miller] seventy new MALAYAN MAMMALS 1 3 



SCIURUS ATRATUS sp. nov. 



Type. — Adult female (skin and skull), No. 121,524, United States 

 National Museum. Collected on North Pagi Island, Sumatra, No- 

 vember 22, 1902, by Dr. W. L. Abbott. Original number, 2087. 



Characters. — A large member of the Sciiirus vittatus group with 

 clear black tail, blackish brown upperparts, and blackish gray belly. 

 Lateral stripes nearly lost in the general darkening of the fur. 



Color. — Type : upperparts and outer surface of hind legs an ill- 

 defined grizzle of black and dull russet, the former everywhere much 

 in excess, but particularly so on middle of posterior half of back, 

 where the lighter color is scarcely noticeable except on close in- 

 spection. Outer surface of front legs black. Cheeks dull black. 

 Feet and ears blackish hair-brown. Tail clear black throughout, 

 the hairs with no indication of lighter bands except at extreme 

 base of tail, and even here very inconspicuously. Underparts and 

 inner surface of legs a mixture of black and smoke-gray, each 

 hair wholly of one color or the other. The gray is slightly in excess 

 on throat and front legs, the black on chin, chest, belly, and hind 

 legs. Black lateral stripe about 10 mm. broad. While it extends 

 from front leg to middle of thigh it is not noticeable at first sight, 

 on account of its slight contrast with the surrounding parts. Pale 

 lateral stripe dull russet, more reddish than that of Ridgway, about 

 10 mm. wide, but so ill defined and inconspicuous that it might 

 readily pass unobserved. Throughout the body the hairs are un- 

 usually glossy, and along median line from crown to middle of back 

 there is a faint sprinkling of entirely white hairs. 



Skull and teeth. — The skull and teeth closely resemble those of 

 Sciurus ieterieus, but the braincase is less highly arched and the 

 nasals are broader in proportion to their length. 



Measurements. — Measurements of type : total length, 395 ; head 

 and body, 230; tail vertebrae, 165 ; hind foot, 49 (46) ; skull, greatest 

 length, 54 ; basal length, 46 ; zygomatic breadth, 32 ; least interorbital 

 breadth, 18; mandible, 35; maxillary toothrow (alveoli), 10. 



Specimens examined. — Twenty-one, from the following localities : 

 North Pagi Island, 8; South Pagi Island, 13. 



Remarks. — While the characters as a whole are very constant 

 there are certain rather considerable variations. In most of the 

 skins the gray hairs are in excess of the black on entire ventral sur- 

 face, but in one (No. 121,613) the opposite is conspicuously the case. 

 The whitish hairs on the dorsal surface are sometimes concentrated 

 on head and neck so as to give this region a noticeably grayish cast. 



