688 SCIURID—SCIURUS 
THE BRITISH OR LIGHT-TAILED SQUIRREL. 
SCIURUS LEUCOURUS (Kerr). 
1769. SCIURUS VULGARIS, John Berkenhout, Oudlines Nat. Hist. Great Britain and 
Ireland, i., 6; and of most subsequent writers up to and including Thomas, 
Zoologist, 1898, 100, but not S. vulgaris of Linnzus. * 
1792. SCIURUS VULGARIS LEUCOURUS, Robert Kerr, Animal Kingdom, 256; 
described from England; Miller, Catalogue Mamm, West. Europe, 907. 
1899. SCIURUS LEUCURUS, G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton, Proc. Zool. Soc., London, 
17th January 1899, 3; Millais ; Trouessart (sub-species of vz/garzs). 
Lécureuil of the French; das Ezchhornchen of the Germans; these, 
with, no doubt, many local names in each language, strictly refer to the 
nearly allied continental species S. vudgarzs, and not to the present 
animal at all. 
The quite simple synonymy of this animal is due to its differentia- 
tion from the Common Squirrel of continental Europe, S. vadgarzs of 
Linnzus, an animal which, through its numerous sub-species, has 
accumulated a host of technical names. 
Terminology :—“ Squirrel,’ with many variations in spelling, has 
been the general name of this animal from the Norman Conquest. 
The Middle English form is “squirel” or “scurel” ; e.g., Wright’s Vocad- 
ulary, 759, 29:—“ Hic scurellus, a scurelle.” (Chaucer Rom. of the 
Rose, 1471) has—“ There might menne does and roes ysee, And of 
squirrels full great plentee, From bough to bough alway leping” ; and 
again (Parl. Foules, 196) he speaks of “Squirrels, and beastes small of 
gentle kind.” The word appears to have been derived from the Norman 
French esguzre/; this and the Old French escurel, escucrel and escuzreul 
(in thirteenth century, J7S., Cocks) came from the late Latin scurel/us 
or scurzolus, diminutives of the Latin sczwrus. The latter is derived 
from the Greek oxiovpos, the literal meaning of which is said to be 
“shadow-tail””—though this is probably due to popular etymology, the 
real origin of the name not having been certainly found. 
According to Somner (Dict. Saxonico-Lat.-Angl, 1659; quoted by 
Bosworth, Axglo-Saxon and Engl. Dict., 1868, 20), the Anglo-Saxon 
name for the Squirrel is Acwern,; Bosworth (of. céZ, 251) also gives 
wern, without the prefix ac. Acwern appears to be the equivalent of 
the German Lchhorn, the Danish Zgern, and the similar names in other 
Teutonic languages. In each of these cases the prefix means oak-tree ; 
but, as Keller (Die Antike Tzerwe/t, 181) points out, the animal has no 
particular love for the oak, and the real etymology is unknown. As 
regards acwern, if ac may once have signified “tree” in general,' rather 
than oak in particular; and if wer can be derived from the Anglo- 
1 For a discussion of the changes in meaning of the names “fir,” “oak,” and 
“beech ” in various languages, see Max Miller, Lect. on Science of Language, ser. 2, 
1864, 216, 219, and 222. 
