FAMILY SCIURIDAE. 
57 
ORDER IV. RODENTIA. 
No canine teeth. Incisors for the most part two in each jaw, large, strong, and remote 
from the grinders. (In Leporidce there are 2-4-6 in the upper jaw.) Cheek teeth 
twenty-two at most. Toes distinct, with small conical claws. Jaws moveable horizon¬ 
tally. The greater number furnished with stout clavicles. No abdominal pouch. 
This order comprises a great number of the smaller quadrupeds, living almost exclusively on 
vegetable food. According to the latest enumeration, there are nearly three hundred species 
distributed over the globe. In North America, upwards of seventy species have been 
described ; and we shall doubtless have many more to add to the list, for it is among these 
small quadrupeds that we are to find new species. We divide this order into five families. 
FAMILY I. SCIURIDA2. 
Grinders simple, with tubercular summits. Upper incisors chisel-shaped; the lower pointed, 
compressed laterally. Incisors, §; molars, Cfi = 20 or 22. The fifth upper anterior 
molar exists only in the young. 
GENUS SCIURUS. Linneus. 
Body elongated. Eyes large. Ears erect. Upper lip divided. Posterior extremities longer 
than the antericrr, which have four long distinct toes, and a tubercle covered with an obtuse 
nail in place of a thumb. Eight teats ; two pectoral, the remainder ventral. Tail long, 
with long bushy hair, often distichous or directed laterally. 
Obs. All the species of this genus live mostly on trees; for which purpose, their long 
flexible toes, with acute nails, enables them to leap from tree to tree, rarely missing their 
hold. They feed on seeds, nuts, grain, and occasionally worms. About forty species have 
been described. 
THE LITTLE GREY SGUIRREL 
SCIURUS LF.CCOTIS. 
PLATE XVIII. FIG. I. — (STATE COLLECTION ) 
Lesser Grey Squirrel. Penn. Hist. Quad. Ed. secunda. 
Hudson's Bay Squirrel. Var. a, Carolina. Penn. Ib. Vol. 2, p. 147, Ed. tertia 
Hudson Squirrel. Var. a, Carolina. Id. Arct. Zool. Vol. 1, p. 116. (Variety.) 
Sciurus cincreus. Harlan, Fauna Am. p. 173. 
iS. carolinensis. Godman, Am. Nat. Hist. Vol. 2, p. 131, pi. fig. 2. 
jS. leucotis. Gappar, Zool- Joum. Vol. 5, p. 206. Bachman, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1839, p. 220 
Common or Little Grey Squirrel. Emmons, Mass. Rep. 1840, p. 66. 
Fauna. 8 
