CAT-SQUIRREL. 149 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



This species has been sometimes confounded with the fox-squirrel, (S. 

 capistratus,) and at other times with the northern gray squirrel. (S. migra- 

 torius,) and all three have by some been considered as forming but one 

 species ; it is, however, in size, intermediate between the two former, and 

 has some distinctive marks by which it may be kno\vn from either. 



The northern gray squirrel has (as far as we have been able to ascer- 

 tain from an examination of many specimens,) permanently five molars 

 on each side in the upper jaw, and the present species has but four. The 

 Cat-Squirrel, however, like the young fox-squirrel, has no doubt, a small 

 deciduous tooth, which drops out in the very young state, and at so early 

 a period that we have not succeeded in detecting it. 



Sciurus capistratus is in all its varieties, as far as we have observed, 

 invariably and permanently distinguished by its having white ears and 

 a white nose, which is not the case with S. cinereus. The former, is a 

 southern species, the latter, is found in the middle and northern States, 

 but not in the colder portions of New England or in Canada. 



S. capistratus, is a longer, thinner and more active species, running 

 with almost the speed of a hare, and ascending the tallest pines to so 

 great a height that nothing but a rifle-ball can bring it down ; the pre- 

 sent species is heavy, clumsy, and prefers clinging to the body of a tree, 

 not generally ascending to its extreme branches. The hair of S. capis 

 tratus is more rigid and smoother than that of S. cinereus, which is rather 

 soft and woolly. 



We have instituted this comparison in order to prove the inaccuracy of 

 a statement contained in one of the last works published in our country, 

 on the American quadrupeds. The author says, "We suspect that God- 

 man's fox-squirrel {S. vulpinus) as well as his Cat, {8. cinereus) are varie- 

 ties only of the hooded squirrel." Under the above names Godman pub- 

 lished only one and the same species, but the hooded squirrel, (S. capis- 

 tratus) with w^hite ears and nose, is a very different species, and is not 

 given by Godman. 



The Cat-Squirrel was the first of the genus described from America. 

 Ray characterizes it as <S'. virginianus cinereus major. Catesby gives a 

 tolerable description of it, and a figure, which although rather extrava- 

 gant in the size of its tail, cannot from its short ears, w^hich as well as the 

 nose are destitute of the white marks of S. capistratus, be mistaken for 

 the gray variety of the latter species. 



He says — " These squirrels are as large as a half-grown rabbit ; the 

 whole structure of their bodies and limbs, thicker in proportion, and of a 



