85 



August 14, ISaS. 



William Yarrell, Esq., in the Chair. 



A series of skins, belonging to species of the genus Sviurvs, in- 

 cluding, with one or two exceptions, all which are known to in- 

 habit North America, \vcre upon the table; and the Rev. Dr. Bach- 

 man, of S. Carolina, brought them severally before the notice of the 

 Members. Six of the species exhibited were aew, and for these he 

 proposed the specific names of Tej:ianus. lamginosus, fuliginosus, 

 subauratus, Auduboni, and Richardsoni. Dr. Bachman's manuscript 

 notes upon the habits and characters of the North American Squir- 

 rela, with descriptions of the newly characterized species, were also 

 laid before the Meeting. 



The first species noticed by Dr. Bachman is the Sciurus capi- 

 stratus of Bose, or Fox Squirrel ; Vulpims of Gmel. ; niger, Catesby ; 

 variegatus, Desm. ; the Black Sąuirrel of Bartram. Its essential 

 characters consist in its large size, in having the tail longer than 

 the body. the hair coarse, and the ears and nose white. The dental 

 formula is inc. |, can. ^-^. mol. ^-E^- In a very young individual, 

 supposed to have ąuitted the nešt only a day or two, Dr. Bachman 

 found an additional anterior grinder on each side in the upper jaw, 

 but very minute. The additional molar teeth, he concludes, are 

 shed at a very early period, as they were not present in two other 

 specimens subseąuently examined, and vi^hich ■vvere some days older 

 than the former one. The Fox Sąuirrel is the largest found in the 

 United States, and is subject to great difFerences of colour, but it 

 still exhibits such striking and uniform markings, that the species 

 may always be distinguished. Three principai varieties are noticed ; 

 in the first, which is the gray variety and the most common, the white 

 of the nose extends to within four or five lines of the eyes ; the ears, 

 feet, and belly, are white; forehead and cheeks, bro\vnish black; the 

 hairs on the back are dark, plumbeous near the roots ; then a broad 

 line of cinereous ; theu black, and broadly tipped with white, with an 

 occasional black hair interspersed, especially on the neck and fore- 

 shoulder, giving the animal a light gray appearance ; the hairs in the 

 tail are for three-fourths of their length white frora the roots, then 

 a ring of black, with the tips white. This is the variety given by 

 Bose and other authors as Sc. capistratus. 



The second variety (the Black Fox Sąuirrel) has the nose and ears 

 ■vvhite, a few light-coloured hairs on the feet, the ręst of the body 

 and tail black ; there are, occasionally, a fe\v \vhite hairs in the tail. 

 This is the original black sąuirrel of Catesby and Bartram, (Sc. 

 nigei-). 



In the third variety. the nose, mouth. under-iaw, and ears, are 

 No. LXVIII. — Proceedings of thk Zoologual Society. 



