FOX SQUIRREL. 
133 
be examined, — yet, in a very young animal, obtained on the oth of April, 
in South Carolina, and which had apparently left the nest but a day or 
two, we observed a very minute, round, deciduous, anterior grinder on each 
side. These teeth, however, must be shed at a very early period ; as in 
two other specimens, obtained on the 20th of the same month, they were 
entirely wanting. The teeth of all our squirrels present so greai, a simi- 
larity, that it will be found impossible to designate tire species from these 
alone, without referring to other peculiarities which the eye of the practi- 
cal naturalist may detect. In young animals of this species, the tubercu- 
lous crowns on the molars are prominent and acute ; these sharp points, 
however, are soon worn off, and the tubercles in the adult are round and 
blunt. The first molar in the upper jaw is the smallest, and is triangular 
in .shape ; the second and third one a little larger and square ; and the 
posterior one, which is about the size of the third, is rounded on its poste- 
rior surface. The upper incisors, which are of a deep orange colour ante- 
riorly, are strong and compressed, deep at their roots, flat on their sides ; in 
some specimens there is a groove anteriorly running longitudinally through 
the middle, presenting the appearance of a double tooth ; in others, this 
tooth is wanting. In the lower jaw, the anterior grinder is the smallest ; 
the rest increase in size to the last, which is the largest. 
Nose, obtuse; forehead, slightly arched; whiskers, a little longer 
than the head ; ears, rounded, covered with short hairs on both surfaces ; 
there is scarcely any projection of fur beyond the outer surface, as is the 
case in nearly all the other species ; the hair is very coarse, appearing in 
some specimens geniculate ; tail, broad and distichous ; legs and feet, 
stout ; and the whole body has more the appearance of strength than of 
agility. 
COLOUR. 
In the grey variety of this species, which is — as far as we have ob- 
served — the most common, the nose, extending to within four or five lines 
of the eyes, the ears, feet, and belly, are white ; forehead and cheeks, 
brownish black ; the hairs on the back are dark plumbeous near the roots, 
then a broad line of cinereous, then black, and broadly tipped with white, 
with an occasional black hair interspersed, especially on the neck and 
fore shoulder, giving the animal a light grey appearance ; the hairs of the 
tail are, for three-fourths of their length, white from the roots, then a ring 
of black, with the tips white. This is the variety given by Bose and other 
authors as Sciurus capistratus. 
Second variety ; the Black Fox Squirrel. Nose and ears, white ; a few 
light-coloured hairs on the feet ; the rest of the body and tail, black ; there 
