Vol. XVII, pp. 147-150 October 6, 1904 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



■ i ' -J 1 



DP:SCRIPTI0NS of new squirrels from MEXICO. 



BY E. \V. NELSON. 



In 1651 Hernandez recorded the presence of flying squirrels 

 in Mexico. The next record south of the United States was in 

 1861, when Tomes inchided it in his list of mammals taken V)y 

 Sah-in at Duenas, Guatemala (P. Z. S., 1861, p. 281). In 

 1892 I saw a pair of mounted specimens in the museum of the 

 State College at the city of San Luis Potosi. These were re- 

 corded as ha\'ing l)een taken near -lilitla, in San Luis Potosi. 

 During all of our sul)sequent work in ^Mexico, until tlie present 

 season, whenever in suitable country, l^oth Goldman and I have 

 kept a constant but unsuccessful lookout for these animals. 

 During April, 1904, while in the highlands of Chiapas, near 

 the Guatemala l)order, Goldman was fortunate enough to secure 

 a good pair of adult flying squirrels with skulls. In view of 

 the striking difl^erences between the Mexican and United States 

 species of Sciurus it was a great surprise to find this isolated repre- 

 sentative of Sciuroptervs very closely related to foi-ms found 

 in the United States. 



Both the forms of Sciurus described below are smaller and 

 paler than their most closely-related subspecies occupying ad- 

 joining territory. 



2G— Pkoc. Bioi.. Soc. Wash. Vol. XVII, 1904. (147) 



