ii6 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol.^XI. ' 



Sciurus carolinensis leucotis (Gapper). 

 Northern Gray Squirrel. 



Sciurus leucotis Gapper, Zool. Journ., V, 1830, p. 206. Snyder, Bull. Wis. Nat. 



Hist. Soc, II, 1902, p. 119 (Wisconsin). 

 Sciurus migratorius Kennicott, Trans. 111. State Agr. Soc, I, 1853-54 (1855), p. 579 



(Cook Co., Illinois). lb., Agr. Rept. for 1856, U. S. Patent Office Rept., 1857, 



p. 62 (Illinois, Wisconsin, etc.). Strong, Geol. Wis., Surv. 1873-79, I. 1883, 



p. 439 (Wisconsin), 

 Sciurus niger Godman, Amer. Nat. Hist., II, 1826, p. 133. 



Sciurus carolinensis Miles, Rept. Geol. Surv. Mich., I, i860 (1861), p. 220 (Michigan). 

 Sciurus carolinensis leucotis Merriam, Mamm. Adirondack Reg., 1886, p. 219. 



Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., X, 1896, p. 156 (Wisconsin, Minnesota, etc.). 



Jackson, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc, VI, 1908, p. 15 (Wisconsin). Hahn, Ann. 



Rept. Dept. Geol. & Nat. Resources Ind., 1908 (1909), p. 364 (Indiana). 

 Sciurus carolinensis hypophaeus Jackson, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc, VI, 1908, p. 15. 



lb., VIII, 1910, p. 86 (Wisconsin). 

 Sciurus carolinensis var. leucotis Herrick, Geol. & Nat. Hist. Surv. Minn., Bull. 



No. 7, 1892, p. 157 (Minnesota). 



Type locality — Region between York and Lake Simcoe, Ontario, 

 Canada. 



Distribution — Northeastern United States and southern Canada, from 

 northern Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania northward to about 

 latitude 46° and west to Minnesota and Iowa. 



Description — In summer: Similar to carolinensis but larger and grayer. 

 In winter: Upper parts silvery gray, the yellowish brown 

 bases of the hairs on the back and head being practically concealed ; 

 color subject to much variation. Entirely black specimens are 

 not uncommon in some localities and various intergradations 

 between the black and gray phases of pelage occur. 



Measurements — Total length about 20 in. (505 mm.); tail vertebrae 

 9 in. (230 mm.) ; hind foot 2.70 in. (69 mm.). 



Remarks — The series which I have examined from northern Illinois 

 and Wisconsin seem to confirm Hahn's opinion (/. c, p. 465) that 

 leucotis is not separable by color characters from the form recognized 

 as hypophaeus from Minnesota. There is no doubt that the Min- 

 nesota form averages larger and it is not unlikely that it may con- 

 tinue to be given subspecific recognition by some authorities on 

 that account, but that the difference is merely an average one is 

 shown by the fact that selected specimens from eastern New York 

 and other localities, where typical leucotis occurs, are fully as large 

 as the largest Minnesota specimens. Under the circumstances, 

 therefore, without further discussing the merits of hypophaeus as a 

 subspecies, it would seem best to exclude it from our limits and con- 

 sider all the Gray Squirrels which occur in Wisconsin to be leucotis. 



