740 



MONOGRAPHS OF NORTH AMERICAN RODENTIA. 



blnncc to that of northern specimens of 5'. caroUnensh, |iarticulurly to those 

 with a hirge brownish dorsal area. A careful comparison, however, shows 

 the absence of the fulvous suffusion below the surface of the pelage seen in 

 tliat species, and the absence of any tawny lateral line. The tail also is mnc'i 

 longer, and more than one-third fuller and broader, with quite different col- 

 oration, being distinctly tricolored below, with the three colors strongly con- 

 trasted and sharply defined, — centrally a broad band of bright tawny, nearly 

 two inches wide, with indications of two narrow bars of black witliin it on 

 each side of the vertebraj; outside of this is a band of deep black, one-half 

 to one inch wide, with, beyond this, a broad clear white margin. The hairs 

 arc, many of them, fully three inches in length, so ti;at the tail, measured 

 across tlie middle from point to poit t of the outstretched hairs, has a breadth 

 of .six inches. The Mazatlan specimens have the tail rather less full, and 

 the bright tawny central area is simply pale fulvous, — a difference of no 

 great importance, in view of the differeni.^s in this respect presented by 

 specimens of S. caroUnensis from even a single locality. 



The ears are low, broad, and round, not half as large as in S. aberU, and 

 less pointed, shorter, and broader than in S. fossor. This species is further 

 distinguished from S. fossor by its shorter tail, more brownish-gray color of 

 the upper surface, and by the presence of a yellowish-brown dorsal area, 

 covering nearly all of the back. S. colUcei is distinguishable from iSi. abcrti 

 not only through the great dilTerence in the size and form of the ears and 

 the absence of ear-tuf>s, but by lacking the black lateral line, and by the 

 dorsal brownish area being pale yellowish-brown instead of reddish-brown or 

 chestnut. The S. leporinus of Audubon and Bachman, from "California", 

 greatly resemhies jS. colUai in color, size, and form, and is, I have little doubt 

 referable to this species. Its supposed locality is doubtless wrong, being 

 not the present State of California, but from some point farther southward. 

 I have seen, however, a specimen of S. fossor, in an evidently abnormal con- 

 <lition of pelage, corresponding quite well with the description of S. leporinus. 

 The description of Sciurus oculatus of Peters, in respect to size, colora- 

 tion, relative length of the tail, etc., agrees with the usual phase of S. coUioBt. 



.Ill 



