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158 BULLETIN NO. VII. - 
clear whitish-gray, with a dorsal area of yellowish-brown. 
Under parts white; sometimes jet black, with all intermediate 
phases. Hairs of the tail white-tipped, with a subterminal 
band of black, and black annulations upon the brownish basal 
portion. Lower parts rarely suffused with rufous. LHars gen: 
erally with a tuft of white behind at the base, not penciled. 
Length, 10.50; tail, 11.50; tail vertebrze, 8; fore foot, 1.75; hind 
foot, 2.50. Asa rule the males seem to be larger, but perhaps 
there is no sexual variation. The top of the head is generally 
clear, dark-gray, while often there is a lateral yellowish line. 
It is curious that the melanistic phases seem to be local and 
confined to narrow limits. 
The southern variety of this species is considerably smaller 
and decidedly less white. The two varieties pass into each 
other. Variety leucotis extends throughout the northern United 
States and southern Canada westward to the eastern border of 
the plains, and southward to the isotherm of 56° F. 
Sciurus niger LINN. 
FOX SQUIRREL. 
PLATE VIII.* 
The varietal distinctions set up for the various phases of this 
species are of very unimportant nature. Ourspecimens are all 
of the variety /udovicianus. Length of body, 11-14; tail, toend of 
vertebre, 8.50—10.50. Above gray, with much suffused rufous 
or sienna red ; ears, feet and lower parts rusty red, varied with 
more or less dusky. The under surface is sometimes nearly 
black. Specimens from the far west are paler, those from the 
south more reddish below. The variety /udovicianus is confined 
to the area drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries. 
The gray squirrel seems more common in most parts of the 
state, but the distribution is remarkably capricious. 
GENUS SCIUROPTERUS, F. Cvuv. 
The fiying squirrels are represented in North America by 
but a single species extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
and subject to great geographical variation. 
The skull is short, broad, and strongly curved, orbits large, 
interorbital region constricted, pterygoid processes slender, 
*The plate is intended as an illustration of the adaptability of native animals to 
decorative art. The present case being a tile in which conventionalization is intro- 
duced into the accessories simply in order to highten contrasts otherwise too slight to 
be available for such purposes. 
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