SCIURID& 45i 



True Squirrels are found in most of the temperate and tropical 

 regions of the world, exclusive of Madagascar and the Australian 

 region. They are, however, most abundant in the Malayan part of 

 the Oriental region, and attain their largest size and most brilliant 

 coloration in the tropics. Their size is very variable, so that 

 whereas S. soricinus, of Borneo, is no larger than a Mouse, S. bicolor, 

 of the Malayan region, is nearly as large as a Cat. The common 



Pio. 200. Burmese Squirrel (Sclurus pygerythnis). After Anderson. 



English Squirrel (S. vulgaris) is found over the whole of the Palsearctic 

 region, reaching in one direction from Ireland to Japan, and in the 

 other from the north of Italy to Lapland ; its remains occur in the 

 Norfolk "Forest-bed." In the Malayan region "nearly all the 

 numerous species are brilliantly marked, and many are ornamented 

 with variously coloured longitudinal stripes along their bodies. One 

 of the commonest and best known of the striped species is the little 

 Indian Palm-Squirrel (S. palmarum), which in large numbers runs 

 about every Indian village. Another Oriental species (S. canicep*) 

 presents almost the only known instance among mammals of the 



