NO. 5 MAMMALS OF PANAMA GOLDMAN I4I 



itself Still invisible in the dense foliage. On approaching cautiously 

 I usually found the squirrel sitting on a palm frond or the branch 

 of a tree, 20 to 35 feet from the ground, its brilliantly colored tail 

 curved over the back. At times they seemed rather indifferent 

 and permitted me to come quite near; at other times they 

 quickly took alarm and disappeared, usually running through the 

 interlocking branches or leaping across intervening spaces from tree 

 to tree instead of ascending a tall tree trunk. Occasionally they 

 make their escape by running down a tree trunk and off along the 

 ground. A fevi^ short, rather hoarse notes were heard from these 

 squirrels, but they were usually silent. By the construction of the 

 Gatun Dam the region of the type locality of 5". g. morulus has nearly 

 all been submerged, Lion Hill being now reduced to a tiny island in 

 Gatun Lake. 



Specimens examined: Lion Hill (type locality), 3; Gatun, 15*; 

 Porto Bello, i ; Rio Indio (near Gatun), 6; Tabernilla, 2. 



Genus MICROSCIURUS Allen. Pygmy Squirrels 

 The pygmy squirrels of the genus Microsciurus are mainly South 

 American in distribution, but range northward through Panama to 

 Costa Rica. Microsciurus is distinguished from Sciurus by diminu- 

 tive size and the simpler molar cusp development already pointed out 

 in the remarks on the latter genus, and from Syntheosciurus by the 

 absence of grooved upper incisors, 



MICROSCIURUS BOQUETENSIS Nelson 



Chiriqui Pygmy Squirrel 



Sciurus {Microsciurus) boquetensis, Nelson, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 

 Vol. 16, p. 121, September 30, 1903. Type from Boquete, Chiriqui, 

 Panama (altitude 6,000 feet). 



Several pygmy squirrels are now known to occur in Panama, from 

 which this species is distinguished by the richer reddish coloration 

 of the underparts. It is known only from the type locality on the 

 slope of the Volcan de Chiriqui where specimens were collected for 

 the British Museum by H. J. Watson. 



In his recent revision of the genus Dr. Allen (1914, p. 152) regards 

 Microsciurus boquetensis as " a strongly differentiated mountain 

 form of the alfari group, with the soft fine pelage and strongly colored 

 ventral surface of the similis group, in correlation with the altitude 

 of its haunts. It seems entitled to rank as a species until its inter- 



* Three in collection Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 



