SCICBIDiE-SOlUBUa HUUSONlUa AND VAR8. 



685 



Geoorapiiical variation. — Subspecies hudnonius, an already noted, 

 varies considerubly in xizc and color with locality. As a rule, northern 

 •pecimens are considerably larger than southern ones; but, on the other hand, 

 New England specimens arc much smaller than (hose from Central Pennsyl- 

 vania or than those from localities farther west having the same latitude as New 

 England Specimens from Minnesota and thence westward are omong the 

 largest examine<l. Northern specimens, as also those from the Black Hills, 

 arc paler or more fulvous than specimens from the eastern portions of the 

 United States ; they are, at the same time, more distinctly annulated below 

 with block. Specimens from the Eastern and Middle States are hence more 

 intensely white below and more rufous above than those from more northern 

 localities. Var. richardsoni appears to attain its greatest degree of special- 

 ization in the Bitter Root Range, near the eastern boundary of Idaho Terri- 

 tory, ranging more toward the hudaoniut phase farther eastward, and toward 

 frmtOH(i and douglasti respectively southward and westward. Var. dou^lassi 

 varies quite markedly with the latitude, soulhern specimens being smaller 

 than northern ones, and somewhat differently colored, especially in being 

 less annulated with black below. War. fremorUi appears to be more constant 

 in its coloration than either of the others, and the differences presented by 

 different specimens appear to be more individual than geographical. 



Stkohtmy and nomenclature. — Neither of the varieties of Sciurus 

 hudtonius has any very prominent synonyms. The eastern form was at first 

 referred by Forster to the Sciurus vulgaris of Europe. Erxleben, in 1777, 

 likewise referred if to S. vulgaris, but distinguished it as var. hudsoniciM. 

 The following year it was dtscribed by Pallas under the name Sciurus hud- 

 sonim, by which name it has ever since been currently known. Ord (accord- 

 ing to Baird), in 1815, applied to it the name carolinus. The name rubro- 

 Hneatiu of Desmarest is the name of a nominal species, recognized by only 

 a few writers, referable to hudsonius. Following the strict rule of priority, 

 the name should probably be written hudsonicus (from Erxleben), this being 

 the first distinctive appellation given to this form, it having apparently a pri- 

 ority of one year over hudsonius. 



The next form designated by a systematic name is var. douglassi, first 

 named by Gray in 1836, and first described by Bachman in 1838. It is the 

 "Small Brown Squirrel" of Lewis and Clarke, and the "Sciurus hudsonius 

 ▼ar. J?" of Richardson, based on Lewis and Clarke's description. Gray 



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