SCIURUS. 133 



equaling interorbital width; squamosal process of zygoma projecting 

 outward, curving gradually downward; molar series rather heavy. 



douglasi meamsi (Sciurus), Towns., Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., xi, 



1897, p. 146. 

 MEARNS' SQUIRREL. 



Type locality. San Pedro Martir Mountains, Lower California, 

 Mexico. Altitude, 7,000 feet. 



Geogr. Distr. Forest of San Pedro Martir Mountains, Lower Cali- 

 fornia, Mexico. Altitude about 7,000 feet. 



Genl. Char. Similar to S. d. albolimbatus , but grayer, with pale 

 colored hands and feet. 



Color. Upper parts pale gray, tinged with yellowish; sides of 

 head grizzled gray ; orbital ring whitish ; ears gray ; broad lateral line 

 black; under parts whitish; basal half of tail above pale gray, suffused 

 with rusty and edged with white, remaining portion black, washed 

 with white, beneath grizzled gray, bordered with black and edged 

 with white; hands and feet pale buff; ears gray; tufts black. 



Measurements. Total length, 308-346; tail vertebrae, 111-130; 

 hind foot, 51-55. Skull: basal length, 41; palatal length, 25; inter- 

 orbital constriction, 14.5; zygomatic width, 28; length of upper molar 

 series, 8. 



The sprightly and gayly colored little Chipmunks, north of the 

 Mexican boundary, are among the commonest of American Rodents. 

 They frequent the forests or rocky places, often bare of trees, and 

 make their nests in holes either in the ground cr in stumps of trees, 

 or in the interstices of rocks. Brushheaps are much frequented by 

 these lively creatures as affording a facile means of escape, and also 

 for observing the movements of anything that has excited their 

 fears. While dwellers of the ground, they readily climb trees, but 

 rarely leap from branch to branch, as do the tree squirrels. They 

 feed on seeds, nuts, and grain, and diligently provide an ample store 

 against the coming of winter, carrying it to the various hiding places 

 in their cheek pouches. They are pretty animals, usually possessing 

 bright colored stripes, and the many forms into which the genus has 

 been divided bear a general resemblance to each other, so close 

 indeed that in not a few instances it is not an easy matter for even 

 the expert to distinguish them. Comparatively few species are 

 found south of the Mexican and United States boundary line, and 

 of these some are more plentifully represented in the more northern 

 land. 



