RODENTIA SCIURINAE SPERMOPHILUS BEECHEYI. 



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SPERMOPHILUS BEECHEYI. 



California Ground Squirrel. 



Ardomys (Spermophilus) beecheyi, RICHARDSON, Fauna Boreal i- Americana I, 1829, 170 ; plate xii, B. 

 Ardomys beecheyi, WAGNER, in Schreber, Saugt. IV; plate ccx, E. (Interpolated. No text.) 

 Spermophilus beecheyi, F. CUVIER, Suppl. Buffon, I, Mamm. 1831, 331. 



BAIRD, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phil. VII, 1855, 334. 



Otospermophilus beecheyi, BRANDT, Bull. Phy. Math. Acad. St. Petersb. II, 1844, 379. 

 ? Sciurus (Macraxus) californicus, LESSON, Desc. desMammif. et d'Ois. 1847, 143. 

 ? ? Sciurus bottae, LESSON, Cent. Zool. 1830, 221 ; plate Ixxvi. 



SP. Cn. Size of the cat squirrel, S. cinereus. Ears large, prominent. Tail more than two-thirds as long as the body. 

 Above, mixed black, yellowish brown, and brown in indistinct mottlings ; beneath, pale yellowish brown. Sides of head 

 and neck, hoary yellowish, more or less lined with black, a more distinct stripe of the same, from behind the ears on each 

 side, extending abcve the shoulders to the middle of the body. Ears black on their inner face. Dorsal space between the 

 stripes scarcely darker than the rest of the back. Length, 9 to 11 inches ; tail, with hairs, 7 to 9. Hind feet, 2 to 2. 30 inches. 



Size about that of the Sciurus carolinensis , or a little larger. Body rather slender. Head 

 acute. Ears prominent, acute, covered on both sides with flattened hairs, those on the superior 

 extremity projecting nearly a quarter of an inch in a scant flattened brush. Whiskers as long 

 as the head. Tail nearly as long as the body in some specimens, shorter in others, flattened 

 and well clothed with hairs, although not bushy, except on the under side, where they are very 

 sparse. The claws are all black, lighter at tip ; the under surface of the soles sparsely haired. 

 The first finger, or thumb, is rudimentary, with a blunt nail ; the third, longest ; the second 

 and fourth nearly equal. On the hind feet the three central toes are nearly equal and longest, 

 the outer longer than the inner. 



The fur generally is coarse, thin, stiff and short. The prevailing tint of the upper parts and 

 sides of the body is a mixed black and light yellowish brown (with some darker brown) ; on 

 the top of the head the latter tint predominates. The sides of the head and neck, the eyelids, 

 and a patch or stripe extending on each side from behind the ear to about the middle of the 

 body are of a yellowish hoary, not uniform. The exterior face and posterior edges of the ears 

 are pale yellowish brown ; the inner face with the projecting hairs are black. The under and 

 inner parts are uniform pale brownish yellow. On the back the hoary patches are distinctly 

 separated by the prevailing tint of the upper surfaces in a stripe about one-third of an inch 

 broad at first, then rapidly widening, but throughout like the hind part of the back in color. 

 The hairs are everywhere dark brown at the base for most of their length above, about half of 

 it beneath, where there is a slight tinge of lead color. The terminal portion of the dorsal hairs 

 is of the light yellowish brown, as described, with a short black tip. The mottling is produced 

 by the varying exhibition of the two colors. Viewed from beneath, the tail exhibits on each 

 side (when stretched out) a ground color of a yellowish brown, similar to the lighter shades on 

 the back, and three black lines, the outer one broadest and subterminal. On the upper surface 

 of the tail these colors are more blended together. 



Measurement of skulls. 



