African Bats and Rodents. 295 



T/ie Giant Squirrels of JVestern Africa, 



The following is a rougli key to the diirerent forms o( 

 African giant squirrel : — 



A. Fore limbs red above, as well as hind. .Skull 

 with very long muzzle, narrow slit-like 

 anteorbital foramina, and small bulhe. 



n. Crown red. (Gold Coast.) Funisciiirus Ehii, Temni. 



b. Crown frrcy, like fore-back. (Gaboon and 



French Congo.) F. Wllsoni, l)u Ch. 



J?. Fore limbs not red above. Skull with short 

 muzzle, large rounded anteorbital foramina, 

 and large bull;©. 

 a. General colour above yellow or straw- 

 colour ; hind feet yellow. 

 d^. Crown hoary grey. (Fernando Po and 



Gaboon.) <S'c7'«r(('{-S')'^(H/7^/7',\Vaterh. 



(Syn. 6'. Nonlhojfi, l)u Ch.) 

 fc^. Crown yellow, like back. (N.Angola.). S. S. loundcejUnhs'^. n. 

 h. General colour usually blackish, speckled 

 with yellow or fulvous; hind feet red. 

 a}. Sides of neck below ears white; a white 

 line edging the belly. 

 a^. Ticking of dorsal hairs fulvous. 

 Inner side of forearms whitish. 



(Gold Coast.) S. S. Tcmminckii, And. 



fc'. Ticking of dorsal hairs yellowish. 

 Inner side of forearms rufous. 



(Lower Niger.) S. S. niyerlcs, subsp. n. 



//■*. Sides of neck below ears greyish brown ; 



line along sides of belly hoary grey. 



rt'. Size larger ; yellowish sult'asion of 



back not extending on to crown. 



(Cameroons, Gaboon, and French 



Congo.) S. S. eborironis, Du Ch. 



{Syn. S. calliurus, Pet.) 

 b^. Size smaller ; yellowish suffusion of 

 back extending on to crown. 

 (Uganda.) S. S. centn'cola, subsp. n. 



I can find no reason to distinguish Du Chaillu^s S. Nord- 

 ho-ffi (tyi)e B.M. no. 67. 9. 5. 1) from the insular S. Stangeri, 

 though the form occurring further south in Angola seems 

 separable. But with regard to Peters's >S'. calliurus, it is to 

 be noted that two specimens from the Como River differ from 

 the series from the Benito by the larger size oJ their ante- 

 orbital foramina, which may indicate that the more northern 

 of the two should be separated from the southern ; Peters''s 

 name would then apparently apply to the former. 



With regard to the placing of all these six true Sciuri as 

 geographical forms or subspecies of one species, the links 



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