382 University of California Publications in Zoology  |Vou. 24
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Marmota monax petrensis Howell. British Columbia Woodchuck

A resident of the lowlands of the Hazelton region; possibly
common but, from its shyness and the nature of its surroundings,
difficult to see. We collected two specimens in Kispiox Valley, all that
we encountered, and were told of several others seen nearby. The two
collected were an adult female (no. 32758), taken August 21, and a
male of the previous year (no. 32759), on September 8. The year
following our visit to the region four additional specimens (nos.
32965-32968, three males and one female), were sent me by an
acquaintance, Mr. Charles Lindahl, who shot them at the same locality,
in May, 1922.

TABLE 3

MEASUREMENTS IN MILLIMETERS OF SKULLS or Marmota monax petrensis FROM
KiIsprox VALLEY, B.C.

Breadth} Least Maxil-

Condylo- Pest | Length] Zygo- | across | inter- | Breadth| lary

basal Palatal | palatal of » | matic mas- | orbital of tooth

length length | length | nasals | breadth| toids | breadth| rostrum] row

32758 ©) 81.8 48.5 | 30.0 | 31.5 | 56.0*| 39.8 | 21.0 | 16.0 | 19.2
32968 Q 80.3 47.8 | 29.8 | 32.5 | 55.0 | 39.5 | 20.0 | 14.8 | 20.0
32759 roe 75.8 45.2 | 27.0 | 31.2 | 53.8 | 38.2 | 19.0 | 14.2 | 18.5
32965 fof 85.0 50.0 | 30.5 | 34.0 | 56.8 | 40.5 | 21.2 | 15.2 | 19.0
32966 rot 82.5 49.0 | 29.0 | 32.0 | 57.0 | 40.0 | 20.2 | 14.0 | 19.2
_ 382967 of 78.5 46.0 | 29.0 | 30.5 | 55.0 | 40.0 | 20.0 | 15.0 | 21.0

*Estimated.

Howell (1915), upon the basis of skulls without skins, ascribes to
Marmota monazx ochracea a range extending south to the Babine Moun-
tains and Stuart Lake, a little southeast of the place where we were
collecting. Our specimens, however, are not ochracea; in color at least
they are widely different from that subspecies. Five of the six are
almost uniformly black. The one in ‘normal’ pelage is in markings
closely similar to a Wisconsin specimen of rufescens at hand, though
darker colored throughout; it has not the cinnamon-colored tail of
ochracea.

The five black skins came all from the same small clearing on the
Kispiox River, but nevertheless the melanism exhibited by them is
not to be regarded as peculiar to a limited strain, a single family
group. We were told by several people that most of the lowland
woodchueks of this general region were black, and that it was only an

oeeasional one that showed the yellow-brown type of coloration. Of