RODENTIA SCIURIXAE SPERMOPHILUS TERETICAUDUS. 



315 



Spermophilus franklini, F. CUVIER, Suppl. Buffon, I, Mamm. 1831, 328. 



WAGNER, Suppl. Schreb. Ill, 1843, 244. IB. in Schreb. Saugt. IV, pi. ccx, A. (No text.) 



AUD. & BACH. N. Am. Quad. II, 1851, 248; pi. Ixxxiv. 



KENNICOTT, Rep. Patent Office, 1856, Agriculture, (1857, ") 79; pi. ix. 



Sp. CH. About the weight of the small gray squirrel, (Sciurus carolinensis.) Tail, with the hairs, rather more than half the 

 head and body. Ear with a distinct auricle, but very small. Color above, light yellowish brown, varied with black; top and 

 sides of head and sides of neck, pure hoary gray; beneath, whitish. Length, about 9 inches; tail, about 5| inches. Hind foot, 

 2.10 inches. 



This species in its proportions is much like the S. ludovicianus. The tail is longer and more 

 bushy, and the ears rather larger. The thumb nail is more developed than in the sciurine sper- 

 mophiles, but shorter and smaller than in S. ludovicianus. The upper parts are of a light 

 yellowish brown, variegated with black in obscurely sub-quadrate spots ; the top and sides of 

 the head and sides of neck are pure hoary gray ; the under parts soiled yellowish white. The 

 tail shows a mixture of light brown, white and black ; its margin all round is grayish 

 white, and the hairs generally are of this color, but with three bars of black, most distinct 

 when viewed from beneath. The soles of the feet are densely furred to the tubercles in winter. 



List of specimens. 



Longest fore claw, .42 inch ; of hinder claw .30 inch. 



SPERMOPHILUS TERETICAUDUS, Baird. 



Round Tailed Spermophile. 



SP. CH. Ears nearly obsolete. Tail, with hairs, at least four-fifths as long as the head and body ; rounded, with the 

 hairs close pressed all round ; somewhat expanded at the tip. Feet very broad, the soles densely hairy, except on the 

 sides. Color above, finely grizzled gray yellowish brown ; beneath, dirty white. No spots on the body, nor distinct an- 

 nulations on the hairs of the tail. Length, five to six inches. Tail, half an inch to an inch less. Hind feet, 1.36 inches. 



This very curious small spermophile is in several respects very different from any other of the 

 North American species, exnlbiting quite unusual combinations of characters. In size it is 

 about equal to or, perhaps, a little larger than the common ground squirrel of the Atlantic 



