I36 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 69 



doubtful points. 1 A specimen from Chorrera kindly loaned for 

 examination by Dr. J. A. Allen of the American Museum of Natural 

 History is like the Corozal specimens in color and agrees with them 

 also in the absence of the small anterior premolar usually present in 

 squirrels of this group. 5". v. helveolus may intergrade with 5. v. 

 melania (Gray), a melanistic form described from Costa Rica and 

 reported by Bangs (1902, p. 22) from various localities in Chiriqui. 



Near Corozal in the middle of June the squirrels were found in 

 mango trees in an old clearing about two miles east of the railroad 

 station. Approaching the trees quietly I noted their rapid motions 

 while cutting and feeding on the ripening fruit. They were not 

 especially shy, but one that had been watching me suspiciously soon 

 ran down a tree trunk and started rapidly off along the ground, 

 carrying a large mango in its mouth. Five specimens collected by 

 W. W. Brown, Jr., at Caledonia (near Panama) were recorded by 

 Bangs (1906, p. 212) as Sciurus adolphei dorsalis. 



Specimens examined: Calidonia, 5 2 ; Corozal (type locality), 3; 

 Chorrera, 1. 



SCIURUS VARIEGATOIDES MELANIA (Gray) 

 Costa Rican Black Squirrel 

 Macroxus melania Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 3, Vol. 20, p. 425, 1867. 

 Type from Point Burica, Costa Rica. 



The black squirrel of Costa Rica, apparently a melanistic form, is 

 recognizable at once by the unusual color. In fresh pelage it is 

 nearly all black, the back only being of a dark chocolate shade which 

 through wear fades to a yellowish brown color. Although differing 

 widely in external appearance the animal is clearly related to Sciurus 

 variegatoides, and its geographic position between S. variegatoides 

 dorsalis and S. variegatoides helveolus suggests probable intergrada- 

 tion with both. Although intergradation has not been demonstrated, 

 and black or chocolate brown appears to be the color of all the 

 individuals occurring at various localities in Costa Rica and western 



1 The material available indicates that the several known forms should stand 

 subspecifically as follows : 



Sciurus variegatoides variegatoides Ogilby, Salvador. 



Sciurus variegatoides adolphei (Lesson) Realejo, Nicaragua. 



Sciurus variegatoides dorsalis (Gray) Liberia, Costa Rica. 



Sciurus variegatoides melania (Gray) Point Burica, Costa Rica. 



Sciurus variegatoides helveolus Goldman, Corozal, Canal Zone, Panama. 



2 Collection Mus. Comp. Zool. 



