to my own satisfaction the presence of "heavier" and bushier tail and softer pelage. The characters considered to be diagnostic of S. a. frumentor are distributed in an interesting geographic pattern the genetic import of which is not wholly clear. One specimen (No. 23945 KU) of the two available from 3 km. SW San Marcos, Veracruz, a locality on the coast approximately 50 miles north of Las Vigas, is indistinguishable from topotypes of S. a. frumentor except for slightly lighter-colored grizzled parts. The second specimen (No. 23946 KU) from the same locality, although a subadult in worn pelage, shows the color and striking dorsal pattern of S. a. frumentor and the ventral color of S. a. aureogaster. The dorsal pattern of S. a. frumentor is found also in the three specimens from San Carlos and Plan del Río, Veracruz (Nos. 11082, 11083 and 8278), Chicago Nat. Hist. Mus., respectively. (The two specimens from San Carlos were referred to S. a. frumentor by Elliot, Field Columb. Mus., Zool. Ser., vol. 8, Publ. no. 115:128, February 9, 1907.) Nevertheless, although the essential morphological characters of S. a. frumentor occur sporadically in other populations, the animals from the higher elevations above Jico and Las Vigas are notably homogeneous, differ collectively from surrounding populations, and occupy a logical geographic range. Therefore S. a. frumentor is retained as a tenable subspecies, and the animals from the vicinity of San Marcos, and from San Carlos and Plan del Río are referred to S. a. aureogaster. Incidentally, Nelson (op. cit.:45) remarks that he saw no melanistic specimens of S. a. frumentor. This is not strange because melanistic specimens could not be identified anyway.

Fig. 1. Geographic distribution of Sciurus aureogaster.
1. Sciurus aureogaster aureogaster.       2. Sciurus aureogaster frumentor.

The names, absolute synonyms, and geographic ranges of the two subspecies of Sciurus aureogaster here recognized are as follows: