trap. The specimens seem not to differ from Texan specimens from the type locality and Mustang Island.

Dipodomys ordii parvabullatus new subspecies

Ord Kangaroo Rat

Type.—Male, adult, skull and skin, No. 35454, Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kansas, from island, 88 miles south and 10 miles west of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico; obtained 19 March 1950 by E.R. Hall and Curt von Wedel; original No. 6778 E.R. Hall.

Range.—Islands along coast of Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Diagnosis.—Size small (see measurements). Color pale; entire dorsal surface Light Ochraceous-Buff (Capitalized color terms according to Ridgway: Color Standards and Color Nomenclature, Washington, D.C., 1912), purest on sides and flanks, upper parts lightly suffused with black; cheeks white; plantar surfaces of hind feet, dorsal and ventral stripe of tail, and anterior face of ear brownish. Skull small; auditory bullae smaller (actually and relative to remainder of skull) than in any other known kind of Dipodomys, excepting the one from Mustang Island, Texas (named beyond) in which the breadth is approximately the same; rostrum and interorbital region narrow.

Comparisons.—From Dipodomys ordii sennetti (Allen), of the mainland of Texas, D. o. parvabullatus differs in: Color paler on pigmented areas; white areas more extensive; skull smaller, in all parts measured, except the nasals which are slightly longer. From Dipodomys ordii compactus of Padre Island, Texas, D. o. parvabullatus differs in: Tail and hind foot shorter; skull smaller in all parts measured, especially so in breadth across maxillary processes of zygomatic arches.

Remarks.—D. o. parvabullatus resembles D. o. sennetti in external proportions and D. o. compactus in cranial proportions.

No difference was detected between specimens from the two sides of the tidal inlet 89 miles south of Matamoros. Only one of the 14 specimens is of the light color phase (upper parts Cartridge Buff). This pale specimen is from the north side of the inlet. The brownish stripe on the ventral side of the tail is absent on the distal two-fifths of the tail and the specimens are uniform in this respect. On the occlusal surfaces of the cheek-teeth, the enamel surrounding the dentine is incomplete on both the lingual and labial sides of the teeth of five individuals and is incomplete on the labial side of some of the teeth of a sixth specimen.

In the snap traps, all of which were baited with rolled oats, more than twice as many land crabs as kangaroo rats were taken. Judging from tracks in the sand, land crabs greatly outnumbered kangaroo rats. The parietal bones in two of the 13 skulls are much eroded by some parasite (seemingly nematode worms) and in one of these two specimens the roof of the left tympanic cavity is perforated. As regards life-zones, the occurrence of Dipodomys ordii in the lower part of the Lower Sonoran Life-zone on the off-shore beach 88 and 90 miles south of Matamoros is low zonally and perhaps is at or near the zonal margin of the range of the species. The crabs and worms conceivably are two of the environmental features inhospitable to the rats.

Specimens examined.—Total, 14, all from Tamaulipas, Mexico, as follows: 88 mi. S and 10 mi. W Matamoros, 7; 90 mi. S and 10 mi. W Matamoros, 7.

When Setzer (Univ. Kansas Publ., Mus. Nat. Hist., 1:473–573, December 27, 1949) reviewed the subspecies of Dipodomys ordii he lacked specimens of Dipodomys ordii compactus from the type locality or from anywhere else on Padre Island. He used as representative of D. o. compactus specimens from Mustang Island, Texas, the island next northeast of Padre Island. Through the courtesy of Mr. Stanley P. Young, Dr. Hartley H.T. Jackson and Miss Viola S. Schantz, of the United States Biological Surveys Collection, I have examined topotypes of D. o. compactus from Padre Island. This examination discloses that the kangaroo rats on Padre Island and Mustang Island are significantly different. Those from Mustang Island may be named and described as follows:

Measurements (in millimeters) of adult males of four subspecies of
Dipodomys ordii