SQUIRRELS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 79 



border and still narrower white edge. Hairs on back, black with a 

 broad dull buffy or yellowish gray median ring. 



Variation. — The ground color of the back varies from grayish 

 brown with a light suffusion of reddish, to clayey brown with an 

 overlying wash of shiny black. The rusty suffusion on outside of 

 legs is strong in some and light in others. An August specimen is 

 practically the same as others taken in November, thus indicating 

 little or no seasonal change. One from the Segovia River, Honduras, 

 is like those from the type locality, except that the underparts are 

 deeper rufous. Another from the same locality has a brownish shade 

 in the rufous of underparts, and large irregular pectoral and abdom- 

 inal white areas connected by a narrow white median line. A third 

 has the underparts grizzled rusty brown with a large, irregular 

 median white line. These specimens (June and July) have the 

 back heavily washed with black and in some respects are intermediate 

 between typical boothice and belti. A single melanistic specimen 

 from Nicaragua is the only one seen. 



Measurements. — Average of five adults from type locality: total 

 length t;i3; tail vertebrae 261.6; hind foot 61.7. 



Cranial characters. — Premolars \. Skull (pi. H, figs, i and 5) 

 generally similar to that of S. aureogaster, but rostrum broader and 

 heavier, anterior end of nasals broader and more flattened, interorbital 

 width greater, occiput usually broader; the small premolar heavier, 

 thus resembling S. thofuasi. Four adult skulls from the type locality 

 average: Basal length 48.8; palatal length 25.5; interorbital breadth 

 19.6; zygomatic breadth 33.7 ; length of upper molar series 11. 4. 



General notes. — This subspecies is named in honor of Thomas 

 Belt, the well known author of ' A Naturalist in Nicaragua.' 



Habits. — Dr. Richmond found these squirrels living in the forests 

 along the borders of clearings or other openings. 



Specimens examined. — Eight: from Escondido River, Nicaragua; 

 and Segovia River, Honduras. 



SCIURUS VARIEGATOIDES Ogilby. Variegated Squirrel. 



Sciurus variegatoidcs Ogilby, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1839, P- '^7 ; Ann. 



& Mag. Nat. Hist., v, pp. 62-63, 1840; Wagnek, Supplement. Schre- 



ber's Saugthiere, iii, pp. 185-186, 1843. 

 Macroxus pyladei Lesson, Rev. Zool., Paris, v, p. 130, April, 1842 (nomen 



nudum); Nouv. Tabl. Regne Anim., Mamm., p. 112, 1842. 

 Sciurus griseocaudatits G-RAY , Voyage of 'Sulphur,' Mammalia, 11, p. 34, pL 



13, fig. 2, pi. 18, figs. 7-12, 1843. 

 Sciurus pyladii'^\\\<\y, Mamm. N. Am., p. 282, 1857. 



Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci., May, 1899. 



