140 DR. J.ANDERSON ON NEW SQUIRRELS. [Feb. 7, 



Upper Burmah ; and the Calcutta Museum has received two from the 

 same district, where they were shot by Captain Williams. These 

 six specimens are alike in all their details of colouring. 



Belly-banded Squirrels. 



SCIURUS GORDONI, n. Sp. 



Upper surface and a narrow line from between the fore limbs, 

 along the middle of the body, grizzled olive-grey, the upper surface 

 with a more or less rufous tint ; annulations fine. Fur of moderate 

 length. Chin and sides of the throat paler grizzled than the back ; 

 the lower part of the throat, the chest, belly, and inside of the 

 limbs either rich chestnut or pale reddish yellow. Ears feebly 

 pencilled. Tail as long as the body and neck, concolorous with the 

 back, and more or less interruptedly ringed with rufous and black, 

 the rings most distinct on the latter fourth. 



A more or less marked apical tuft tipped with rufous. 



Length from root of tail to snout 9'026, tail 7 inches. 



Skull : from anterior margin of occipital foramen to base of inci- 

 sors 1*053 ; interval between molars and incisors 0'048 ; distance be- 

 tween (transverse) front molars 0-025 ; breadth between orbits 0*067. 



This Squirrel occurs among the rather dense vegetation within the 

 stockade at Bhamd. I obtained only two specimens ; and, as the 

 above description indicates, the colour of the lower parts is the subject 

 of considerable variation, it being light reddish yellow in one and 

 rich chestnut in the other. In the former the grizzled line along the 

 centre of the belly is much darker than in the latter, in which it is 

 concolorous with the back. The one with the brightly coloured 

 ventral surface is a female with enlarged teats, indicating that she 

 recently had, or was with young at the time of her death in the 

 month of February. The pale variety was procured in September. 

 They are both adults ; and it is probable that the difference in their 

 hues is to be ascribed to seasonal changes dependent on sexual 

 causes. Raffles, in writing of S. affinis (S. bico/o?-), states that it 

 appears to vary considerably at different seasons, and suggests that 

 these may coincide with the rutting-time. He describes it as 

 changing to a light brown and even to a dusky yellow ; and it is 

 interesting to observe that, as in S. gordoni, Raffles's most intensely 

 coloured individuals of <S. bicolor were procured in February, and the 

 lighter ones five months afterwards. Against these facts, however, 

 Raffles mentions that a specimen he had in his possession for ten 

 months did not change colour. Much importance, however, cannot 

 be attached to observations of the latter kind, because it is impossible 

 to say what may not be the influence which confinement exercises on 

 these animals, more especially on the activity of their generative 

 organs. The intimate connexion that exists between the sexual 

 organs in certain animals and changes in the colours of their integu- 

 mentary appendages is an undoubted fact ; and it is equally certain 

 that in the majority of feral animals they lie more or less dormant 

 in confinement, so that the class of facts analogous to that just 

 quoted from Raffles will throw iittle or no light on this interesting 



