Dr. J. E. Gray’s Synopsis of African Squirrels. 328 
racem; prothorace antice rotundato, postice quadrato; 
aptera, pedibus compressis. 
Mas ignotus. 
Female.—Pale testaceous or dirty fawn- 
coloured, with a velvety down which looks fo 
whitish in different lights. Prothorax a large 
plate rounded in front, quadrate behind, ! 
covering the head, which is small and placed 
nearly in the middle of the underside, and fue. 
from it a raised rib runs obliquely to each of 
the anterior angles of the underside, and 
another straight backwards to the base, 
forming the foundation of the sides of the 
thorax, each side of which meets the other —yaqyn> © 
side in a ridge at the sternum, like the 
ridge of a house inverted. The head is withdrawn into the 
triangular tunnel thus formed; the eyes are black, sunken; 
the antenne short, thick, eleven-jointed; the palpi also very 
short, with the joints like cups within each other. There are 
no elytra, but on the middle of the back of the mesothoracic 
segment there are faint indications of a suture. The stigmata 
are very distinct on the underside; the legs are lamellate, and 
the tarsi short and thick. 
I have given the above description from two specimens which 
I received from the Rev. Mr. Waddell. He mentioned that the 
insect gave a strong continuous steady light for hours, which 
has suggested the name. The terminal segments show no signs 
of having been phosphorescent, being of the same texture as 
the rest of the surface. 
Mr. Waddell informs me that it is rare at Old Calabar. 
XLII.—Synopsis of the African Squirrels (Sciuride) in the 
Collection of the British Museum. By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., 
V.P.Z.S., Keeper of the Zoological Department. 
Tue British Museum contains a large collection of the Squirrels 
of various parts of Africa. The series contains the original type 
specimens of the species described by Kuhl from the Congo, 
Waterhouse from Fernando Po, Ogilby from the Gambia, Riip- 
pell from North and Eastern Africa. 
There are also three or four specimens purchased from M. du 
_ Chaillu ; but they can scarcely be regarded as the types of the 
species described in the ‘ Boston Journal of Natural History’ 
under his name*, as only two of them bear any names, viz. :— 
* The American zoologist who misled M. du Chaillu into believing that 
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