Inches. 



Lines. 



8 



9 



10 







5 







2 



5 



RED-BELLIED SQUIRREL. 293 



the roots to near the tips, where they have white and black annulations ; 

 most of the hairs are tipped with white. From the outer surface of the 

 fore-legs there is a reddish-brown tinge, which extends over the shoulders 

 and nearly meets on the back, gradually fading into the colours of the 

 back and neck. The hairs on the tail are black at the roots, then yel- 

 lowish, succeeded by a broad line of black tipped with white. The feet 

 on the upper surface are grizzled with white and black. Sides of the 

 face, chin, and throat, light-gray. All the rest of the under surface of the 

 body, a line around the eyes, the neck, and the inner surface of the legs, 

 are of a uniform bright rufous colour. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Length of head and body 



tail 

 Height of ear, posteriorly 

 Length of tarsus 



We are unfortunately without any information or accoimt of the habits 

 of this singularly marked and bright coloured Squirrel. We have re- 

 presented three of them in our plate in different attitudes on a branch of 

 mulberry. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



Several specimens, differing a little in colour, which differences we 

 have represented in our plate, were received from California ; the pre- 

 cise locality was not given. 



GENEKAL REMAKES. 



This species should perhaps be compared with the dusky squirrel 

 (S. nigrescens) of Bennet, to which it bears some resemblance. From 

 the description, however, which we made of the original specimen of S. 

 nigrescens, deposited in the museum of the London Zoological Society, we 

 have little hesitation in pronouncing this a distinct species. 



To Sciurus socialis of Wagner, (Beitrage zur Kentniss der warmbluti- 

 gen Wirbelthiere Amerikas, p. 88, Dresden,) the present species also 

 bears some distant resemblance, but in some of its markings differs 

 widely from Wagner's animal. 



