in the Collection of the British Museum. 333 
b. Back grizzled, with a white streak along each side from the 
shoulder to the upper part of the thigh ; with flat channelled 
spines and black cylindrical tapering bristles. Geosciurus. 
2. Xerus setosus. 
Sciurus dschinschicus, var., Desm. 
Se. albovittatus, Fischer. 
Sc. setosus, Forster. 
Se. capensis, Thunb. 
Macrozus albovittatus, Lesson. 
Se. namaquensis, Lecht. 
Se. erythropus, Schinz. 
Sc. albovittatus, Desm. 
Se. leucoumbrinus, Riipp. Atlas. 
Geosciurus capensis, A. Smith. 
Sc. pretextus, Wagner. 
Xerus erythropus, Temm. Esq. 124. 
Fur grey-brown, yellow-and-black-punctulated ; orbits, nose, 
chin, underside of the body, and streak on sides of the body 
white; tail white, with two black bands. 
Hab. West Africa, Senegal (Rendal): B.M. Last Africa, 
Abyssinia (Riippell’s type of Sc. leucoumbrinus, B.M.). North . 
Africa, Egypt. South Africa (Andrew Smith): B.M. 
Var. Darker, back punctulated with reddish yellow and black. 
Hab. West Africa (Whitfield). B.M. 
Prof. Sundevall (in K. Vet. A. Hand. 1842, p. 216) considers 
Sciurus leucoumbrinus, Riippell, of North-east Africa and Arabia 
distinct from Sc. setosus of South Africa; the latter has the 
“ears smaller, scarcely prominent, the hairs longer, thinner, and 
with along very fine tip; the hairs of the tail are black-brown at 
the base, then white, with a black band and white tip; the 
teeth are white in front. In size and every other particular they 
are similar; but he says the skulls are very different, that of 
Se. setosus being the broadest, with the zygomatic arch more 
curved, the nose short, blunt, and linear, not conical and sub- 
acute.” 
The form of the ear in the stuffed specimens depends greatly 
on the animal-preserver, and the length of the tips of the hair 
on the state of the specimen. 
‘The two species may be distinct ; but I am inclined to regard 
the characters given as only individual peculiarities, though my 
idea may prove incorrect when a large series from each country 
can be compared ; skulls, however, are as apt to vary as other 
parts of the animal, and are only to be depended on when a 
series can be examined and compared. 
