MONOGRAPH OF THE GENUS SCIURUS. 117 



limb behind him, presses his body so closely to the branch, 

 that he frequently evades the most practised eye, and is thus 

 enabled to escape. 



Notwithstanding the agility of the squirrel, man is not his 

 only nor even his most formidable enemy. The owl makes a 

 frequent meal of those species which continue to seek their 

 food late in the evening and early in the morning. Several 

 kinds of hawk, especially the red-tailed (Falco borealis), and 

 the red-shouldered {Fal. lineatus), pounce upon them by day. 

 The black snake, rattlesnake, and other species, have the 

 means of entrapping them ; and the ermine, the fox, and the 

 wild cat are incessantly exerting their sagacity in lessening 

 their numbers. 



1. Fox Squirrel. Sciurus capistratus. 



Sciurus capistratus ; Bosc, 'Ann. du Mus.' vol. i. p. 281. 



vulpinus P Linn. Ed. Gmel., 1788. 



niger ; Catesby. 



Black Squirrel; Bartram's Travels in North America. 

 Sciurus capistratus; Desm. * Mammalogie,' p. 332. 



variegatus ; Desm. ' Mammalogie,' p. 333. 



capistratus ; Cuv. ' Regne Animal,' vol. i. p. 193. 



Fox Squirrel; Lawson's Carolina, p. 124. 



Sciurus capistratus ; Harlan. 



vulpinus; Godman. 



Essent. Char.— Size large; tail longer than the body; hair coarse, 

 ears and nose white: subject to great varieties in colour. 



This is the largest and most interesting species of this ge- 

 nus found in the United States; and although it is subject 

 to great varieties of colour, which has occasioned no little 

 confusion in the creation of several nominal species, yet it 

 possesses several striking and uniform markings by which the 

 species, through all its varieties, may be distinguished at a 

 glance from any other. 



Dental formula.— Incis. |. Can. gg. Grind. &— 20. 



Although I have given to this species but four grinders on 

 each side in the upper jaw, and which peculiarity applies to 

 ne?rly all the specimens that may be examined, yet in a very 

 young animal obtained on the 5th of April in South Carolina, 

 and which had apparently left the nest but a day or two, I 

 observed a very minute, round, deciduous, anterior grinder on 

 each side. These teeth however must be shed at a very early 



Vol. III.— No. 27. n. s. n 



