EODENTI A SC1UEJ I^E SPEEMOPHILUS GEAMMUEUS. 



121 



SPEEMOPUILUS GEAMMUEUS, (Say) Bach. 

 iine-tailed Squirrel. 



Sciurvs grammurus, SAY, Long's Exped. Eocky Mts., ii, 1823, 72. HAUL., Fn. Am., 



1825, 182. GRIFF., Au. Kingcl., v, 1S27, 255. FisCH., S.yn., 1829, 350. 

 Spermopldlus grammurus, BACH., Cbarleswortb's Mag., iii, 1839, 390. WAGN., Suppl. 



Scbreb., iii, 1843, 253. BAIRD, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pbila., 1855, 334; M. 



N. A., 1857, 310. COTIES, Am. Nat., i, 1867, SCO. ALLEN, Proc. Bost. Soc. 



Nat. Hist., xvi, 1874. 

 SpcrmopMlm vouelni, BAIRD, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pbila., 1855, 332. BAIRD, M. N. 



A., 1857, .'ill (melauotic). 

 SpennopMlusluckleyi, SLACK, Proe. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pbila., 1801, 314. 



NOTE. Tbe above synonymy is exclusive of tbe Pacific forms beechcyi and dou- 



glassi. 



Specimens. 



Found from Rocky Mountains to Mexico ; tolerably common. Prof. 

 S. F. Baird, in the work above quoted, states, with regard to this species, as 

 follows : " posterior half of upper portion of back having the white replaced 

 by pale yellowish-brown." This coloration is not at all normal, and is not 

 seen in young specimens, but is produced by the wearing away of the upper 

 ends of the hairs from the animal backing into his hole. This fact was 

 carefully observed by Mr. Henshaw, who procured several fine specimens. 

 Mr. Allen, in his paper already cited, gives S. coucliii, Baird, and S. lucldeyi, 

 Slack, as synonyms of melanistic examples of this animal from Texas. 



" The rocky hill-sides, covered with volcanic debris, in the neighborhood 

 of Camp Bowie, Arizona, afford a home for numbers of this species, and in 

 our collecting trips in this neighborhood we frequently saw them hurrying 

 away to their subterranean burrows, their utmost efforts to progress rapidly 



