SCIURID.E— TAMIAS STIUATUS. 785 



than tliose from more northern sections, and average a little smaller. The 

 difference, however, in either respect, is not very great. 



This species is easily distinguished from its congeners by its coloration, 

 as well as by other characters. Its nearest ally is the T. asiaticus; from the 

 others (T. harrisi and T. lateralis), it is too distinct to require a comparison 

 with them. The northern and eastern varieties of T. asiaiicus (vars. borealis, 

 pallidus, and quadrivittatus) differ from T. striatus in their considerably 

 smaller size, in having the tail relatively longer (with the hairs as long as the 

 head and body, instead of one-fourth shorter), and in having the markings on 

 the sides of the head much stronger, and the black stripe of the dorsal sur- 

 face broader (nearly or quite equalling the interspaces, instead of very much 

 narrower), and continued much further, both anteriorly and posteriorly, the 

 three middle ones reaching the base of the tail instead of terminating con- 

 siderably in front of it. The inner light stripes are also not only much nar- 

 rower but much lighter-colored than in T. striatus. The Columbia River 

 variety of T. asiaticus (var. townsendt) is about equal in size to T. striatus, 

 but differs from it in proportions in the same way as, do the other varieties 

 of T. asiaticus. The coloration, however, is still more widely different 

 through the much browner coloration of var. townsendi. T. striatus differs 

 from all the other members of the genus in possessing only one upper pre- 

 molar instead of two, and in its more elongated and narrower muzzle. 



Synonymy and nomenclature. — This species was first described and 

 figured by Catesby (though previously mentioned by Sagard-Thdodat and 

 other early writers*), in 1743, f under the name Sciurus striatus. This 



* These early accounts are of especial interest from tbeir giving the origin of the name Suisse, so 

 generally applied to this and the following species by the French settlers of Canada and their descend- 

 ants, even to the present time. Iu describing the Squirrels of Canada, Sagard-Th6odat says : — " La se- 

 conde espece qu'ils appelent Ohihoiu, & nous Suisse, ft cause de leur begarure, sout ceux qui sont rayez & 

 barrez universellement par tout lo corps, d'une raye blanche, puis d'une rousse, grize & noiraste, qui les 

 rendent tres-beaux & agreables, mais qui mordent commo perdus, s'ils no sont apprivoisez, on que l'on 

 ue s'en donue de garde." — (Histoire du Canada, tome v, p. 740.) Denys, iu his " Description do l'Amfiriquo 

 Septentrionale " (tome ii, pp. 3131), published in 1G"2, says of the same species : — " . . . . il y en a uno 

 espece un pue plus petite qui so uomme Suisse parce qu'ils sont tous rayez de la teste a la queue parrayes 

 blanche, rousse & noire toutes d'une mesmo larguer d'envirou la lnoitie" d'un travers de doigt." 



La Hontan also says : — " Les iicureuils Suisses, sont de petite animaux comme de petits rats. On 

 les appellent Suisses parce qu'ils ont sur le corps un poil ray6 de noir & de blauc, qui ressemble fl un pour- 

 point de Suisse, & que ces memes rayes faisant un rond sur chaque cuisse ont beaucoup de raport a la 

 calote d'un Suisse." — (Nouv. Yoy. dans VAmdr. tome ii, p. 43.) Charlevoix, writing somewhat later, says, 

 iu his account of the Squirrels of Canada: — " On en distiugue de trois especes ; les rouges, qui ne diffe- 

 rent point des nOtres ; les Suisses, qui sont un peu plus petits, &- qu'on a aiusi nouim&j. parce que leur poil 

 est ray6 en longueur de rouge, de blauc & de noir, a peu pres comme les Suisses do la Garde du Pape." — 

 (Journ. Hist, d'un Yoy. de VAmir. Sept. p. 198.) 



tThe description and figure given by Seba, in 1734, of his "Sciurus, Getulus, ex Nova Bispanid" 

 (Thesau. i, 70, pi. xlvii, fig. 3), is doubtless to be referrod to one of the species of Tamias, but whether to 

 50M 



