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TAMIAS TOWNSEND 1 1.— Bach. 



Townsend's G round-Squirrel. 



PLATE XX.— Natural size. 



T. obscurus, supra flavo-fuscescens, striis qiiinque nigris longitudinali- 

 bus subequaliter distantibus dorsali usque ad caudam porrecta ; subtus 

 cinereus. T. Lysteri magnitudiiie superans. 



CHARACTERS. 



A little larger than Tamias Lysteri ; tail much longer ; upper surface, 

 dusky yellowish-brown, with Jive nearly equidistant parallel black stripes 

 on the back, the dorsal one extending to the root of the tail ; under sur- 

 face cinereous. 



SyNONYME. 



Tamias Townsendii, Townsend's Ground Squirrel, Journal Acad, of Natural Sciences, 

 Philadelphia, vol. tiii., part 1, 1839. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Head, of moderate size ; forehead, convex ; nose, rather obtuse, clothed 

 with very short hairs ; nostrils, opening downward, their margins and 

 septum naked ; whiskers, as long as the head ; eyes, large ; ears, long, 

 erect, obovate, clothed with short hair on the outer, and nearly naked on 

 the inner surface ; cheek-pouches, tolerably large. In form this species 

 resembles T. Lysteri ; it is, however, longer and stouter. Legs, of mode- 

 rate size ; toes, long ; the fore-feet have four toes, with the rudiment of 

 a thumb, protected by a short convex nail ; the palms are naked, with 

 five tubercles. Claws, curved, compressed, and sharp-pointed. On the 

 hind-feet, five toes, the third and fourth nearly of equal length, the second 

 a little shorter, and the first, or inner toe, shortest. Tail, long and sub- 

 distichous. 



Teeth, dark orange ; whiskers, black ; a line of fawn-colour, commencing 

 at the nostrils, runs over the eye-brows, and terminates a little beyond 



