SCIURUS., 1338 
equaling interorbital width; squamosal process of zygoma projecting 
outward, curving gradually downward; molar series rather heavy. 
dowglasi mearnsi (Scturus), Towns., Proc, Biol. Soc, Wash., x1, 
1897, p. 146. 
MEARNS’ SQUIRREL, 
Type locality. San Pedro Martir Mountains, Lower California, 
Mexico. Altitude, 7,000 feet. 
Geogr. Distr. Forest of San Pedro Martir Mountains, Lower Cali- 
fornia, Mexico. Altitude about 7,000 feet. 
Genl, Char. Similar to S. d. albolimbatus, but grayer, with pale 
colored hands and feet, 
Color. Upper parts pale gray, tinged with yellowish; sides of 
head grizzled gray; orbital ring whitish; ears gray; broad lateral line 
black; under parts whitish; basal half of tail above pale gray, suffused 
with rusty and edged with white, remaining portion black, washed 
with white, beneath grizzled gray, bordered with black and edged 
with white; hands and feet pale buff; ears gray; tufts black. 
Measurements. Total length, 308-346; tail vertebra, 111-130; 
hind foot, 51-55. Skull: basal length, 41; palatal length, 25; inter- 
orbital constriction, 14.5; zygomatic width, 28; length of upper molar 
series, 8. 
The sprightly and gayly colored little Chipmunks, north of the 
Mexican boundary, are among the commonest of American Rodents. 
They frequent the forests or rocky places, often bare of trees, and 
make their nests in holes either in the ground cor in stumps of trees, 
or in the interstices of rocks. Brushheaps are much frequented by 
these lively creatures as affording a facile means of escape, and also 
for observing the movements of anything that has excited their 
fears. While dwellers of the ground, they readily climb trees, but 
rarely leap from branch to branch, as do the tree squirrels. They 
feed on seeds, nuts, and grain, and diligently provide an ample store 
against the coming of winter, carrying it to the various hiding places 
in their cheek pouches, They are pretty animals, usually possessing 
bright colored stripes, and the many forms into which the genus has 
been divided bear a general resemblance to each other, so close 
indeed that in not a few instances it is not an easy matter for even 
the expert to distinguish them. Comparatively few species are 
found south of the Mexican and United States boundary line, and 
of these some aré more plentifully represented in the more northern 
land. 
