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SCIURUS NIGRESCENS.— Bennett 
Dusky Squirrel. 
PLATE CX VII.— Male. 
S. Subniger, corporc griseo sparsim vario, lateribus flavo-fuscescentibus, 
cauda corpore multo loDgiore. 
CHARACTERS. 
Prevailing colour dusky , slightly grizzled on the body with gray J sides, 
dusky yellow J tail much longer than the body. 
SYNONYMES. 
Sciurus Nigrescens. Bennett, Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 
“ “ Bachman, Monog. Genus Sciurus, read before the Zool. Soc^ 
August 14, 1838. 
DESCRIPTION. 
In size this species is nearly equal to the cat-squirrel ( Sciurus cinereus). 
Head, rather small ; ears, of moderate size, not tufted ; feet, robust ; tail, 
very long, and less distichous than in other squirrels, it presenting in the 
stuffed specimen a nearly cylindrical shape ; ears and feet, clothed with 
short hairs ; hairs of the body, short and close ; whiskers, about the length 
of the head. 
COLOUR. 
The prevailing colour on the back is grayish-black ; crown of the head, 
and legs, grayish ; sides of the neck, upper parts of the thighs, and rump, 
grizzled with pale yellow ; cheek, chin, throat, neck, breast, and whole of 
the under surface, including the inside of the legs, dingy gray ; fore parts, 
same colour as the back ; hairs of hinder parts of thighs, black ; hairs of 
the tail, black at the roots, then gray, then broadly banded with black, 
then broadly tipped with white ; feet, black. 
The hairs on the toes are grizzled with white points ; whiskers, black ; 
hairs on the back, plumbeous — black from the roots for two thirds of their 
length, then gray, then black, and at the tips whitish-gray ; there are 
numerous strong black hairs interspersed over the body. 
