55 



SCIURUS CAROLINENSIS.— Gjiel. 



Carolina Gbay Sciuireel. 



PLATE VII. — Male and Female. — Natural size. 



S. griseus supra, subtus albus, colorem haud mutaris, S. migratorii, 

 minor. Cauda corpore breviore, S. migratorii angustiore. 



CHARACTERS. 



Smaller than the Northern Gray Squirrel, {Sciurus Migratorius,) tail 

 narrower than in that species, and shorter than the body ; above, rusty gray ; 

 beneath, white ; does not vary in colour. 



SYNONTMES. 



EcuREUiL Geis de LA Carollne, Bosc, vol. ii., p. 96, pi. 29. 



SciORcs Carolinensis, Bach., Monog., Proceedings Zool. Soc, London, August, 1838. 

 Mag., Nat. Hist., 1839, p. 113. 



DESCRIPTION. 



This species, which has been many years knowB, and frequently de- 

 scribed, has been always considered by authors as identical with the 

 Gray Squirrel of the Northern States, {Sciurus migratorius.) There are, 

 however, so many marked differences, in size, colour, and habit, that any 

 student of nature can easUy perceive the distinction between these two 

 allied species. 



Head shorter, and space between the ears proportionately broader than 

 between those of the Northern Gray Squirrel ; nose sharper than in that 

 animal. Small, anterior molar, in the upper jaw, permanent, (as we have 

 invariably found it to exist in all the specimens we have examined ;) it 

 is considerably larger than in S. migratorius, and all our specimens which 

 give indications of the individual having been more than a year old when 

 killed, instead of having a small, thread-like, single tooth, as in the latter 

 species, have a distinct double tooth, with a double crown. The other 

 molars are not much unlike those of S. migratorius in form, but are 

 shorter and smaller, — the upper incisors being nearly a third shorter. 



