MAMMALS OK BORN'KO. 33 



TUPAIA MELANURA. 



TiLpaia mclanura^ Thomas, Ann. Mag., N. H. (6), ix., p. 251. 



Size very small, less than in Tupaia minor. Fur very soft, 

 close, and velvety. General colour dark olivaceous grey, finely 

 sprinkled with yellow, a slight suffusion of dark rufous on the 

 rump and base of tail. Face rather clearer olive ; a short 

 orange-coloured stripe above and below the eye, but not passing 

 backwards towards the ear. No pale shoulder stripe present. 

 Belly-hairs giey basally, washed terminally, from chin to anus, 

 with bright orange. Outer sides of limbs like back, inner sides 

 like belly ; upper surfaces of hands and feet nearly black. Tail 

 furred and coloured like body for about its basal inch and a half 

 above and half inch below, but beyond that it differs from that 

 of all other species by being quite cylindrical and short-haired, 

 the hairs being closely adpressed and not forming a terminal 

 pencil ; in colour the short-haired part is deep jet-black through- 

 out. Skull (Plate xix., figs. 4 and 5,) delicate, smooth, and 

 evenly rounded. Zygomatic foramen reduced to a minute 

 oval opening, which will scarcely admit the point of a needle. 

 Palate without vacuities. 



Dimensions (approximate, from skin) — Head and body, 

 125 millim ; tail, 136 ; hind foot, 27'9 ; skull, basal length, 30 ; 

 greatest length, 36 ; greatest breadth, 177 ; nasal length, 13 ; 

 interorbital breadth, 10 ; intertemporal breadth, 14 ; palate 

 length, 1 8-2 ; breadth outside m2 g-6 ; inside, 1^ 5-4. 



Mr. Thomas writes in the P.Z.S., 1892, No. xvi., p. 225 : 



— " This beautiful little species is the most interesting of the 

 Tiipaice obtained, as it forms a connecting link with the two 

 species belonging to the genus Dcndrogalc. That genus was 

 founded by Dr. Gray and recognised by Dr. Anderson in his 

 recent review of the Tiipaudcc^ mainly on account ot its 

 cylindrical tail, black and white banded cheeks, and the absence 

 of the usual shoulder stripe. Now Tupaia inclaniira on the 

 one hand has a tail even slenderer and more cylindrical than 

 Dendrogale inurina and Dcndrogalc frcnata^ and has no 

 shoulder-stripe, while on the other its face-markings are quite as 

 in Tupaia. One character, however, distinguishes Dendrogale.^ 

 or at least Dcndrogalc frcnata^ from all the Tupaia^ namely the 

 extremely small size of the claws, both fore and hind ; and so far 

 as this character is concerned, Ttpaia mclanura is a true Tupaia., 

 as it has claws quite as large in proportion as the other species. 

 For the present therefore I consider it to be a Tupaia., and leave 

 the validity of Dcndrogalc as an open question to be settled 

 when further, and especially spirit, specimens are obtained." 



The type of this pretty little tree shrew was obtamed by 

 me on the top of Mount Dulit at 5000-ft., living amongst the 



