100 [October, 1841. 



We detected this specimen in the collection brought by the late David 

 Douglass, and, by permission of the Zoological Society of London, were 

 enabled to describe it. It was brought from the mountains between Texas 

 and California, and is marked in their printed catalogue of 1839, Arctomys 

 flaviventer, No. 459, Bachman's MSS. 



Sciurus lanigerus. Woolly Squirrel. 



Sc. lanigerus. Pilis longis et lanosis ; cauda. crapa, villosa vixque dis- 

 ticha ; naso, auriculis et pedibus pene nigris ; vellere supra ex cinereo 

 fusco sub albicante ; subtus, ex albo fusco. 



Woolly Squirrel. 



Hair long and woolly ; tail, large and bushy, scarcely distichous ; nose, 

 ears and feet, nearly black ; upper surface, grizzled dark grey and brown ; 

 under parts, pale brown. 



Form. In size, this species is little less than the Fox squirrel, (Sciurus 

 capitratus.) The ears, in the two specimens which are before us, are de- 

 cumbent at the ends, as if the animal, in a living state, did not carry them 

 erect, as is the case with the squirrels generally; head short, ears large, 

 thickly clothed on both surfaces with short hairs ; feet and toes hairy to 

 the extremity of the nails. 



Colour. The incisors are dark orange on the outer surface. The whole 

 head, both on the upper and lower surface extending to the neck the ears, 

 a spot behind the auricle, fore legs to the shoulders, and hind feet to above 

 the heel, black, with a few greyish-brown hairs intermixed. The long fur 

 on the back is, for half the length, light plumbeous, then a line of light 

 brown, and tipt with white and black. The hairs on the tail, in which the 

 annulations are very obscure, are, for one-third of their length, brownish- 

 black, then light brown, then brownish-black, and tipt with ashy white. 

 On the under surface, the hairs, which are short, are at the base light 

 plumbeous, tipt with light brown and black; the throat is light greyish- 

 brown. 



The two specimens, which in other respects were very similar, differ a 

 little in the colour of the head ; one being lighter coloured, the head being 

 dark grevish-brown. 



Dimensions 



Length of head and body, 11 inch. 11 lines. 



Do. tail to end of hair, 11 " " 



Height of ear, posteriorly, including fur, " 8 " 

 From heel to end of middle claw, 2 '' 6 <; 



The specimens were obtained from the northern parts of California ; and, 

 from their long, woolly hair, have an appearance of coming from a cold, 

 mountainous region. 



Sciueds mnsteliniis. Weasel Squirrel. 



S. (mustelinus.) Cervice longissima ; cauda corpore longiore ; pilis 

 curtis, rigidis, compressis, teretibus ; omni corporis parte nigerrima. 



Neck very long; tail longer than the body; hair short, rigid, adpressed, 

 glossy : the whole body jet black. 



Form. The usually long neck of this specie9, together with its long and 

 slender body, and smooth, lustrous hair, give it the appearance of some 

 species of weasel, which has suggested to us the specific name. The ears, 

 which are of moderate size, are nearly naked, there being only a few hairs 

 on the borders; feet covered with very short hairs, which only reach to the 

 roots of the nails. The tail, which is long, but not busby, is moderately 

 distichous. 



Colour. The hairs, in every part of the body, are from the roots to the 

 extremities, of an intense glossy black. 



