190 



CLASS MAMMALIA. 



intensity ; the head is rather flatted and thick, the ears small 

 and round ; the eyes black, and situate on the sides of the 

 head very far distant from each other, leaving a wide ex- 

 panse of forehead ; the nostrils are semilunar in shape ; the 

 upper lip is cleft, and there is a black spot on the chin ; the 

 tail, which is flat and spreading, is very beautiful, not so full 

 near its insertion as toward the middle, and again dimi- 

 nishing in breadth till it terminates in a point. 



Lewis's Squirrel has the upper part of the head, neck, 

 shoulders, fore-arms, to the articulation of the arm, back, 

 flanks, the posterior moiety of the thighs, and a band round 

 the belly, of ochrey gray colour ; all the under parts, the in- 

 side of the limbs, and the paws are pure ochrey ; the ears 

 are small, round, and far back ; the eyes are black and sur- 

 rounded with the same colour as the back ; the nostrils open 

 at the extremity of the muzzle, forming a denuded black 

 snout, the upper lip is white, and the whiskers very long ; 

 the tail is very beautiful, extremely thick or bushy, cylin- 

 drical and annulated, with seven black and six white bands, 

 with the termination black. 



This appears to be the Sciurus annulatus, described by 

 M. Desmarest, Encycloptdie Methodique, article Mamma- 

 logies from a specimen in the museum at Paris, whose habi- 

 tat is unknown. His specific characters, however, are fur 

 of a bright greenish gray above, without lateral white 

 bands, white underneath, tail longer than the body, round, 

 annulated, black and white : of the size of the Palm 

 Squirrel. These differences of colour may be sufficiently 

 accounted for, to reconcile the probability of the identity of 

 the species of these two specimens. 



The subgenus Pteromys of our author, or the Flying 

 Squirrels, seem to differ physically in nothing from the 

 Squirrels, properly speaking, except the flying apparatus or 

 parachute, and the additional base which supports it. The 

 skin of the sides is greatly extended, and is hairy on both 



