8 MAMMALIA. 



Vdf. B. — gtganteus. 



SciuruS giganteus, McClelland P. Z. S., p. 150 (1839); Anderson Anat. 



Zool. Res., p. 220 ; Jentink Notes Leyd. Mus., v, p. 107. 

 Sciurus bicolor, Wagner Schreber Sixiigeth. SuppL, iii, p. 191 (1843); 



Blyth jf. A. S. B., xvi, p. 870 ; id. ibid., xxiv, p. 472; id. ibid., xxxi, 



p. 334 ; Blyth Cat., p. 99, no. 309. [pt.] 

 Sciurus macruroides, /foc^fsoM J.A.S.B., x, p. 915 (1841); Horsfield P.Z.S., 



1856, p. 402; Jerdon Mamm., p. 168; Blyth J. A. S. B., xliv, Burma 



List, p. 35. 



The Black Hill Squirrel ; Bhotea, Shingsham ; Lepcha, Le- 

 hyuk ; Arakan, Leng-thet ; Burmese, Sheng. 



Distribution. — The typical variety is found in Lower Burma, all 

 through Tenasserim and the Malayan peninsula, and in the islands 

 of Sumatra, Java and Borneo. 



The variety giganteus is found in the Himalayas from Nepal 

 eastward to Assam, the hills between Assam and Burma and 

 Upper Burma. 



This species varies in colour to a large extent, a fact which has 

 been the cause of the long list of synonyms above recorded ; in the 

 list of specimens below, " a " to " 1 " inclusive are specimens of the 

 typical black and yellow variety, in which the black extends down 

 the outside of the legs and the toes are black, the ears are untufted 

 and there is a cheek and chin spot. 



The specimens " m " to " q " only differ in having the back of 

 a decidedly more rufous tinge. 



The specimens " s " to " z " differ in having the feet light- 

 coloured, not black as in the typical form ; the back varies from 

 a light rufous to the same yellow as the ventral surface ; this is 

 the variety separated by Jentink under the name of Sciurus 

 albiceps. 



The specimen " r " is again curiously intermediate : from the 

 crown of the head to the root of the tail it is a bright grizzled yel- 

 low, each hair being brown, with a bright yellow tip ; the head, 

 cheeks and throat are whitish, the end of the nose and chin alone 

 being dark ; the tail and feet are almost as dark as in the typical 

 black and yellow variety. 



The two specimens from Borneo "z" and "2?" are somewhat 

 different again, being very dark grizzled above, but with yellowish 

 not blackish feet. 



It seems impossible therefore at present to separate into even 

 geographical races this very varying species, except in the case of 

 the large squirrel of the Eastern Himalayas and Assam, which forms 

 a well-marked geographical race of Sciurus bicolor. It was first 

 described by McClelland as a distinct species (S. giganteus) in 

 his paper on the Mammals of Assam. 



This race is at once distinguished from the true S. bicolor by 

 its tufted ears ; it also seems to be very constant in colour, and 

 never varies as S. bicolor does. 



