VOL. XVII, pp. 147-150 OCTOBER 6, 1904 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SQUIRRELS FROM MEXICO. 

 BY E. W. NELSON. 



In 1651 Hernandez recorded the presence of flying squirrels 

 in Mexico. The next record south of the United States was in 

 1861, when Tomes included it in his list of mammals taken hy 

 Salvin at Duenas, Guatemala (P. Z. S., 1861, p. 281). In 

 1892 I saw a pair of mounted specimens in the museum of the 

 State College at the city of San Luis Potosi. These were re 

 corded as having been taken near Jilitla, in San Luis Potosi. 

 During all of our subsequent work in Mexico, until the present 

 season, whenever in suitable country, both Goldman and I have 

 kept a constant but unsuccessful lookout for these animals. 

 During April, 1904, while in the highlands of Chiapas, near 

 the Guatemala border, Goldman was fortunate enough to secure 

 a good pair of adult flying squirrels with skulls. In view of 

 the striking differences between the Mexican and United States 

 species of Sciurus it was a great surprise to find this isolated repre 

 sentative of SciuropterifS very closely related to forms found 

 in the United States. 



Both the forms of Sciurus described below are smaller and 

 paler than their most closely-related subspecies occupying ad 

 joining territory. 



26 PKOC. BIOI,. Soc. WASH. VOL. XVII, 1904. (147) 



