MAMMALS OF MINNESOTA. 159 



pre molars two. Fore limb with a catilaginous spur from the 

 carpus to which is attached the volar fascia passing like the 

 string of a shur through the hairy fold of skin serving for flight. 

 Fur very soft, tail with distichous pelage, ears large, eyes very 

 large. 



( My notes on this genus having been lost only a brief ac 

 count of the common species is now possible.) 



Sciuropterus volucella PALL. 



(Plate VII.) 



This beautiful species is extremely variable. The eastern 

 United States is inhabited by the variety volucella which rarely 

 exceeds 5| inches in length of body, the tail being somewhat less. 

 The color is a soft yellowish brown above, white or cream 

 colored below. The middle of the back and especially the upper 

 surface of the tail is darker than the remainder. The under 

 pelage is plumbeous or black and this frequently appears along 

 the edges of the wings and the terminal portion of the tail. 



The species is dispersed throughout the wooded parts of 

 North America as far south as Central America. 



In Minnesota it is extremely local. It often becomes a 

 familiar visitor in the door yards of country homes, flitting 

 from tree to tree at dusk and taking its pay by constant and 

 ill-timed forages upon the corn-cribs. Though very skillful 

 the little animals sometimes overestimate their powers and 

 falling short are precipitated to the earth, but their agility is 

 so great that they are almost instantly in their place in the 

 tree tops. When captured they make as engaging and sprightly 

 pets as could be expected of nocturnal animals. To the noc- 

 turnal habit may be attributed the comparative constancy of the 

 color pattern in spite of variation in other respects. The 

 rodents which are exposed to diurnal conditions being, on the 

 other hand, most variable in this particular. 



The families are large and domestic, but little is known of 

 the household economy. 



GENUS TAMIAS, ILL. 



"Skull narrowed anteriorly; post-orbital process long, 

 very slender, directed downward and backward; plane of malar 

 bone more oblique, and the zygomatic process of the maxillary 

 more expanded and depressed than in Sciurus, but rather less so 



