in the Collection of the British Museum. 325 
getulus, and Sc. flavivittatus (which he misnames S. flavivittis) 
with the earless ground-squirrels called Xerus by Ehrenberg, 
though they all have well-developed ears, soft fur, and are as 
arboreal in their habits as the squirrels of Europe. 
Compiling zoologists, who only have the descriptions of other 
authors to work from, are apt to make such mistakes and refer a 
species to the wrong group, or to combine very different species 
as synonyms; but it is surprising that M. Temminck, with the 
specimens before him, should have done so. 
I believe, as well as I can make out the very general descrip- 
tions he gives of the species, that some of those which he has 
described as new are the species which were described with more 
detail by Dr. Smith and Mr. Ogilby, which he failed to recog- 
nize; he has thus encumbered the list with “ doubles emplois,”’ 
which he so constantly accuses his contemporaries of doing. 
Some of the African Squirrels are distributed over the whole: 
of Africa. Thus we have Sc. annulatus from the north to the 
south and from the west to the east of that continent ; and it is 
the same with other species. 
The young specimens are coloured like the adult. 
The African Squirrels, especially those found in the tropical re- 
gions, have the fur much brighter and more vivid at some seasons 
of the year than at others, and the fur of the males is generally 
brighter than that of the females; but there is little fear of 
these being mistaken for specific differences, except by such 
-zoologists as are in the habit of describing allied species from 
single specimens and on very slight characters. 
I. Cheek-pouches none ; body covered with soft fur consisting of 
elongated more or less rigid hairs and a soft under-fur. Ears 
ovate, well developed. Arboreal. Tree-Squirrels. 
2. ScruRvs. 
Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1867, xx. p. 271. 
* Fur one-coloured ; tail annulated. 
1. Seiurus minutus, Du Chaillu, Boston Journ. 1860, vii. p. 366; 
Travels, p. 453, t. 
Size of a small mouse. Fur soft, olive-grey, yellow-washed ; 
hairs mouse-coloured, with yellow tips: chin, throat, and under- 
side pale yellow-grey: tail like back, but obscurely black- 
ringed; hairs yellow, with subterminal black band and yellowish 
tip. Ears rounded, covered with soft hair forming a tuft and 
fringe. 
Hab. West Africa (Du Chaillu). Type in B.M. 
