(36 QUADRUPEDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



1. Sciurus leucotis. Gappar. Common, or Little Gray 



Squirrel. 



Sciurus cinereus, Harlan, Fauna Am., p. 173. 

 The Common Gray Squirrel, Godman, Nat. Hist., ii. p. 131. 

 Figure ; Ibid., p. 133, f. 2. 



Specific characters. Color fine bluish-gray, varying somewhat 

 in kind and degree ; on some parts, as on the head and along the 

 sides, there is a yellow or golden hue intermixed with the general 

 color ; this yellowness is quite obvious where the white hair of 

 the belly approaches the gray of the sides, and also on the anterior 

 part of the fore, and superior part of the hind feet. 



Description. Without entering into a detailed description of 

 this common species, I shall barely remark upon the skull and 

 teeth. Incisors yellow externally, convex outwardly ; upper, 

 slightly grooved, and nearly if not quite uniform in width from 

 their insertion to their points ; the lower become narrower to- 

 wards their points ; in the upper jaw there are four true molars, 

 and a rudiment of the fifth placed towards the inside of the first 

 true molar ; it is a mere conical peg inserted into the jaw, which 

 probably falls out in early life. 



Dimensions. 



in. t'tlis. 



Length from the extreme of the nasal bones to the occipital spine, 2 7 

 " from the incisor to the meatus, 1 7& 



2. Sciurus vulpinus. Gmel. The Gray Squirrel. Fox 



Squirrel. 



The Fox Squirrel, Godman, Nat. Hist., ii. p. 128. 



Specific characters. Color varies from white to pale-gray and 

 black ; various shades of red, mottled, &c. ; generally larger than 

 the preceding. 



Observations. This Squirrel presents so many variations of 

 color, especially in a more southern latitude, that many individu- 

 als have mistaken it for two or three distinct species. It is not 

 very common in the woods of Massachusetts ; the black, or tawny 



