264 
U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS-ZOOLOGY—GENERAL REPORT. 
broader. The nasal bones have their edges nearly parallel for the posterior third, instead of 
approaching each other gently behind. The teeth are smaller in proportion. 
One skull, one of three from San Antonio, shows the anterior small molar. This may be 
the same, or it may belong to a distinct species. It measures 2.33 inches by 1.38. 
List of specimens. 
Catalogue number. 
Corresponding No. 
of skull. 
Locality. 
When 
collected. 
Whence obtained. 
Original number. 
Nature of 
specimen. 
Measurements. 
Collected by— 
1 Nose to oc¬ 
ciput. 
Nose to root 
of tail. 
s 
S 
337 
336 
? 1420 
1421 
1254 
Santa Catarina, New Leon, (North¬ 
ern Mexico)... 
April, 1853 
Lt.D.N.Couch,U.S.A. 
177 
Skin. 
2.50 
10.00 
2.40 
2.40 
.do. 
Mounted 
San Antonio, Texas.. 
Skull. 
Dr. L. Berlandier. 
SCIUEUS FOSSOR, Peale. 
California Gray Squirrel. 
Sciurus fossor, Peale, Mamm. and Birds U. S. Ex. Ex. 1848, 55. 
Aud. & Bach. N. Am. Quad. Ill, 1854, 264; pi. cliii, f. 2. 
Sciurus heermanni, Leconte, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phila. VI, Sept. 1852, 149. 
??? Sciurus leporinus, Aud. & Bach., Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph. 1841, 101.— Ib. Jour. A. N. Sc. Ph. VIII, ii, 1842, 314.— Ib. N. 
Am. Quad. I, 1849, 329; pi. xliii. 
Sp. Ch. —Size of S. vulpinus, but more slender. Tail vertebr® as long as the body, with the hairs much longer. Five upper 
molars. Above, grizzled bluish gray and black; beneath, white, without any differently colored separating line. Tail black, 
with the exterior white; the whole under surface finely grizzled. Back of ears and adjacent tuft on the occiput, chestnut. 
This beautiful species of squirrel is among the largest of those that inhabit the North Ameri¬ 
can continent, and on the west coast represents the gray squirrels of the Atlantic States. 
Judging from skins, however, it is rather more slender and delicate in its proportions than the 
latter. 
The head is rather pointed and narrow ; the whiskers black and reaching beyond the occiput. 
The ears are thin, narrow, and high, somewhat pointed, hut rounded at tip ; they are coated 
with short compact hairs, not at all tufted ; as in the S. carolinensis , however, there is a woolly 
tuft at the postero-internal base of the ear, the adjacent region of the latter also somewhat 
woolly. 
The tail is very long, and rather full and depressed ; in fresh specimens the vertebras alone 
equal the head and body. The hairs are long and rather soft. The feet are long but narrow ; 
the soles are nearly naked in summer ; in winter they are densely coated (especially in the 
north) with hairs, except on the tubercles. Even at San Diego, winter specimens exhibit a con¬ 
siderable amount of hair on the soles. 
This species presents fewer variations in color than any of the larger American squirrels 
within my knowledge. The prevailing color above is a mixed or finely grizzled bluish gray 
and black, the former predominating. This color covers nearly two-thirds, at least three-fifths, 
