282 



BULLETIN 56, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Flti. 4f).— SCIUKUS KUFIVEN- 

 TER TEXIANUS. DOKSAL 

 VIEW OF SKULL. FoRT 



Clark, Texas. (Cat. No. 

 12710, Amer. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist.) 



ears, feet, inner surface of limbs, and all of under surface of body 

 orange-buff. Tail grizzled above, in the median area, ^Yith broad, 

 lateral, subterminal bands of black and broad 

 yellowish white tips to the hairs; under side of 

 tail tricolored, orange-buff mesially, this bor- 

 dered successively by black and yellowish white. 

 The naked under surfaces of the feet are pur- 

 plish black. Length, 475 mm. ; tail to end of 

 vertebra^ 225 ; tail to end of hairs, oOO; ear from 

 crown, 18; ear from notch, 30; head, C7; hind 

 foot, 66. 



Cr<i)i)<d cliavacterii. — This species has but one 

 premolar on each side, above. Skull in texianus 

 (fig. 45) low^ with a weak rostrum; superior 

 profile flattened in the frontal region, sliarph^ 

 declining posteriorly; postorbital processes of 

 medium length and sharply deflected ; audit a 1 

 bullae, small ; incisive foramen, long and nar- 

 row; interpterygoid fossa, long, nearly equal- 

 ing the length of the upper lateral tooth-row. 

 Greatest length of skull, 01 mm. ; greatest breadth, 35. 



Remai'Ji!^. — The color of the imder surface fades with wear and 

 exposure imtil it becomes nearly white, and 

 its intensity is also subject to some individ- 

 ual variation. On the whole, the form is re- 

 markably uniform. No black individuals 

 were seen or heard of, though the fox squir- 

 rel of northeastern Texas is frequentl}^ mel- 

 anistic. Dr. J. A. Allen " mentions a speci- 

 men from Rockport, Aransas County, Texas, 

 " not appreciably different from speci- 

 mens from the type locality (San Pedro or 

 Devils River) of Baird's Sehii'us limitis 

 (^texianits) , recently received from Dr. E. A. 

 Mearns." 



An adult female (Cat. Xo. 03048, U.S.N.M.) 

 from Kickapoo Springs, Mason County, 

 Texas, has five pairs of mamma^. 



Habits and local distribution. — On January 

 31, 1892, I noted a fine fox squirrel, seen in a 

 bit of woods along the railroad between the 

 southern l:»order of Indian Territory and Fort Worth, Texas. I 

 afterwards found it abundant in j^ecan woods along most of the 



Fig. 46.— SciURUS rufiventek. 

 Dorsal view of skull. 

 West Northfield, Illinois. 

 (Cat. No. 1879, U.S.N.M.) 



a Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist, VI, 1894, p. 183. 



