m 



II Hfi 



888 



MONOGRAPHS OF NORTH AMERICAN RODENTIA. 



:^i\ 



mm 



l)e no doubt of its identity witii Mr. Xantus's specimen above described. The 

 only discrepancies consist in Audubon and Bachman's specimen being a little 

 smaller than the present one, and the tail is represented as being relatively a 

 little longer and the color of tho ventral surface of the body a little lighter, 

 but in every other detail of structure and coloration there is the closest 

 agreement. Although evidently a true Spermophile, in all probability ref- 

 erable to the subgenus Otospermophilus, the absence of the skull renders it 

 impossible to refer it to any particular section of the genus Spermophilus. 



In 1827, Major Hamilton-Smith, in Griffith's Cuvier's Animal Kingdom 

 (vol. iii, p. 190), described and figured a " Sciurus lewisii", said to have been 

 based on a specimen in " Mr. Peal's Museum in Philadelphia, .... brought 

 there by the American Missouri travellers, Messrs. Lewis and Clarke", the 

 name being given in honor of Captain Levis. The figure and description 

 strongly recall the present species.* The tail is similarly barred transversely 

 (but the bars are fewer and broader), and the general color seems to resem- 

 ble that of the Spermophilus annulatus of Audubon and Bachman. Professor 

 Baird has very doubtfully referred the Sciurus lewisi to Sciurus " ludovicianus", 

 supposing that the barring of the tail might have been due to a twisting of 

 that member. He expresses himself as at a loss to junt for the absence 

 of red in the tail, but says that unless it be assignable to this species he can- 

 not refer it to any known North American species. If, however, Hamilton- 

 Smith's figure be considered as at all trustworthy, his " Lewis's Squirrel" 

 bears a much nearer resemblance to the SpennophUus annulatus than to any 

 other known species of Sciuridte. If really to be referred to this, the speci- 

 men was probably not "brought to Philadelphia" by Lewis and Clarke, '^ut 

 was doubtless derived from some wholly different source. * 



Hamilton-Smith traces a resemblance between his animal and the Sciurus 

 annulatus described in 1822 by Desmarest from a specimen in the Paris 



*Tbe (IcBcription i8«8 follows: — " £ewt«'a Squinel'iuii the npper part of tbet<!ad, neck, sbonlden, 

 fore arum, to tbu urticulatiou of tbo arm, bucks Hanks [«ic], the posterior iiioic{ j of the tbi};bs, and u 

 band round tbo belly, of ocbrey gray colnnr ; all the nnder parts, the inside of tbo limbs, and the paws 

 are pnru oclirey ; tbu ears are small, round, and far back ; Ibe eyes are black .1 surroni. ...d with the 

 same colour us tlie buck ; the nosl. ..<> open at the e\trcmity of tbo muzzle, forming a denuded black 

 snout, tbi) upper lip is wbifo, and the whiskers very Inng; tbo tail is very bcilutifnl, cnlic.ic' ' ick oi 

 bunhy cylindrical and anuu'.ated, with seven block and sis white bauds, with Uiu terminrfioi. ulaek," 

 'i'bcy udil, — " This U|ipcurs to be the Sdnrua annulalm, desciibcd by M. Desmarest, KnciidopMic Milhoiiiqut, 

 article Math,ii::l<yjir, from » Hpccin.en in tlie museum at Paris, whoxe habitat is unknown, ills specilia 

 cbaructcr.", bowever, are fur of u lirigbti^rceniKli-gray above, without lateral •vhil ■ bunds, white under- 

 noutb, tail longer than the iHuly, riumd, annulutMl, black and white : of the i-iz. the Fulni ScinirrcL 

 These (iill'erences of colour may be suHieienlly ucconnted for, tn lecopn'e the probability uf the ideutit; 

 of the species of these two specimens." 



