FAMILY SCIURID.E. 57 



ORDER IV. RODENTIA. 



No canine teeth. Incisors for the most part tiuo in each jaw, large, strong, and remote 

 from the grinders. {In Leporidce there are 2-4-6 in the upper jaw.) Cheek teeth 

 twenty-two at most. Toes distinct, with small conical claivs. Jaws moveable horizon- 

 tally. The greater number furnished ivith stout clavicles. No abdominal pouch. 



This order comprises a great number of the smaller quadrupeds, living almost exclusively on 

 vegetable food. According to the latest enumeration, there are nearly three hundred species 

 distributed over the globe. In North America, upwards of seventy species have been 

 described ; and we shall doubtless have many more to add to the list, for it is among these 

 small quadrupeds that we are to find new species. We divide this order into five families. 



FAMILY I. SCIURIDM. 



Grinders simple, with tubercular summits. Upper incisors chisel-shaped ; the lower pointed, 

 compressed laterally. Incisors, § ; molars, Li? = 20 or 22. The fifth upper anterior 

 molar exists only in the young. 



GENUS SCIURUS. Linneus. 



Body elongated. Eyes large. Ears erect. Upper lip divided. Posterior extremities longer 

 than the anterior, which have four long distinct toes, and a tubercle covered with an obtuse 

 nail in place of a thumb. Eight teats ; two pectoral, the remainder ventral. Tail long, 

 with long bushy hair, often distichous or directed laterally. 



Obs. All the species of this genus live mostly on trees ; for which purpose, their long 

 flexible toes, with acute nails, enables them to leap from tree to tree, rarely missing their 

 hold. They feed on seeds, nuts, grain, and occasionally worms. About forty species have 

 been described. 



THE LITTLE GREY SQUIRREL. 



SCICBUS LEUCOTIS. 



PLATE XVIII. FIG. 1. — (STATE COLLECTION.) 



Lesser Grey Squirrel. Penn. Hist. Quad. Ed. sccunda. 



Hudson's Bay Squirrel. Vav. a, Carolina. Penn. lb. Vol. 2, p. 147, Ed. tcrtia. 



Hudson Squirrel. Var. a, Carolina. Id. Arct. Zool. Vol. 1, p. 116. (Variety.) 



Sciurus cinereus. Harlan, Fauna Am. p. 173. 



S. carolinensis. Godman, Am. Nat. Hist. Vol. 2, p. 131, pi. fig. 2. 



S. leucolis. Gappar, Zool. Journ. Vol. 5, p. 206. Bachman, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1839, p. 220. 



Common or Little Grey Squirrel. Emmons, Mass. Rep. 1840, p. 66. 



Fauna. 8 



