RODENTIA SCltlRItfAE SCIURUS CINEREUS. 249 



Sdurus cinereus, KENNICOTT, Mammals Illinois, U. S. Patent Off. Rep. 1856, Agricul. 1857. (Plate, wood cut figure 



from life.) 

 Sciurus vulpinus, SCHREBKR, Siiugt. IV, 1792, 772; pi. ecxv. B. (Fox colored var. brought by Schoepf from 



Baltimore.) 



?? DEKAY, N. Y. Zool. I, 1842, 59 ; pi. xviii, f. 3. 



Sciurus virginianus, KERR'S Linnaeus, 1792, 259. 



1 Sdurus hyemalis, ORD, Guthrie's Geog. (2d. Am. ed.) II, 1815, 292, 304. 

 The gray fox squirrel, CATESBY'S N. H. Carolina, II, 1731, 74; tab. Ixxiv. (This may possibly belong to S, 



vulpinus. ) 



Cat squirrd, PENNANT, Arctic Zoology, I, 1794, 119. (May belong to S. vulpinus.) 



f! Gray squirrel, PENNANT, Hit. Quad. 1781, No. 272. IB. Arctic Zool. I, 1784, 116. (A mixture of S. carolinensu, 

 cinereus, and vulpinus ; refers best to the first.) 



SP. CH. Tail vertebras shorter ; tail, with the hairs, considerably longer than the head and body. Head very broad, with 

 short muzzle. Ears low, broad, with the backs covered with long hairs. Body very heavy and thick. Tail flattened, 

 ample. Length about 11 or 12 inches; tail about 14. Hind foot usually not exceeding 2.90 inches; skull 2.65 inches. 

 Color varying from light gray above and white beneath, through various shades of pale rusty, to a grizzly hue above, and 

 black belly. No pure black varieties noticed. Ears and (usually) nose, never white. 



This species presents so many modifications of color as to render it exceedingly difficult to 

 characterize. The fur is coarse and stiff, less rigid, however, than in S. vulpinus. The ears 

 are short and broad, rounded, and coated on their convexity with long and rather woolly hairs. 

 They are shorter and more tufted than in S. vulpinus. There is a longer tuft of woolly hairs 

 at the base of the ear. Tail moderately long; not very bushy, but flattened. Palms naked. 

 Soles partly hairy under the metatarsals, the large tubercle and the end of metatarsals with 

 their callosities being naked. This character, however, varies with the season. On the fore 

 feet the 4th toe is longest, then the 3d, 5th, and 2d. On the hind foot the 4th toe is longest, 

 the 3d and 2d are successively a little shorter, 5th next ; the 1st is shortest, its claw scarcely 

 reaching to the base of that of the 5th. 



In one specimen the soft fur of the back is lead color at the base, then pale yellowish brown. 

 Towards the rump and on the sides this terminal color is more vivid. The long hairs are 

 plumbeous at base, then black for most of the length, then grayish white, with a narrow tip of 

 black. The hairs on the belly are lead colored at the base, then dull cinnamon. Interspersed 

 are some hairs having an annulus of black about the middle. The hairs on the sides of the 

 tail are pale cinnamon, with the bars of black, the exterior are subtermiual and broadest, the 

 others narrower ; beneath, the hairs are nearly uniform with a few faint annuli. 



The general color above is a grayish white, with a faint gloss of rusty, and mixed with 

 black. There is a strong blackish tinge by the admixture of black hairs on the top and sides 

 of the head. The under parts are yellowish cinnamon, the ears similar but paler. (No. 22, 

 Carlisle, Pennsylvania.) 



Another specimen from Carlisle is similar above and on the tail. The belly, however, is 

 black, mixed with obscure rusty in places, the hairs generally being lead colored at the 

 base, then brownish rusty, and tipped with black. The legs are black all over, except along 

 the flanks, which are like the back and on the upper part of the feet, where rusty hairs are 

 intermixed. The sides and underneath the head are glossy black, except a patch in front of 

 the ear. The basal portion of the ear externally is black, the superior, pale rusty. Nose black. 

 The soles have less hair than in the last specimen. (No. 345, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.) 



Another specimen is somewhat similar to the preceding, but the black of the under parts is 

 mixed with ash and gray. On the legs are long hairs of the latter color. The tail is more 

 32 L 



