1871] DR. J. ANDERSON ON NEW SQUIRRELS. 141 



inquiry. In connexion with this subject it should also be borne in 

 mind that the coloration of the young of some species of Squirrel is 

 very different from that of their parents, so that we must first elimi- 

 nate all the changes which are due to this cause before we can 

 determine to what extent the variations of colour in this obscure 

 group are influenced by the rutting-period or in any way affected by 

 it. If we are ever to arrive at a correct understanding of the causes 

 which produce the periodic variations of colour which we cannot but 

 allow do occur among the most puzzling group of rodents, it will be 

 only by painstaking observation of the species in their native forests 

 and by the accurate recording of the phenomena as they appear. I 

 would appeal to all naturalists in India, Burmah, and the Malayan 

 peninsula, who have the opportunity, to give this neglected group a 

 little of their attentiou ; and I would suggest that the first step should 

 be to ascertain how many well-marked species occur in a district, 

 and second to observe if the sexes are alike in colour, and to note 

 the changes, if any, to which they are subject, verifying each bv a 

 series of specimens of both sexes shot throughout the year. It seems 

 very probable that as our knowledge of this group advances, the 

 present number of Southern Asiatic forms will be greatly reduced. 



S. gordoni belongs to what appears to be a distinct group of 

 Squirrels, distinguished from the rest of the genus by grizzled or 

 plain lineation of different colours of the ventral aspect. Blyth's 

 species, S. griseopectus, was the first which showed this peculiarity 

 of ventral lineation. He describes it as having " the throat and 

 breast, and the median line of the belly, of a deep grizzled ash-colour, 

 without a tinge of rufous, and much of the same hue as the crown 

 and exterior of the limbs and feet." The locality of this Squirrel 

 was unknown to him ; but there are two specimens in the British 

 Museum from China correctly referred to it by Dr. Gray, who, how- 

 ever, in his Synopsis of the Asiastic Squirrels, makes no reference to 

 the mesial lineation of the belly, which is well marked in the speci- 

 mens from which his description is taken. 



The Squirrel which I have next to describe has no less than five 

 distinct stripes along the belly ; and it is probable that future research 

 will not furnish a more intensely ventrally lineated form than it, 

 although it is likely that the gap that exists between S. griseopectus 

 and S. gordoni and this five-lined form, 5. quinquestriatus, will be 

 filled up by species having three and four ventral lines. 



The lineated grizzled Squirrels of Southern and Eastern Asia may 

 now be referred to three distinct groups, — the first, the dorsally line- 

 ated forms, illustrated by such species as S.palmarum, S. berdmorii, S. 

 penicillatus, S. sublineatus, S. layardii, S. macclellandi, and S. insig- 

 nis; the second, the laterally lineated Squirrels, including S. rafflesii, 

 S. sarawakensis, S. rufogularis, S. rufoniger, S. atricapillus, S. vit- 

 tutus, S. nigrovittatus, and S. plantani ; and the third, the ventrally 

 lineated forms, S. griseopectus, S. gordoni, and S. quinquestriatus. 



The dorsally lineated Squirrels through S. macclellandi are con- 

 nected with the aberrant form, S. melanotis, which is characterized 

 by the banding of the sides of the head. 



