moderately full and soft, more so than in G. bursarius. 
The furrowing of the incisors is much as in G. bursarius from St. Louis. The inner groove 
is, however, somewhat narrower and shorter. The main groove bisects the portion exterior to 
the inner groove, the halves being symmetHcal and rounded. 
The fore feet or hands are but little longer than the hind feet; their claws are very large and 
stout. The middle claw, measured above, reaches from the end of its finger to the tubercle of 
the palm ; its under surface occupies a little more than one-third of the whole hand. The first 
finger is very rudimentary, its claw only reaching over about one-third the hand, and extend¬ 
ing barely to the end of the fifth finger. The second finger is considerably shorter than the 
fourth, and its claw only reaches to about the middle of the fourth claw, and to the end of the 
third finger. The fifth claw extends beyond the end of the second finger. On the hind feet, 
the first and filth toes are almost rudimentary, especially the latter. The claw of the fifth 
reaches to the base of the first claw ; the second claw reaches to the end of the third toe ; the 
fourth claw a little beyond the base of the second. The second claw is about as long as the 
third, and widened at the end. 
The color is not markedly different from the St. Louis species. The upper parts are of a dark 
chestnut brown ; the ends of the hairs tipped with still darker along the middle and posterior 
portion of the back, imparting an indistinct clouding to the color. The under parts are of a 
paler tint of the same mixed with greyish, and showing a good deal of the plumbeous bases of 
the hairs. 
The inside and edges of the cheek pouches, lips, chin, throat, hands and posterior edge of 
the fore legs, are of a uniform yellowish white, perhaps quite white when not altered by alcohol. 
The tail is obscurely white beneath and dusky above. 
