We have examined the specimens, in the Biological Surveys Collection of the United States National Museum, from the Olympic Peninsula and fail to find significant differences in external measurements or in size or shape of skulls between specimens from the mountains (alleged T. t. cooperi) and those from other parts of the Peninsula (assigned to T. t. townsendii). Nevertheless, the specimens from the higher parts of the Olympic Mountains resemble T. t. cooperi in being less ochraceous than are specimens of T. t. townsendii from elsewhere on the Olympic Peninsula, and in this one respect, in series, they more closely resemble T. t. cooperi. Even so, the upper parts of the specimens from the mountains are darker than in T. t. cooperi of the Cascades. In dark color of the superciliary stripe the specimens in question are referable to T. t. townsendii. The over-all gray tone, resembling that of T. t. cooperi, upon close inspection is found to be in considerable degree the result of wear, and the difference in grayness from T. t. townsendii, when specimens in comparable pelage are compared, is slight. This tendency to lighter color in specimens from higher elevations is seen in other places in Washington within the geographic range of Tamias townsendii. We feel, therefore, that the mentioned resemblance in color between specimens from the Olympic Mountains and those of T. t. cooperi from the Cascade Mountains is not significant taxonomically. To us, all of the animals of the species Tamias townsendii from the Olympic Peninsula seem best referred to the subspecies Tamias townsendii townsendii Bachman.
Tamias striatus ohionensis Bole and Moulthrop
A. H. Howell (Jour. Mamm., 13:166, May 14, 1932) referred a specimen (252979 USNM) from Athens, Ohio, to Tamias striatus fisheri. Subsequently, Bole and Moulthrop (Sci. Publs. Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist., 5:83-181, September 11, 1942) named Tamias striatus ohionensis and Tamias striatus rufescens, both of which occur in Ohio. They (op. cit.: 137) also excluded T. s. fisheri from the state list of mammals of Ohio. The locality of Athens lies between the ranges of T. s. ohionensis and T. s. rufescens, as outlined by referred specimens, and thus the identity of the specimen from that place was left in doubt. We have examined the specimen and among named kinds find that it most closely resembles T. s. ohionensis in its less widely spreading zygomata, slender incisors and dull-colored pelage. We prefer the specimen to T. s. ohionensis.
The subspecific identity of specimen No. 174762 USNM, a skin only, from Nobleville, Hamilton Co., Indiana, assigned by Howell (N. Amer. Fauna, 52:21, November 30, 1929) to T. s. griseus and by Lyon (Amer. Mid. Nat., 17(1):191, January, 1936) to T. s. fisheri, was left in doubt by Bole and Moulthrop's (op. cit.) assignment of specimens to T. s. ohionensis. Although the specimen lacks a skull and tail, on the basis of its dull-colored pelage and dark brown (anteriorly) median dorsal stripe, we identify No. 174762 as T. s. ohionensis. For the same reason, specimen No. 125445 USNM, from Bascom, Indiana, referred by Howell (op. cit.:16) to T. s. striatus, and by Lyon (op. cit.:191) to T. s. fisheri, required re-examination. The specimen appears to be an intergrade between T. s. striatus and T. s. ohionensis; it is probably best referred to the latter subspecies which it resembles in having short nasals. In color it is intermediate, but it does not possess the narrowly spreading zygomata of T. s. ohionensis and, in this respect, more nearly approaches T. s. striatus.
Specimen No. 13815 USNM, an alcoholic, from Wheatland, Knox Co., Indiana, was assigned by Howell (op. cit., 1929:21) to T. s. griseus and by Lyon (loc. cit.) to T. s. fisheri. Although the specimen is much faded and cannot be identified with certainty, we assign it to T. s. ohionensis. Allowing for fading, it seems to resemble ohionensis more in the lighter color of the anterior part of the median dorsal stripe, than it does either griseus or fisheri. We are also influenced in making this allocation by Bole and Moulthrop's (op. cit.:137) finding intergradation between T. s. ohionensis and T. s. striatus in a specimen obtained at New Harmony, Posey Co., Indiana.
Howell (Jour. Mamm., 13:166, August 9, 1932) referred two specimens from Boone County, Indiana, to T. s. fisheri. We have examined a specimen (5675 AMNH) from that place and think it is one of the two seen by Howell. The specimen is a poorly made skin in worn winter pelage with the skull inside. Because it differs from T. s. fisheri and agrees with T. s. ohionensis in the color of both upper parts and underparts (comparisons made with material of comparable stage of molt), we assign it to the latter subspecies. Howell (loc. cit.) referred specimens from Overton (57394), Wooster (57398, 57399, and 57442), and Loudonville (57391-57393), all from Ohio, in the Museum of Zoology of the University of Michigan, to Tamias striatus fisheri. We have examined these specimens and find them to be readily separable from T. s. rufescens on the basis of darker coloration. The affinities of the specimens in question are with T. s. fisheri and T. s. ohionensis. As a standard for comparison we have used specimens in the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, in comparable pelage of T. s. ohionensis from Dearborn County, Indiana, taken in August and specimens of T. s. fisheri from "near" summit Butt Mtn. and Little Meadows, both places in Giles County, Virginia, as well as two specimens from Allair, Monmouth County, New Jersey. On the basis of buffy (instead of white) edging of the tail, buffy (not white) light dorsal stripes, and buffy (not black) anterior third of the median dark stripe, the specimens from Overton, Wooster, and Loudonville are referred to Tamias striatus ohionensis.
Tamias striatus pipilans Lowery
A. H. Howell (N. Amer. Fauna, 29:16, November 30, 1929) recorded six specimens of Tamias striatus striatus from Greensboro, Alabama. Subsequently, Lowery (Occas. Papers Mus. Zool., Louisiana State Univ., 13:235, November 22, 1943) named T. s. pipilans and assigned to it specimens from northeastern Alabama. Lowery did not, however, mention the specimens from Greensboro and, thus, their subspecific identity was placed in doubt. We have examined five of the six specimens mentioned by Howell (loc. cit.) (57034-57036, 57588, and 77037 BS) and because of their brilliant color and large size, refer them to Tamias striatus pipilans Lowery.
Tamias striatus rufescens Bole and Moulthrop
A. H. Howell (Jour. Mamm., 13:166, August 9, 1932) also referred a specimen (13154), from La Porte, Indiana, in the Chicago Nat. History Museum to T. s. fisheri. We find the specimen to be distinguishable from T. s. fisheri in darker, richer pelage, brown instead of blackish anterior third of the median dorsal stripe, more buffy light dorsal stripes, and more heavily constructed skull. The specimen most closely resembles T. s. rufescens in having, as compared to T. s. ohionensis, brighter, more rufescent color, wider incisors, proportionately narrower interorbital region, and more widely spreading zygomatic arches. We refer it to that subspecies.