102 NELSON 



Honduras, northward along mountains on both coasts of Guatemala 

 and Chiapas, to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and thence along the east 

 coast of Mexico to Papantla, Vera Cruz (alt. below 6000 feet, spo- 

 radically up to 9000 feet). 



Characters. — Size small ; upperparts dark rufous or olive brown ; 

 fore feet and outside of fore legs dark gray in typical specimens (like 

 back in others) ; tail above black thinly washed with white. Tail 

 slender; pelage soft and rather full ; under fur long; ears long and 

 thinly haired. Teats : p. i a. ^ i. \. 



Color. — Eighteen specimens from near type locality: Upperparts 

 including top of nose and base of tail, uniform finely grizzled dark 

 rusty brown varying to dull dark yellowish brown; ears like crown, 

 with small basal patch of white or dingy fulvous ; sides of head paler 

 and more yellowish than back ; outside of fore legs and fore feet dark 

 gray, contrasting with color of back ; outside of hind legs like back, 

 with hind feet similar but a little darker; underparts white, or grayish 

 white, sometimes buffy on breast and inside of thighs, and color of 

 flanks sometimes extending in on inguinal area and inside of thighs ; 

 tail above, black thinly washed with white ; below, with broad median 

 area varying from grizzled ferruginous brown to dark yellowish bi'own, 

 bordered with black and edged with white. Dorsal hairs black, with 

 broad subterminal and sub-basal rings of yellowish or rusty brown. 



Variation. — This species presents considerable individual variation, 

 but in view of its wide distribution there is remarkably little geograph- 

 ical variation. Seasonal changes of pelage are not marked, the only 

 notable differences being the frequent absence, in summer, of the ear 

 patches and white tip of the tail, which is thus left black. There are 

 no signs of melanism. Specimens from the vicinity of Jico and Las 

 Vigas, Vera Cruz, and elsewhere in the higher parts of the range of 

 the species are considerably larger than those from the low country 

 near the type locality, but without accompanying differences in color. 

 Specimens from the damp forests of eastern Mexico are somewhat 

 darker along the middle of back, with underparts more inclining to 

 fulvous than in those from interior and western Chiapas. The series 

 from southwestern Chiapas, and a specimen from Truxillo, Honduras, 

 are moi-e olivaceous above and clearer white below. A specimen from 

 central Guatemala (Coban to Clusec) is decidedly darker and more rusty 

 above and below than the average, but other Guatemala specimens are 

 nearly typical. Most specimens have the underparts soiled whitish or 

 grayish, but there is every gradation through pale buffy to dark fulvous 

 and rusty rufous. A Verreaux specimen (no. ^y^Vy U. S. National Mu- 



