158 



SCIUROPTERUS. 



118. volans (Mus.) Linn., Syst. Nat., i, 1758, p. 63; I, 1776, p. 85. 

 (nee Sciurus, p. 88.) 



volucella Pall., Nov. Spec. Glires, 1788, p. 351. 



volans (Scuiropterus'), Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., 1901, p. 109. 

 FLYING SQUIRREL. 



Type locality. Virginia. 



Geogr. Distr. From northern border of Mexico into Guatemala, 

 Central America. In United States to northern New York and 

 southern New Hampshire; not in Florida. 



Genl. Char. Size medium; winter and summer pelage alike in 

 color; hairs of under parts white to base. 



FlG. XXXIII. SCIUROPTERUS VOLANS. FLYING SQUIRREL. 



Color. Upper parts drab shaded with russet, tail slightly darker; 

 hands above grayish white, feet drab; black orbital ring; under parts 

 pure white, washed in some specimens with buff. 



Measurements. Total length, 234.5; tail vertebrae, 99.6; hind 

 foot, 31.4. Skull: occipito-nasal length, 34; Hensel, 27; zygomatic 

 width, 20; interorbital width, 7; palatal length, 9; length of upper 

 molar series, 6. 



Largest of North American rodents, attaining a weight of fifty 

 pounds or more, the Beaver, which at one time extended its range 

 over nearly all forest-covered land in the northern Hemisphere, has 



