SQUIRRELS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 77 



Sciiirns boothicE Gray, List. Spec. Mamm. Brit. Mus., p. 139, 1843 ; Voy. 



H. M. S. 'Sulphur,' Zool., p. 34, pi. 13, fig i, 1863. 

 Sciums fuscoz'arit'gatus Sciw^z, Synopsis Mamm., 11, pp. 15-16, 1845. 

 Alacroxus boothice Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d sen, xx, p. 424, 1867. 

 Sciurits hypopyrrhus Alston, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, pp. 662-664, 1878 



(part); Allen, Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey Terr., iv, pp. 881-882, 1878 



(part); Alston, Biol. Cent. -Am., Mamm., pp. 128-131, 1880 (part: 



specimens from Honduras). 



Type locality. — 'Honduras' (specimens from San Pedro Sula are 

 typical). Type in British Museum. 



Distribution. — Humid tropical coast forests of northern Honduras 

 and border of Guatemala. 



Characters. — Back dark grayish brown, washed with shining 

 black ; belly white ; feet blackish ; ears black edged, with basal patches 

 dark rusty ; upper- and imderparts separated by a narrow line of dull 

 reddish brown along flanks. Pelage thin ; hairs on back coarse, stiff, 

 and shining; under fur short; tail long and narrow. Teats: p. i a. |^ 



Color. — Upperparts, includhig top of nose and base of tail, uniform 

 coarsely grizzled dark grayish brown, sometimes faintly suffused with 

 reddish ; outside of legs and feet similar, but darker and sometimes al- 

 most shining black ; ears bordered with black ; basal patch on back of 

 ears dingy rusty ; chin and sides of head dull grayish brown ; entire 

 underparts white ; tail at base all around like back ; rest of tail above 

 black thinly washed with white; below, median area grizzled dark 

 brownish suffused with yellowish or faint rufous, bordered with black, 

 and thinly edged with white. Hairs on back black, with broad 

 median ring of grayish or buffy brown. 



Variation. — Three specimens from San Pedro Sula and one from 

 Truxillo, Honduras (July), vary but little, the uppei-parts being 

 washed with black over brownish, the feet black or blackish, grizzled 

 with grayish brown or dull reddish brown, the underparts uniformly 

 white. 



A half grown specimen in the National Museum labeled ' Guate- 

 mala' differs from typical specimens in having the outside of the feet 

 and legs black; sides of head and chin finely grizzled dark gray; 

 underjDarts finely grizzled grayish brown, and lower surface of tail 

 black, grizzled with gray near base. 



Measuretnents. — Average of three adults from San Pedro Sula 

 (from dry skins) : total length 534; tail vertebra 355 ; hind foot 63.3. 



Cratiial characters. — Premolars f . The only skull of this species 

 at hand from San Pedro Sula is immature, but its proportions appear 

 to be the same as those of subspecies belli. 



