1869.] 189 [Allen. 



33. Pteromys VOlucella Cuvier. (Flying Squirrel.) 



Not common. From its peculiar nocturnal habits this species is 

 one easily overlooked. From its known range it must occur in the 

 State. 



34. Tamias Striatus Baird. (Striped Squirrel.) 

 Abundant in and near the thickets and groves. 



35. Spermophttus tridecem-lineatus Aud. and Bach. (Striped 

 Prairie Squirrel. Striped Gopher.) 



Abundant, and to the farmers a destructive pest. Seen almost 

 daily, both on the wild prairie and in the cultivated fields. They 

 are active throughout the summer, and quite destructive to the young 

 corn in the spring, the kernel of which they dig irp, and thus destroy 

 the crop. It is said, however, to be less frequently noticed during the 

 summer, when the grass is high, than earlier. Their burrows run 

 usually but a few inches below the surface, but sometimes .extend 

 horizontally for the distance of ten feet, though usually much less. 1 



36. Spermophilus Franklini Richardsem. (Gray Prairie 

 Squirrel. Gray Gopher.) 



Abundant, and, in proportion to its numbers,, far more destructive 

 than the preceding (S. tridecem-lineatus). When very numerous 

 they sometimes destroy acres of newly planted corn by eating the 



erally slight variations in size, the northern and Rocky Mountain species being 

 generally a little larger than the restricted S. hudsonius r but differing only as the 

 representatives of a single species would be expected to under similar differences of 

 habitat. There are no essential differences in color, the variation in this respect 

 being in no case greater than specimens from different localities in New England 

 present, as I have before pointed out (Bull. Mus. Comp. ZooL, No. viii, p. 223). 

 Specimens from northern Maine have just as good claims for specific distinctness 

 from those of eastern Massachusetts as either of the above-named supposed 

 species have to be regarded as specifically distinct from the S. Hudsonius. They 

 differ in color and in the texture of the fur, the Maine specimens in question being 

 grayer, with thicker, heavier pelage, and larger in size 1 . Those from some locali- 

 ties have also a relatively shorter tail, differences precisely similar' to those urged 

 as distinguishing severally these supposed species, and equally great in degree. 

 The habitat of S. hudsonius, then, it seems to me, really extends throughout the 

 northern part of the continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Intelligent trav- 

 ellers and naturalists perfectly familiar with the S. Jiudsonius at the East, who have 

 visited the region inhabited by the other supposed species, as Alaska and the 

 Rocky Mountains, report that they saw nothing about the red squirrel they met 

 with there, either in habits or otherwise, that led them to suspect it to be at all 

 different from S. hudsonius. 



1 For a very complete account of the habits of this species, see the late Robert 

 Kennicott's excellent papers on the Mammals of Illinois, in the Fatent Ofliee Re- 

 ports (Agriculture) for 1856 and 1857 (1856, p. 74). 



