54 MAMMALS OF PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY. 



Luzerne Co. Some blacks are taken each season in this Co. Three were 

 brought into Pittston, Oct. 20, 1899. Campbell. Only know of one taken 

 in Luzerne Co. It was sent to me. Stocker. 



Lycoming Co. Not as many black as gray, but numerous. Parker. 



McKean Co. Black phase plentiful. Ten times as many blacks as grays. 

 W. C. Dickinson, 1901. 



Monroe Co. Saw a black fellow 2 years ago (1897). Rare in this Co. 

 Bisbing. 



Pike Co. Blacks occasional. Rothrock. 



Potter Co. Plenty of blacks. Grays seldom seen here. Austin. 



Somerset Co. Blacks rare ; one shot in Shade township, Oct., 1899. Mc- 

 Henry. Blacks rare in this Co. Moore, 1900. 



Sullivan Co. Blacks often seen, but not as plenty as gray. Bennett, 1901. 

 About i in every 12 is black. Behr, 1900. 



Susquehanna Co. I had 2 blacks taken there in Nov., 1898. Campbell. 



Tioga Co. Still plenty, but fewer than the gray in 1899. Babcock. 

 Numerous, but less so than gray in 1899. Cleveland. 



Union Co. No blacks killed (to his knowledge) in the Co. for 12 years. 

 Chambers, 1900. 



Venango Co. Blacks plentiful in northeastern part of Co. "I hunted 

 squirrels [there] with father 40 years and blacks always exceeded grays in 

 number." Dorworth, 1900. 



Washington Co. See a black occasionally. Linton, 1900. 



Wayne Co. Rather rarely see a black. Never as common as gray here. 

 Goodnough, 1900. Have had several blacks to mount from Wayne Co. 

 Stocker, 1900. Very few here. Kellew, 1900. Some left here. Teeple, 

 1900. Very rare; have seen none for years, Day, 1900. Occasional and 

 decreasing. Ratio in 1900, i black to 75 grays; 30 years ago ratios nearly 

 equal. Stevens. 



Wyoming Co. "I killed two last fall (1899) against 30 or 40 grays." 

 Robinson. 



Records in N. J. Passaic Co. "Very rarely met with [in N. J.]. Have 

 seen but two specimens, both taken in Passaic Co. in December, 1860." 

 Abbott, in Geol. of N. J., 1868, p. 756. 



Remarks. While a study of the foregoing data gives little light on the 

 cause of melanism in these squirrels, it is worthy of remark that there seems 

 to be a diminution of the relative number of blacks as the country becomes 

 deforested and settled upon. This may be the result ( i) of a change in clima- 

 tological conditions unfavorable to melanism or (2) of the inability of a black 

 squirrel to escape the increasing number of hunters so easily as a gray 

 squirrel, owing to its conspicuous color. In regard to the first suggestion it 



