THE GIANT SQUIRRELS OF INDIA, BURMA & OEYLON. 889 



the tail, insteud of being concolorons with the back, is black through- 

 out, except for a pale tip. 



Skull. — Quite as in true indica. 



Dimensions, — As in true indica. 



Distribution. — Ratiifa indica seems to be peculiarly sensitive to the 

 action of environment. Almost each Forest seems to harbour its own 

 variety, but, in any locality, the prevailing variety seems to be extra- 

 ordinarily constant in its characters. Blanford gives as the distribu- 

 tion of the present race " Western Bengal, Orissa, Chutia Nagpur, and 

 the Northern Circars, * * * ^ Jaipur and the neighbourhood of 

 the Godaveri." K couple of specimens sent by Mr. Caccia, I. F. S., 

 from Hoshangabad certainly are more like Mysore specimens than 

 hengaleasis. I would venture to prophesy that when sufficient material 

 is available the habitat of bengalensis will be found to coincide closely 

 with th« South side of the Ganges Basin ; that a new name will have 

 to be found for the race inhabiting the central portion of India. 



7. Ralafa indica ma,vima, Schreb. 



1784. .Sciurus luaximns, fSchreber. Saugth. IV. p. 784, pi. 

 <;cxvii, B. 



1786. JSciurns malabarmis, Scopoli, Del. Faun. Flor. Ins. 

 H.. p. 85. 



Colour. — Colour (including that of tail) as in bengalensis^ but the 

 shoulders, rump and thighs, black (in some specimens ; the black of 

 the shoulders and rump joined by a medial black line, so that, in 

 extreme cases, only the flanks remain ' bay ' ). 



Skull. — As in indica, in all essential characters, slightly larger in 

 size. 



Dimensions. — Rather larger than indica. Hindfoot, 80. Skull : 

 greatest length, 77; basilar length, 60; zygomatic breadth, 49 ; nasals, 

 i^ ; diastema, 16.5 ; braincase breadth, 33 ; interorbital breadth, 

 30 ; upper molar series, 1 5. 



Synonymy.— EhLiiionl adopts (B. N. H. S. Jour. 1897, p. 302), the 

 later name malabarica which of course is inadmissible. 



Distribution. — The main habitiit of this race is the Malabar Coast. 

 How far it extends southwards towards Cape Comorin remains to 

 be decided. It is stated that in the extreme south of the Peninsula 

 the giant sipiirreN ;iro represented by ti. macroura tennentii, but 



