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Show 1890.] MR. O.THOMAS ON MAMMALS FROM VERA CRUZ. 73 8. NASUA NASICA, L. 6 and 4 $ . 10 & 11/88. R. Juan Martin, Misantla, 2600 feet. 5 2 . 10 & 11/88. Hacienda de Tortugas, Jalapa. 3600 feet. 2. 8/88. Huatusco. " Tejon manado, Tejon solo, and Tejon suelto." Eyes dark bluish grey. Lives on maize. 9. SCIURUS NIGER MELANONOTUS1, var. nov. (Plate VI.) S and 2 $ . 7 & 9/88. Las Vigas, Jalapa. " Ardilla de Pinal." Eyes dark grey. Most nearly allied to S. niger cinereus, but distinguished by the presence of a broad stripe of black running down the centre of the back from the neck to the rump. Size as in var. ludovicianus. General colour above clear grizzled grey, without any fringe of rufous or fulvous. Face similar but darker ; crown of head between the ears black. A well-defined ring round the eye bright pale yellow. Ears grey on both surfaces, a prominent pale-yellowish patch on the side of the neck behind each one. Nape and back of neck grey, the centre rather darker, and deepening backwards into the characteristic dorsal stripe, along which the hairs are deep shining black at their tips, while the underfur is dark smoky grey, the whole stripe therefore contrasting very markedly with the clear grey of the sides. Sometimes, however, the stripe is itself grizzled, owing to the hairs of the underfur being ringed with pale yellow. Whole of under surface from chin to anus, and inside of limbs, bright salmon-colour, the hairs of this tint to their roots, and sharply contrasted with the grey of the neck and flanks. Upper surfaces of hands and feet also yellowish, but the hairs slate-coloured at their bases. Tail long and full, without any tinge of fulvous; the hairs, which are upwards of two inches in length, with their basal half dirty white interrupted by one or two narrow black rings, and their terminal half deep black to within half an inch of the tip, where they are pure white. This coloration of the tail-hairs is essentially the same as is found in S. niger typicus and S. niger cinereus. Skull and teeth as in S. cinereus; premolars of course only 1 in number. 1 In connection with this species I may take the opportunity of correcting an error of identification committed by m e in 1882, in a paper on some mammals from Durango (P. Z. S. 1882, p. 372). Two Squirrels from Ciudad are there referred to as belonging to S. griseoflavus, Or.; but a renewed examination proves that they are really examples of S. niger ludovicianus, Cust., for which that locality is the most southern on record. This correction is of all the more importance as doubt has been thrown on the occurrence of S. niger in Mexico at all (Alston, Biol. Cent.-Amer., M a m m . p. 124), and it also renders more marked the striking difference between the faunas of Ciudad and Ventanas, the two villages at which Mr. Forrer's Durango specimens were obtained. The former is, in fact, proved more decisively than ever to be Nearctic, and the latter Neotropical, although the two are within quite a short distance of one another. |