SCIURUS aiGANTEUS. iOl 



Back, outside of upper half of fore legs, outside of 

 hindlegs , tail , the large tufts of ears and a large rhom- 

 boidal spot between the eyes of a beautiful maroon-red to 

 blackish purple. Sometimes , as our N'' 3 shows , the tail , 

 the upperparts of legs and a line on the back are entirely 

 deep-black colored (Sciurus maximus (Gmelin) Anderson). 

 Very characteristic to this species is the narrow maroon 

 line from the anterior angle of the ear downwards to the 

 side of the neck. The remaining parts yellowish white to 

 yellowish orange. It is distinguished from the Ceylon- 

 species by its purplish color, the long tufts of the ears, 

 the uniformly colored hairs of the tail and the never black 

 toes. 



There is a single upper premolar, meanwhile the Cey- 

 lon-species has two. 



The skeleton presents 13 costales , 6 lumbares, 3 sa- 

 efales and 32 caudales (Cuvier). 



Hab. Western Ghats, easterly as far as Midnapur and 

 Kuttack (Anderson, 1. c. p. 223): Tarai-region of the Hi- 

 malaya (Hodgson. P. Z. S. L. 1855. p. 126). 



Mounted specimens in the Leyden Museum: 

 1. Adult female, Coast of Malabar, Mahrattas. Labeled 

 Sciurus elphinstonii Sykes. Tail for its greatest part colo- 

 red yellowish white, like the underparts of the body. — 

 2. Adult male. Coast of Malabar, Prevost. — 3. Adult 

 female , Coast of Malabar , bought at London. — 4. Young 

 specimen, India, Frank, 1880. Received s. n. Sciurus 

 purpureus. This very young individual shows exactly the 

 same distribution of colors as the adult ones. The inci- 

 sors are pure white. 



5. Skeleton of N^. 3. 



6. Skull of N^ 1. — 7. Skull of N«. 2. 



Sciurus giganteus. 

 1839. Sciurus giganteus McClelland. P. Z. S. L. p. 150. 



Notes from the Leyden ]Museum, Vol. V. 



