464 SQUIRRELS AND GROUND SQUIRRELS CHAP. 
postorbital processes. The infra-orbital foramen is, as a rule, not 
large, but is Increased in size in a few forms. The number of 
separate pieces of bone in the sternum is five. The molars of the 
upper jaw are five, but the first is very small and soon drops out. 
The Squirrels are often rather brilliantly coloured. The 
Chinese Sc. castaneiventris has grey fur with a rich chestnut- 
coloured under surface. The Malabar Squirrel, Sc. maximus, as 
its name implies, a large animal, has a deep reddish or chestnut- 
coloured fur above, which becomes yellow below. The “Common 
Squirrel,’ “the lytill squerell full of besynesse,’ which is the 
Squirrel of this country, is brownish red on the upper parts and 
white below. It ranges from this country as far east as Japan. 
Like many other Rodents the Squirrel likes animal food and will 
eat both eggs and young birds. “Camel’s hair” brushes are 
made from this animal. The genus 7Zamias, almost exclusively 
North American in range, is included by Dr. Forsyth Major ' 
in this genus, which then consists of considerably over one 
hundred species. 
The Ethiopian Ground Squirrels, genus Verws, have a more 
elongated skull than Sciwrus, and the postorbital processes are 
shorter. The feet are not hairy. 
Nannosciurus forms a perfectly distinct genus of Squirrels. 
These “ Pygmy Squirrels” differ in possessing a very elongated 
“face” and in the very broad frontal region. The teeth are 
unlike those of Sciwrws in certain features, and have been 
especially compared by Forsyth Major to those of the Dormice. 
Four species of this genus are Malayan; one is West African. 
The Bornean Rheithrosciurus macrotis 1s the only species of 
its genus. The genus may be distinguished by the exceedingly 
brachyodont molars, this feature being more marked in this genus 
than in all other Squirrels. It is called the “ Groove-toothed 
Squirrel,” from the “seven to ten minute parallel vertical grooves 
running down the front face of its incisors.” 
The genus Spermophilus includes a large number (forty or so) 
of Palaearctic and Nearctic animals known as Sousliks. The ears 
are small; there are cheek pouches as in Zamias. The general 
aspect of the animal is like that of a Marmot, and they bridge over 
the exceedingly narrow gap which separates the Marmots from 
the true Squirrels. Anatomically the skull is like that of 
1 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1893, p. 179. ” Flower and Lydekker. 
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