154 Bangs — Tlie Squirrels of Eastern North America. 



nests in tlie trees and feeding only in the early morning and after sunset 

 in the evening. It is migratory to a certain extent, its migrations prob- 

 ably depending on the food supply. 



General characters. — Size medium; colcjrs quite constant, dark yellowish 

 rusty above, white below ; soles of feet usually naked, the heel covered 

 with hair ; ears sometimes slightly tufted in winter ; pelage soft. 



Color. —Upper parts dark yellowish rusty, the hairs annulated black 

 and rusty yellow, with usually some gray-tipped hairs on upper surface 

 of legs and arms, sides of neck, and sides of rump, giving a grayer tone 

 to these parts, the yellowish rusty color predominating on head, middle 

 of back, and along sides ; hairs of tail dull yellow at base, then black and 

 tipped with white; under parts white; ears yellowish white, sometimes 

 a slight woolly tuft at base. 



Cranial characters. — Skull light, developing with age only slight indica- 

 tions of lateral ridges ; rostrum long and rather slender ; nasals narrow 

 and short, not extending back of ascending branch of premaxilla; zygo- 

 mata slanting backward from root and lying close to skull (not so much 

 bowed out as in the fox squirrels and not nearly so much so as in the red 

 squirrels) ; postorbital iDrocesses long and slender ; j^enultimate upper pre- 

 molar normally present in the adult. Size of an average adult skull : 

 basilar length, 50; occipitonasal length, 58.8; zygomatic breadth, 3.3.2; 

 greatest height of cranium above palate, 19.2; greatest length of single 

 half of mandible, .36. 



Size. — Average measurements of two adult specimens from St. IMarys, 

 Ga. : total length, 450.5; tail vertebrje, 212; hind foot, 60.8. Average 

 measurements of five adult specimens from Raleigh, N. C. : total length, 

 461.8; tail vertebra^, 205; hind foot, 63.2. 



General remarks. — Sciurus carolinensis has escaped synonymj' in a most 

 remarkable way. It is rather a happy accident to have the specific name 

 restricted to this form, since it oc(;upies a central position and covers a 

 larger area of country than any one of the four subspecies which surround 

 it and shade directly into it. 



The most typical specimens of S. carolinensis come from the coast region 

 from northern Florida to Virginia. Specimens from the higher land of 

 North Carolina and Virginia are shading both in color and size toward 

 the northern subspecies {leucotis), while those from the lower Mississippi 

 Valley begin to approach the form of the coast of Louisiana {fuliginosus). 

 S. caroUnensis tyjricits extends about halfway down the Florida peninsula 

 before it wholly breaks off into the subtropical form (extimns). 



Specimens examined. — Total number, 20, from the following localities : 

 Florida: Rose Bluff, St. INIarys River, 1. 

 Georgia : St. IMarys, 4 ; Mcintosh County, 1. 

 North Carolina : Raleigh, 7 ; Statesville, 2. 

 Missouri: Stotesbury, 2. 

 Indiana: Denver, 1. 

 Indian Territorv : Stilwell, 2. 



