198 FOUR STRIPED GROUND-SQUIRREL. 



We obtained it on the Upper Missouri, and Mr. Drummond brought speci- 

 mens from the sources of the Pearl river. It is found as far north as 

 Lake Winnipeg, in lat. 50°. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



When we published Tamias minimus, we had some misgivings lest it 

 might prove the j'oung of the present species. The discoverer however 

 assured us that the two species did not exist within many hundred miles 

 of each other, and that the specimens he sent us were those of full grovvm 

 animals ; we consequently ventured on their publication. Having, how- 

 ever, since procured young specimens of T. quadrivittatus, we are satis- 

 fied of the error we committed, and hasten to correct it. In the investi- 

 gation of species existing in distant and little known portions of country, 

 it always requires a length of time to settle them beyond the danger of 

 error. The traveller who makes these investigations very hastily, and 

 seizes on a specimen wherever there is a moment's pause in the journey, 

 is often himself deceived, and the describer, having perhaps only a single 

 specimen, is very apt to fall into some mistake. The investigation of de- 

 scribed species in every branch of natural history, both in Europe and 

 America, occupied much of the time of the naturalists of our generation, 

 who corrected many of the errors of a former age ; most fortunate are 

 they who are permitted to live to correct their own. 



