380 MONOGRAPH OF THE GENUS SCIURUS. 



DIMENSIONS. 



IN. L. 



Length of head and body 11 6 



Ditto of tail, (vertebra) 8 9 



Ditto including hair 11 6 



Ditto of palm to end of the middle fore claw ... 1 6 



Heel to point of longest nail 2 6 



Height of ear posteriorly „ 3 



Length of fur on the back „ 6 



The specimen from which the above description was drawn 

 up, was procured in the flesh, in the New Orleans market. — 

 The species is said not to be scarce in Louisiana, but is not 

 so frequently seen in the swamps as the little brown squirrel. 

 It keeps more on high grounds, and has all the active restless 

 and playful habits of the northern grey squirrel. 



13. Sooty Squirrel. Sciurus fuliginosus. 



I am indebted to J. W. Audubon, Esq. for a specimen of 

 an interesting little squirrel, obtained at New Orleans, on the 

 24th March, 1837, which I find agreeing in most particulars 

 with the specimen in the Philadelphia Museum, referred by 

 American authors to Sciurus rufiventer. 



Dr. Harlan's description does not apply very closely to the 

 specimen in question, but seems to be, with slight variations, 

 that of Desmarest's description of Sciurus rufiventer. 



The following description is taken from the specimen pro- 

 cured by Audubon. It was that of an old female, containing 

 several young ; and I am enabled to state with certainty that 

 it was an adult animal. 



Characters. — A little larger than the Hudson's Bay Squirrel (Sciurus 

 Hudsonius) ; tail flattish, and much shorter than the body ; general colour 

 black above, grizzled with brownish yellow ; beneath brownish. Dental 

 formula ; Incisors, § ; Canines, gg ; Molars, |f ; — 22. 



I have given to this species the character of 22 teeth, from 

 the circumstance of my having found that number in the spe- 

 cimen from which I described ; the animal could not have 

 been less than a year old. The anterior molars in the upper 

 jaw were small. The inner surface of the upper grinders is 

 obtuse, and the two outer points on each tooth are elevated 

 and sharper than those of most other species. In the lower 

 jaw the molars regularly increase in size from the first, which 

 is the smallest, to the fourth, which is the largest. Head 

 short and broad ; nose veiy obtuse ; ears short and rounded, 



