236 Description of a new Subspectes | March, 
whenever there is a condition approaching asphyxiation. It 
seems as though these pharyngeal movements reappear in the 
highest forms when the want of oxygen becomes overwhelm- 
ingly great, as if there were an organic memory of the means by 
which, in the dim past, the want was supplied. 
20: 
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SUBSPECIES OF THE 
COMMON EASTERN CHIPMUNK. 
BY C. HART MERRIAM, M.D. 
HE common chipmunk or striped squirrel of Eastern North 
America was first mentioned, so far as I have been able 
to ascertain, by Sagard-Théodat in his Histoire du Canada 
(“ Vol. v, p. 746”), published in 1615.. In 1743 Mark Catesby 
gave an unmistakable description of it, accompanied by a recog- 
nizable colored plate} He called it Sciurus striatus, which name 
was adopted by Linnzeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Na- 
ture, published in 1758. The specific name striatus, after en- 
during the vicissitudes to which scientific nomenclature is so often 
subject, was reéstablished by Baird in 1857, and has since en- 
joyed undisputed recognition on this side of the Atlantic. 
It is a little singular that thus far no one seems to have sus- 
pected the existence of two distinct subspecies of chipmunk in 
Eastern North America, particularly when it is remembered that 
no less than five geographical races of the Western species have 
long been recognized. 
It is true that Professor Baird, nearly, thirty years ago, stated 
that a chipmunk from Essex county, in Northeastern New York, 
14 SCIURUS STRIATUS. The Ground Squirrel. Thisis about half the Size of an English 
Squirrel, and almost of the same Colour, except that a Pair of black Lists, with a yel- 
lowish white List between them, extend almost the Length of the Body on both Sides; 
also a single black List runs along the Ridge of the Back. The Eyes are black and 
large, the Ears rounding, the Tail long, flat, and thick set with Hairs, which are much 
shorter than those of other Squirrels. These Squirrels abide in the Woods of Carolina, 
Virginia, &c. Their Food is Nuts, Acorns, and such like as other Squirrels feed on. 
They being brought up tame, are very familiar and active.” (Natural Hist, of Caro- 
lina, ete., by Mark Catesby, Vol. 11, 1743, P. 75): l 
2 For more than half a century our animal was confused with the Asiatic, but it 
is not the purpose of the present paper to enter into a discussion of the complicated 
synonymy of these species, already very fully elaborated by Allen. (Monographs of 
North American Rodentia, 1877.) __ 
