Two young females from Chester, Iowa, nos. 2656 and 2874/2873, Coe
College, have skulls larger than those of corresponding age of
_primulina_ or _noveboracensis_. The color is as in spadix. The color
pattern of the underparts also is as in _spadix_ or _longicauda_ except
that the width of the area of light color on the belly is restricted
somewhat although not so much as in _noveboracensis_ or _primulina_.
Of four males from the same place, also in the collection of Coe
College, no. A2874 is a white skin only and does not provide diagnostic
characters. The three other males, each in summer pelage, are marked
and colored as are the two females from the same place except that male
no. 2861 has the color of the underparts so much attenuated on the hind
legs that it barely, uninterruptedly, extends to the feet. No. 2658 is
young, or perhaps barely subadult. The skull is large and referable to
_spadix_. The two adults, nos. 2861 and 2657, differ cranially from
typical (Elk River, Minn.) _spadix_ only in being slightly narrower
across the mastoids and in having the bullae a little narrower. In
these departures they show some approach to _primulina_ and to
_noveboracensis_. Another male, subadult, no. 2867, Coe College, from
Decorah, which has acquired half of the white winter coat, agrees with
the males from Chester except that the preorbital part of the skull is
shortened much as in some specimens of _primulina_.
From Lansing, in extreme northeastern Iowa, a large subadult male, no.
2864, Coe College, of 453 mm. in total length and half through with
acquiring the white winter coat, agrees with the males previously
described from Chester except in having the palate narrower as in
_noveboracensis_. The adult female available from Lansing, no.
2863/2862, Coe College, in white winter pelage except for the top of
the head, although a large skin, has a skull smaller than that of any
_spadix_ or _longicauda_ and of about the same size as that of no.
3838, Univ. Kansas Mus. Nat. Hist., of _primulina_, from Lawrence,
Kansas, except that the skull of no. 2863/2862 is much narrower across
the mastoids. This specimen, then, shows approach to _noveboracensis_
in narrowness of the mastoidal region, to _primulina_ in other respects
and to _spadix_.
Many of these instructive specimens from Iowa, made available to the
present writer by Mr. W. F. Kubichek, were brought together at the Coe
College Museum by the late B. H. Bailey. Most of them were obtained
from trappers who did not supply the conventional external measurements
taken in the flesh. Even though these are lacking, the specimens
clearly show that actual intergradation occurs where the ranges of _M.
f. longicauda_, _spadix_, _noveboracensis_ and _primulina_ meet.
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