SCIURID^J— SCIUKtJS VARIABILIS. 771 



collection, also similar, is the first of the four specimens previously referred 

 by him to S. langsdorffi. My single specimen from Manaos (mouth of the 

 Rio Negro) agrees most nearly with this species. 



The. Sciurus tricolor, first described by Tschudi, Wagner here discusses 

 at some length, recognizing ii, as specifically distinct from the others. De- 

 scriptions of two specimens of this species are given from Tschudi, both 

 from Northeastern Peru, and of two others collected by Spix, which he had 

 previously referred to S. langsdorffi. One of Tschudi's specimens has the 

 upper surface black, with each hair tipped with light ochre-yellow; the ven- 

 tral surface soiled yellowish-white. The tail is black at the base, mixed 

 with hairs ringed with brown or yellow-brown: the rest of the tail with 

 the hairs broadly tipped with light fox-red. The other has the dorsal surface 

 black, with the hairs broadly ringed with reddish-yellow (mit breitem roth- 

 gelben Ringe); the ventral surface, sides of the head, and whole inner sur- 

 face of the limbs rust-yellow. As already stated, Wagner refers to this 

 species two specimens mentioned in his first account of S. langsdorffi, (the 

 second and third). One of them is black above, sprinkled with brownish- 

 yellow, passing on the hind limbs into rust-red ; below, grayish-white. The 

 other is similar, but the black more predominates over the yellow, and the 

 under surface is rusty-brownish, and the tail is also somewhat darker. 



The S. stramimus, described by Eydoux* in 1844, from specimens taken 

 in Northern Peru, is scarcely different from the so-called S. igniventris, and 

 belongs to the same group. It has essentially the same size, the same large 

 ears, and, judged by the description, the same coloration. The Macroxus 

 fumigates of Gray from the Upper Amazons is evidently based on a mela- 

 nistic example, which is probably identical with the melanistic specimens 

 from the Rio Negro referred by Wagner to his jS. igniventris. 



* "Le corps de cet ficureuil est couvert de poils assez courts, noiratres, termines de jaune paille 

 dore\ La teinte sur glacis fauve est plus vive aiis lombes et a la face externe des meinbres posterieurs. 

 La queue a de long poils noirs termines de jaune-blancbatre, et elle paralt comme lave'e de cette derniere 



couleur; elle est plut6t eu panache que distiqne Les joues et le menton sont de couleur 



fauve clair, et la face infe'rieure des membres, ainsi que le dessous du corps sont (5galement pales. 



"Longeuer du corps et de tete, 10 pouces (0.27). Longeuer de la queue en compremeut ses poiles 

 te'rmineaux, 11 pouces (0.30). 



" Cet ficureuil a 6t& trouv*6 it Omatope au Pe'rou." — ( Voy. de la Bonite, Zool. i, pp. 38, 39.) 



The plate shows large ears, but the color is quite unlike that given in the description, and better 

 agrees with that of the Sciurus nebouxi of Geoffroy than with any of the above-described forms of S. 

 variabilis. 



