133 



BOMBAY SQUIRREL. 



Sciurus Indicus. 5. eauda hngitudine corpora apice awantia. 



Lin, Syst. Nat. Gmel. p. 149. 

 Purple-brown Squirrel, yellow beneath, with the tip of the tail 



orange-coloured. 

 Bombay Squirrel. Pennant Quadr. 2. p. 143. 



THIS species appears to have been first de- 

 scribed by Mr. Pennant, from a specimen pre- 

 served in the Museum of Dr. William Hunter. 

 Its length is sixteen inches to the tail, which 

 measures seventeen inches. The head, back, 

 sides, upper parts of the legs and thighs, together 

 with the tail, are of a dull purple ; the lower part 

 of the legs and thighs and the belly yellow; the 

 end of the tail orange-coloured : the ears are 

 tutted. It is a native of India, and is found 

 about Bombay ; but, according to Mr. Pennant, 

 extends to Belisere, the opposite part of the pen- 

 insula of Hindostan. The species described and 

 figured in the 7th supplemental volume of the 

 Count de Button's Natural History, under the 

 name of Le Grand Ecureuil de la cote de Malabar, 

 is suspected by Mr. Pennant to be no other than 

 a variety of the above. Should this be the case, 

 it follows that the Bombay Squirrel is in reality 

 the same with the Great Squirrel (Sciurus Max- 

 imus) first described. 



