PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM by the SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM Vol.97 Washington: 1947 No. 3208 MAMMALS OF NORTHERN COLOMBIA PRELIMINARY REPORT NO. 1: SQUIRRELS (SCIURIDAE) By Philip Hershkovitz In this and succeeding accounts of the mammals collected by the author in northern Colombia during the first 2 years of his tenure of the Walter Rathbone Bacon Traveling Scholarship, those animals requiring special taxonomic treatment will be discussed. The final report on the collection will contain a complete and annotated list of the mammals, a full description of the region and the individual col-lecting stations, an account of the itinerary, and the general conclusions to be derived from a study of the classification, distribution, and ecology of the m.ammals of the region. Acknowledgment will be made to the institutions and the marly individuals who enabled the author to pre-pare these accounts. During the course of the field work special attention was given to the collecting of sciurids. Two species of squirrels were found, and it is almost certain that more do not occur in the region. The first species, the pigmy squirrel, genus Microsciurus, is represented by two specimens from the Rio San Pedro, near Norosi, Bolivar Department. These are here assigned to Microsciurus aljari Allen, the oldest available specific name for the genus. It is unlikely that valid specific differences exist between any of the described forms. The second species found is represented by 225 specimens. For this, the generally overlooked name of Sciurus granatensis Humboldt is ap-plicable. This highly variable species is shown to be the equivalent of most of (if not all) the "species" of the defunct "genus" Mesosciurus and liquidates the heretofore admitted genus, or subgenus, Noto-sciurus with its single species, rhoadsi. 1
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