FAMILY SCrURIDiE. 57 



ORDER IV. RODENTIA. 



No canine teeth. Incisois for the most part two in each jaw, large, strong, and remote 

 from the grinders. {In Leporidce there are 2 - 4 - G in the upper Jaw.) Cheek teeth 

 twenty-two at ?nost. Toes distinct, with small conical claws. Jaws moveable horizon- 

 tally. The greater mimher furnished with stout clavicles. No ahdominal pouch. 



This order comprises a great number of the smaller quadrupeds, living almost exclusively on 

 vegetable food. According to the latest enumeration, there are nearl}' three hundred species 

 distributed over the globe. In North America, upvrards of seventy species have been 

 described ; and we shall doubtless have many more to add to the list, for it is among these 

 small quadrupeds that we are to find new species. We divide this order into five families. 



FAMILY I. SCIURIDjE. 



Chrinders simple, with tubercular summits. Upper incisors chisel-shaped ; the lower pointed, 

 compressed laterally. Incisors, | ; molars, i:i° = 20 or 22. The fifth upper anterior 



molar exists only in the young. 



GENUS SCIURUS. Linneus. 



Body elongated. Eyes large. Ears erect. TJpiper lip divided. Posterior extremities longer 

 than the anterior, which have four long distinct toes, and a tubercle covered with an obtuse 

 nail in place of a thumb. Eight teats ; fivo pectoral, the remainder ventral. Tail long, 

 with long bushy hair, often distichous or directed laterally. 



Obs. All the species of this genus live mostly on trees ; for which purpose, their long 

 flexible toes, with acute nails, enables them to leap from tree to tree, rarely missing their 

 hold. They feed on seeds, nuts, grain, and occasionally worms. About forty species have 

 been described. 



THE LITTLE GREY SaUIRREL. 



SCIDRUS LEUCOTIS. 



PLATE XVni. FIG. 1.— (STATE COLLECTION.) 



• Lesser Grey Squirrel. Penn. Hist. Quad. Ed. secunda. 

 Hudson's Bay Squirrel. Var. a, CaroUrui. Pens. lb. Vol. 2, p. 147, Ed. tertia. 

 Hudson Squirrel. Var. a, Carolina. Id. ArcU Zoo!. Vol. I, p. 116. (Variety.) 

 Sciurus cinereus. H.4RLAN, Fauna Am. p. 173. 

 S. carolincnsis. GoD.MAN, Am. Nat. Hist. Vol. 2, p. 131, pi. fig. 2. 



8. leucotis. Gappab, Zool. Joum. Vol. 5, p. 206. BachmaN, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1839, p. 220. 

 Common or Lillle Grey Squirrel. Emmons, Mass. Rep. 1840, p. 66. 



Fauna. 8 



