218 Mammals of Eastern Asia 
The tail is dark brown, with a long white tip to each hair, the 
entire tail being transversely banded with brownish and whitish. 
The proportion of brown to white in the dorsal body hairs is 
variable ; greatly worn specimens are dark, while those in fresh 
coats are nearly white. This is a strictly arboreal Squirrel that 
lives in the tops of the highest trees in the forest. 
Rata fa m. melanopepla of lower Siam has untufted ears, the 
upper surface blackish, the underparts tawny yellow. No black 
stripe appears on the face behind the whiskers. The length of the 
head and body is 14% inches, tail \7y± inches, hind foot 3 x /2 
inches. In R. b. smithi from Langbian Mountains, southern 
Annam, the back is buffy, the tail hairs black, tipped with rusty 
brown, and the yellow of the limbs sharply margined. The feet 
and hands are black. 
The Hip-marked Giant Squirrels, Ratufa affinis, are mark- 
edly smaller than either macrura or bicolor, the length of head 
and body only 14 inches or less. The general color of the body 
is pale, never black. The tail is bicolored, and there are pale 
marks on the thighs. This Squirrel was first recorded from 
Singapore. It is represented northward to Siam, and there are 
many island races. The mainland forms of R. affinis are auri- 
venter of Malacca, Johore (Ellerman), interposita of Selangor, 
frontalis of Perak, and pyrsonota of Trang, lower Siam. 
Ratufa affinis pyrsonota from Siam is light grayish brown 
on the head, body, limbs, and tail, with the hands and feet 
brownish black. The underparts are clear orange-brown except 
the chin. The chin, cheeks, and sides of the head are clad with 
short white hairs; the sides of the nose in front of the whiskers 
are also white, and a large irregular whitish area appears on 
each thigh. The underside of the tail has extremely short hairs, 
leaving exposed to view the pale buff-colored bases of the long 
brown lateral hairs. The tip of the tail is brownish gray. 
Ratufa affinis affinis of Singapore varies from drab to gray- 
brown above. Its other coloring is much as in R. a. pyrsonota, 
