ARCTOMYS FLAVIVENTER.--BACH.
                             [Marmota flaviventris]

                             YELLOW-BELLIED MARMOT.


                              PLATE CXXXIV.--MALE.


     A. Supra flavido-albo nigroque griseus, capitis vertice nigro, subtus
saturate flavus, nasi extremitate labiis, mentoque albis, pedibus fuscescente
flavis, cauda subnigra.

                                CHARACTERS.

     Upper parts, grizzled yellowish-white and black; crown of the head, chiefly
black; under parts, deep yellow; point of nose, lips, and chin, white; feet,
brownish-yellow; tail, blackish-brown.


                                   SYNONYMES.

     ARCTOMYS FLAVIVENTER.  Bachman, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila.,
       October 5, 1841.
     ARCTOMYS FLAVIVENTER.  Catal. Zool. Soc. 1839, Specimen No. 459,
       Bachman's MSS


                                  DESCRIPTION.

     In form this animal resembles the figures and descriptions of what was
formerly considered the Canada Marmot (Arctomys empetra), which has since been
ascertained to be the young of the Maryland Marmot (A. monax).
     Head, rather small; ears, small and narrow; nails, short; tail, rounded,
and rather long; the whole animal is thickly clothed with fur, somewhat softer
than that of the Maryland Marmot.
     The upper incisors have several indistinct longitudinal grooves.


                                    COLOUR.

     Fur on the back, grayish-black at base; on each hair a considerable space
is occupied by dirty yellowish-white, which is gradually shaded towards the tips
through brown into black, but the tips are yellowish-white.
     Hairs on the under surface, grayish-black at base; hairs of the feet,
chiefly black at base; cheeks, grizzled with white and dark brown, the latter
colour prevailing; a rusty brown patch on the throat borders the white hairs on
the chin; whiskers, mostly black; palms, entirely naked through their whole
extent.  There is an indistinct yellow elongated spot behind the nose, and also
one behind or above the eye.


                                  DIMENSIONS.

                                             Inches.     Lines.

     From point of nose to root of tail,  .  . 16           0
     Tail, to end of fur,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  6          10
     Heel, to point of nail,  .  .  .  .  .  .  2           6 1/2
     Height of ear posteriorly,  .  .  .  .  .  0           6 1/2
     From point of nose to ear,  .  .  .  .  .  3           0


                                    HABITS.

     The specimen from which our description of this Marmot was drawn up, was
found by us among the skins sent to England by DRUMMOND and DOUGLAS, procured by
those gentlemen in our northwestern territories, and placed in the museum of the
Zoological Society of London.  Since we described it, the skin has been stuffed
and set up.
     Not a line was written in regard to its habits or the place where it was
killed; its form and claws, however, indicate that like the other species of
Marmot found in America, it is a burrowing animal, and feeds on seeds, roots,
and grasses.  We may also presume it has four or five young at a birth.


                           GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.

     As just stated, the exact locality in which this animal was captured has
not been given, but judging from the route travelled over by DOUGLAS, we presume
it was obtained in the mountainous districts that extend north and south between
Western Texas and California, where it probably exists, but if seen has been
supposed by the hunters and miners to be the common Marmot or woodchuck of the
Atlantic States (A. monax).


                                GENERAL REMARKS.

     This species differs from the young of Arctomys monax, by some naturalists
named A. empetra, as we ascertained by comparing it with several specimens of
that so-called species, in the museum of the Zoological Society, its feet being
yellow instead of black, as in those specimens, and the belly yellow, not deep
rusty red.  Besides, the hairs on the back are yellowish-white and black, in
place of rusty brown, black, and white.
     The head is narrower, the toes smaller, and the claws only half as long, as
in the above specimens.  The ears are also considerably smaller, narrower and
more ovate than the ears of A. monax, which are round.