The Squirrels of Eastern North America. 149 



Sciurus ludovicianus ludovicianus Custis. Western Fox Squirrel. 



1806. Sciurus ludovicianus Custis, Barton's Med. and Phys. Journal, II, 

 1806, p. 43; Baird, Mamm. N. Am., 1857, p. 251. 



1877. Sciurus niger var. ludovicianus Allen, Monog. N. Am. Sciuridse, 1877, 

 p. 720. 



1822. Sciurus rufiventer "Geoff., Mus. Par.," Desmarest, Mamm., II, 1822, 



?. 332 (New Orleans) ; Harlan, Fauna Americana, 1825, p. 

 76; Schinz, Synop. Mamm., II, 1845-46. (Specimens from 

 Missouri.) 



1823. Sciurus macroura Say, Long's Expd. Rocky Mts., I, 1823, p. 115 



(Kansas). Name preoccupied by Erxleben for a Ceylon 



species. 

 1825. Sciurus magnicaudatus Harlan, Fauna Amer., 1825, p. 178 (as a sub 



stitute for S. macroura Say). 



1838. Sciurus subauratus Bach., Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1838, p. 87. 

 1838. Sciurus auduboni Bach., Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1838, p. 97. 

 1842. Sciurus occidentalis Aud. and Bach., Journ. Acad. Nat. Sciences, 



Phila., VIII, 1842, p. 317. 

 1851. Sciurus rubicaudalus And. and Bach., Quad. N. Am., II, 1851, p. 30, 



pi. LV. 

 1851. Sciurus sayi Aud. and Bach., Quad. N. Am., II, 1851, p. 274, pi. 



Type locality. Red River of Louisiana. 



Geographic distribution. Mississippi Valley from Louisiana north to 

 South Dakota ; east probably to about the western edge of the Alleghany 

 Mountains; west to the plains.* 



Habitat. Mixed forest and heavier woods, extending well into the 

 prairies along the wooded streams. Still abundant over most of its range. 



General characters. Size much smaller than Sciurus niger (but little 

 greater than the northern gray squirrel) ; ears and nose never white; 

 colors very variable, but much deeper and more ferruginous than in the 

 next subspecies, S. ludovicianus vicinus; feet of moderate size ; soles often 

 well clothed with hairs in winter ; pelage in winter soft and full, with the 

 ears well tufted. 



Color. Very variable, ranging from wholly black to a mixed black and 

 rufous or ferruginous, the hairs being banded above, including the tail, 

 and clear rufous or bright ferruginous below ; most intense on ears, upper 

 side of hands and feet, and on under side of tail. Some individuals have 

 the under parts orange, some have the upper parts a pepper and salt 

 mixture of yellowish and black and the under parts black. 



Cranial characters. Skull much smaller than that of Sciurus niger, which 

 it resembles in general massiveness, but from which it differs in having 

 proportionally a much shorter and blunter rostrum and shorter, broader 

 nasals; ratio of occipitonasal to nasal length, 32.11; arrangement of teeth 

 as in S. niger. Size of an average adult skull : basilar length, 55. 2 ; occipi 

 tonasal length, 64.2 ; zygomatic breadth, 37.4 ; greatest height of cranium 

 above palate, 20.4; greatest length of single half of mandible, 40.8. 



* Replaced in western Texas by a different subspecies, the small, pale 

 Sciurus ludovicianus limitis (Baird). Type from Devils River, Texas. 



