192 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 
DESCRIPTION 
Of a full grown but yourig individual. 
Dental formuia, incisors, 3, canines [=, grinders =? = 22, 
Incisors, much compressed, very strong, and having a deep orange colour on their exterior 
surfaces. The first or deciduous grinder is round and very small, the others are precisely 
similar in form to the grinders of the Hudson’s Bay squirrel. 
Form.—lIts head is somewhat narrower and its nose sharper than that of the large gray 
American squirrel. Its frontal bone is not so flat between the orbits as that of the Hudson’s 
Bay squirrel, and has a nearly regular flat elliptical curve from the occipital ridge to the 
end of the nose. Its scull is about twice as big as that of a Hudson’s Bay squirrel. Ears 
elliptical rounded at the tip, covered with short fur, and entirely without tufts. 
Fur.—The whole fur is biack, that on the back being particularly close and having a glossy 
hue. When blown aside it appears downy towards the roots, and has a grayish-black colour 
without lustre. The fur is much shorter and coarser than that of the gray squirrels. On the 
dorsal aspect of the head it is of a shining black colour, without any lighter coloured spots 
about the muzzle or behind the ear. On the cheeks and throat it is of a brownish-black. 
The tail is clothed with long hair, unmixed with down, except close to the body. The feet 
are clothed with a smooth coat of short black hair. The claws are curved, much compressed, 
and sharp, exactly resembling those of the gray squirrel. The thumb tubercle is armed with 
a rounded nail closely adhering to it. The claws of the hind-feet are somewhat sharper than 
the fore ones, but are similar in form and nearly of equal size. 
DIMENSIONS 
Of the Penetanguishene Specimen. 
Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines. 
Length of the head and body A 5 iB} 0 Length from the thumb to the tip of the middle 
3 head é 3 A eS 0 fore-claw ; A oa 3 
a tail (vertebrz) é s 9 6 5, Of the sole, middle hind-toe, and claw 2 8 
a tail including fur . : 521183 0 55 middle hind-toe and claw = eal 1 
” palm to the tip of the middle AS longest claws . . 0 3 
fore-claw e : x ¢ ] 6 es fur on the back : 0) 9 
» 4  thirdor longest fore-toeandclaw T 1 A fur on the sides of the tail . 2 6 
> fur at the end of the tail ye 6 
DIMENSIONS 
Of the Scull of the same Specimen. 
Inches. _ Lines. 
Smallest breadth of the os frontis between the orbits * . 0 9 
Length of the nasal bones : . e ° . 0 93 
There is a specimen of rather larger dimensions, procured at Fort William, on 
Lake Superior, and presented to the Zoological Society by Captain Bayfield. It has 
a few white hairs scattered amongst the fur of the body and rather more in the tail. 
Lewis and Clark mention their having met with gray squirrels on the 
Columbia ; but from our ignorance of the species to which they belong, they cannot 
be admitted into this work. 
