Osgood Unrecognized and Misapplied Names. 45 



Sciurus ludovicianus var. atroventris Engelmann, Trans. Acad. Sci., St. Louis, 



I, p. 329, 1859 near St. Louis, Mo. 

 Sciurus ludoviciarius ludovicianus Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc., Wash., X, p. 149, 



1896. 

 Sciurus rufiventer Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat, Hist., XVI, p. 167, 1902. 



A mounted squirrel now in the Paris Museum (No. 556) appears to be 

 the one used by Geoffroy as the basis of the name Sciurus rufiventer. The 

 display label accompanying this specimen reads: "Sciurus rufiventer 

 (Desm.). Type, Amerique N." On the under side of the stand is written 

 in ink : " De 1'Amerique septentrionale. Sciurus rufiventer Geoff. St. H. 

 type des especies." The specimen is fairly well preserved and unquestion 

 ably represents the species recognized in recent years under the name 

 Sciurus ludovicianus. The pelage is somewhat dingy and in color differs 

 slightly from others of the same species with which it was compared. The 

 difference however is one of degree only, the type being of a somewhat 

 deeper shade of ferruginous. The entire underparts are rich ferruginous 

 and the upperparts are of the same shade modified by a mixture of black 

 ish ; the nose and ears are not appreciably paler than the surrounding 

 parts ; the annulations of the hairs, tail, and all general markings are not 

 peculiar. Owing to the posture of the mounted specimen, few measure 

 ments of value could be secured. The length of the hind foot to end of 

 longest claw is 63 mm. 



In endeavoring to determine the proper application of the name rufiven 

 ter and numerous others proposed for members of the same group, espe 

 cially S. texianus, it has been necessary to review much of the history of 

 the entire group and to investigate somewhat carefully the number and 

 geographic distribution of the recognizable forms. The group appears to 

 contain at least five recognizable forms, including S. niger, which inter- 

 grades with both negJectus and texianus. S. niger occupies Florida and 

 the southeastern States ; S. n. negleclus ranges from central Virginia and 

 West Virginia to Pennsylvania; S. n. texianus is confined to the coast re 

 gion of Louisiana and Mississippi ; S. n. limitis occurs in western Texas and 

 northeastern Mexico; while S. n. rufiventer, with the widest range of all, 

 covers the greater part of the Mississippi Valley from northern Louisiana 

 to southern Wisconsin. 



The type of rufiventer was, according to Geoffroy, " donne et rapporte 

 par Michaux." Either Andre Michaux or his son F. A. Michaux may 

 have collected the specimen, since both traversed country inhabited by the 

 species. The son, however, arrived in France, after his American travels, 

 on March 26, 1803,* the same year that Geoffrey's Catalogue was published. 

 The elder Michaux on one of his journeys traveled from Pittsburg west 

 through parts of Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois to St. Louis, returning via 

 Kentucky and Tennessee to Charleston, S. C.f 'During the greater part of 

 this trip, he was within the range of the Mississippi Valley fox squirrel. 



*F. A. Michaux, Travels to the Westward of the Allegany Mountains, Translation, 

 London, p. 350, 1805. 



fThwaites, Early Western Travels, III, 1904. 



