13 



examined were of the dusky, annulate-haired type; they were also 

 all young. 



32. Sciurus hudsonius Pallas. (Chickare. Red Squirrel.) 

 This species does not appear to occur in the parts of Iowa I visited. 



I saw not a single specimen, and although I made extended inquiries 

 respecting it, could not learn that it had ever been seen here. I also 

 found it unknown in Ogle county, Illinois (one hundred miles west 

 from Chicago), though said to occur sparingly in some portions of 

 northern Illinois, by Mr. R. Kennicott, 1 and also in northern Mis- 

 souri and central Iowa; but in respect to the latter locality I 

 think he may have been mistaken. I never anywhere, however, saw 

 it so numerous as I have found it to be in southern Michigan (Van 

 Buren and Aliegan counties). Somewhat to the northward of Iowa, 

 as in the forest region of Minnesota, it is said to be very numerous, 

 and to extend thence far to the westward. Dr. Hayden says it occurs 

 on the eastern side of the Black Hills, in Nebraska. 2 



33. Pteromys VOlucella Cuvier. (Flying Squirrel.) 



Not common. From its peculiar nocturnal habits this species is one 

 easily overlooked. From its known range it must occur in the State. 



34. Tamias Striatus Baird. (Striped Squirrel.) 

 Abundant in and near the thickets and groves. 



1 Patent Office Rep. Agriculture, 1856, p. 68. 



2 I am far from sure that either of the supposed species called Sciurus Fremonti, 

 S. Richardsoni and S. Douglassi are distinct from the common S. hudsonius of the 

 eastern part of the continent. The differences between them are very trivial, and 

 in respect to what these are, authors are by no means unanimous. They are gen- 

 erally slight variations in size, the northern and Rocky Mountain species being 

 generally a little larger than the restricted S. hudsonius, but differing only as the 

 representatives of a single species would be expected to under similar differences of 

 habitat. There are no essential differences in color, the variation in this respect 

 being in no case greater than specimens from different localities in New England 

 present, as 1 have before pointed out (Bull. AIus. Comp. ZoOl., No. vm, p. 223). 

 Specimens from northern Maine have just as good claims for specific distinctness 

 from those of eastern Massachusetts as either of the above-named supposed 

 species have to be regarded as specifically distinct from the S. hudsonius. They 

 diflVr in color and in the texture of the fur, the Maine specimens in question being 

 grayer, with thicker, heavier pelage, and larger in size. Those from some locali- 

 ties have also a relatively shorter tail, differences precisely similar to those urged 

 as distinguishing severally these supposed species, and equally great in degree. 

 The habitat of S. hudsonius, then, it seems to me, really extends throughout the 

 northern part of the continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Intelligent trav- 

 ellers and naturalists perfectly familiar with the S. hudsonius at the East, who have 

 visited the region inhabited by the other supposed species, as Alaska and the 

 Rocky Mountains, report that they saw nothing about the red squirrel they met 

 with there, either in habits or otherwise, that led them to suspect it to be at all 

 different from S. hudsanius. 



