tao MR. C. BODEN KLOSS ON 



vecognisetl by zoologists, tlie first reviser has the rii^ht to designat? the 

 type of a species t'roin the original material, if such has not been done 

 by the autlior of the species. 



" Sciurug finlai/xoni j^ortas therefore becomes a pni-e synonym 

 of Calloseiurns Jhilct/soni jinlai/so>i i ( Raffles;."' 



As this is a good instance ot the questions tliat crop np regarding 

 ziolocfical nomenclature owing to the lack ot ])recision ot tiie older 

 authors, I propose to deal with it in some detail. On p. 157 of the 

 first volume of this journal I wrote : — 



" Koh Si Cliang has been regarded of late as the tj-pe locality of 

 Sdarus finlaysoni, but in looking tlirough the iiistoiy of tliat name it 

 becomes evident that this is a mistaken view, and that it applies to the 

 white squirrel of tlia Siamese maiidand. 



" Sciurus Jlnlai/foni was described by Horsfield in 1824 {Zoohijical 

 Researthes in Java), from specimens collected by Dr. George Finlayson, 

 the naturalist who accompanied Crawford in his mission to Siam and 

 Cambodii. It is evidei\t tliat Horsfield, when erecting the species, had 

 in mind the mainland animal, for he says that it is Bufioii's " Ecuriel 

 blanc de Siam" which was seen at Lonp^en, a village situated in the 

 extensive forests of Siam, by P. Tachard in his travels. The account 

 of tlie species closes with an extract from Finlayson's manuscript, 

 describing the white squirrel which ends "one of the specimens was 

 shot by Lieut. Rutherford on the Islantls called Sichang in the Gulf of 

 Siam." It is once more obvious that Finlayson, too, was dealing with 

 the mainland animal, and that this reference to the island example was 

 merely a detail as to extent of range. 



" Further, Horsfield, in the CaialcKjne oj tlie Mammalia in the 

 Museum of the Fast India Oompamj, IS.Jl, again gives tlie locality of h 

 snocAwi&n o( S. finlai/soni as Siam. while Anderson who personally 

 studied all the types of what he regarired as varieties of Sciurns 

 ferruqincHS states (Zooloijiral Research in Yunnan, ]>. 244) that " the 

 type of S. finlaysoni was obtained in Siam by Dr. Finlayson and an- 

 other was procured b3- the same traveller in fcicrliang Id.'" " 



My contention was that Horsfi^-ld was dealing with the animal 

 of the mainland, for lie gave as a synonym Button's " Ecuriel blanc de 

 Siam" an 1 .'(ays early in his account that the species had hitiierto been 

 mentioned by Huffon alone who knew of it from the interior of Siam. 



It is evident, from his M. S. that Finlayson collected more than 

 one specimen of white squirrel, only one of which came from Koh Si 

 Chan" however, and we now know that a white form does not occur on 

 any otiier island of the Inner Gulf; so since Koii Si Chang is placed in 

 oni)5>iti )ii to some other jilace the rest of his material must have como 

 from tlie, continent. It appears to me quite clear from his references to 

 Huifju that it was thi.s latter material tliat Horslield had in view when 

 flesci-il)iiig tho species, so that th'- mainland, mentioned first by liim, 

 must be regarded as the locality. In fact ho is jirecisc, he says in 

 pff^ct : — Sciurus liiilai/>!i)iii is Hutfin's " I'lcuriel blanc de Siam.' 



JolUN. NAT. msr. .■<()(•. .SIAM. 



