118 MONOGRAPH OF THE GENUS SCIUItUS. 



period, as in two other specimens obtained on the 20th of the 

 same month, they were entirely wanting. The teeth of all 

 our squirrels present so great a similarity that it will be found 

 impossible to designate the species from these alone, without 

 referring to other peculiarities which the eye of the practical 

 naturalist may detect. In young animals of this species, the 

 tuberculous crowns on the molars are prominent and acute ; 

 these sharp points however are soon worn off, and the tuber- 

 cles in the adult are round and blunt. The first molar in the 

 upper jaw is the smallest, and is triangular in shape ; the se- 

 cond and third are a little larger and square ; and the poste- 

 rior one, which is about the size of the third, is rounded on 

 its posterior surface. The upper incisors, which are of a deep 

 orange colour anteriorly, are strong and compressed, deep at 

 their roots, flat on their sides ; in some specimens there is a 

 groove anteriorly, running longitudinally through the middle, 

 presenting the appearance of a double tooth, — in others this 

 groove is wanting. In the lower jaw the anterior grinder is 

 the smallest, — the rest increase in size to the last, which is 

 the largest. 



Form. — Nose obtuse ; forehead slightly arched ; whiskers 

 black, a little longer than the head ; ears rounded, covered 

 with short hairs on both surfaces ; there is scarcely any pro- 

 jection of the fur beyond the outer surface, as is the case in 

 nearly all the other species ; the hair is very coarse, appear- 

 ing in some specimens geniculate ; tail broad and distichous; 

 legs and feet stout, and the whole body has more the appear- 

 ance of strength than of agility. 



Colour. — In the grey variety of this species, which is, as 

 far as I have observed, the most common, the nose, extend- 

 ing to within four or five lines of the eyes, the ears, feet, and 

 belly, are white ; forehead and cheeks brownish black ; the 

 hairs on the back are dark plumbeous near the roots ; then a 

 broad line of cinereous; then black, and broadly tipped with 

 white, with an occasional black hair interspersed, especially 

 on the neck and fore-shoulder, giving the animal a light grey 

 appearance ; the hairs in the tail are, for three fourths of their 

 length, white from the roots, then a ring of black, with the tips 

 white. This is the variety given by Bosc and other authors 

 as Sciurus capistratus. 



Second variety ; the black fox squirrel. Nose and ears 

 white, a few light-coloured hairs on the feet, the rest of the 

 body and tail black ; there are occasionally a few white hairs 

 in the tail. This is the original black squirrel of Catesby and 

 Bartram, (Sci. niger). 



