FAUNA AMERICANA.. 18 1 



iiest is composed of a most extraordinary assem- 

 * blasje of the burs of the Xanthium, branches, and 

 other portions of the large upright Cactus, small 

 branches of pine trees, and other vegetable pro- 

 ductions, sufficient in some instances to fill the 

 body of an ordinary cart ; what the object of so 

 great, and apparently so superfluous, an assem- 

 blage of rubbish may be, we are at a loss to con- 

 jecture ; we do not know what peculiarly danger- 

 ous enemy it may be intended to exclude by so 

 much labour ; their principal food, at least at this 

 season, (July) is the seeds of the pine, which they 

 readily extract from the cones. 



Inhabit the Rocky Mountains, about the sources 

 of the Arkansa and Platte. (Say.) A specimen in 

 the Philadelphia Museum. 



Species. 



7. Sciurus lateralis, Say, Long's Exped. to 

 the Rocky Mountains, vol. ii. p. 46. 



Char. Essent. Above brownish cinereus ; each 

 side of the back marked with a dull yellowish- 

 white dilated line, broader before. 



Dimensions. Rather larger than the S. striattcs. 



Description. Above brownish-cinereus, inter- 

 mixed with blackish ; on each side of the back is 

 a dull yellowish-white dilated line, broader be- 

 fore; margined above and beneath with black, 

 originating upon the neck anterior to the shoul- 

 der, and not attaining the origin of the tail ; no 



