310 
U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS-ZOOLOGY-GENERAL REPORT. 
SPERMOPHILUS GRAMMURUS. 
Line-tailed Squirrel. 
Sciurus grammurus, Say, Long’s Exped. R. Mts. II, 1823, 72. 
Harlan, F. Am. 1825, 182. 
Griffith, Cut. V, 1827, 255. 
Fischer, Synopsis, 1829, 350. 
Spermophilus grammurus, Bachman, Charles. Mag. N. H. Ill, 1839, 390. 
Wagner, Suppl. Schreb. IH, 1843, 253. 
Baird, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phila. VII, 1855, 334. 
Sp. Ch. —Body thick, clumsy ; about the size of Sciurus cinereus; vertebras of tail about three-fifths of length of the body. 
Ears broad and high. Palms and soles entirely smooth. General color above gray, produced by a mixture of black and white, 
purest across the shoulders ; rather less so on the sides ; posterior half of the upper portion of the back, having the white 
replaced by pale yellowish brown. Tail grayish white, with three black lines on each side. Body about 12 inches; tail 
with hairs 9. Hind feet 2.25. 
Body thick and clumsy, about the size and proportions of Sciurus cinereus. Tail not three- 
fourths the length of body. Head broad. Ears prominent, broad and high, covered with short 
hairs on both sides, scattered hairs of greater length projecting above the margin. Limbs and 
feet rather short. Thumb rudimentary ; third finger longest; second a little shorter than 
fourth. Claw of the fifth reaching to base of the claw of fourth. Fourth toe longest; third 
and second slightly shorter ; claw of first reaches to end of toe (without claw) of fifth. Nails 
all black, moderately curved. Palms and soles entirely naked. Tail rather long, well clothed 
with stiff long hair, more sparsely on the under surface; hair everywhere stiff, though 
moderately long. 
The anterior half of the body, above and on the sides, is of a rather pure black and white 
mixed, the suhterminal portion being grayish white ; the basal and terminal black. The basal 
fur above is black, laterally it is of a bluish ash. On the posterior half of the body the white 
is replaced by pale yellowish brown, and the black by a dark brown. On the sides the colors 
are purer, the hairs becoming lighter at the base in passing down the sides and to the root of 
the tail. 
The under parts are of a pale fulvous white, changing into pale brownish yellow anteriorly, 
posteriorly, and on the inner faces of the limbs, the hairs being everywhere brown at the base, 
except on the last mentioned region. The top and sides of the head are grayish white and black, 
mixed, the latter predominating. The eyelids are white; the exterior surface of the ear is 
brownish yellow, as is the posterior border of the inner surface ; the remainder is dark brown. 
The tail is white and black, the former predominating and constituting rather a broad border 
all round ; there are three distinct rings of black, the outer and sub-terminal one broadest. In 
some specimens the white appears more or less soiled. 
Specimens collected at the Copper Mines by Mr. Clark, of the United States and Mexican 
Boundary Survey, are larger, (body 13 inches,) but in an imperfect pelage. In these there are a 
strong tinge of chestnut about the jaw and the edges of the feet. 
A specimen (No. 89) from “ the Columbia River, Oregon,” collected by Mr. J. K. Townsend, 
agrees with the above in every respect, and is probably referred to by Aud. & Bach, as the 
female Spermophilus douglassi, in which the hoary stripes are obsolete. The distinctions from 
S. douglassi and S. leecheyi are well marked, consisting in the much larger and heavier body, 
shorter tail, shorter inner toe, more curved nails, smooth soles, and general arrangement of 
