228 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIJ^TY, Vol. XXIV. 



Mr. Miller has shown that some members of this group are truly 

 black, while others are only a deep chestnut brown. The form 

 inhabiting Tenasserim as far north as Moulmein is of the latter 

 colour, the British Miiseum possessing examples of it from Mergui, 

 and Thoungyah, near Kaukaryit. On the other hand the Popa 

 specimens are quite black, when in unbleached pelage, and in this 

 respect resemble celcenopei^la from Domel Island, Southern Mergui 

 Archipelago, but the occurrence of the brown 'pliaiO'pe'pla on the 

 mainland far north of Alergui indicates that the Popa form cannot 

 be the same as that of Domel. 



GallosciuTus eri/thraeus, Pall. 



Of the erythraeus group the Chindwin collection contains 63 speci- 

 mens, all obtained on the West bank, the species apparently not occur- 

 ing on the East bank of the river. There seem to be three subspecies 

 represented among them, of which two are new, and the third is the 

 same as an Assamese form which has been long known, but has not 

 hitherto had a special name. We commence by describing the latter. 



Oallosciurus erythraeus nagarum, subsp. n. 



Whole upper surface grizzled grey, the dorsal area more suffused 

 with buffj?-. Undersurface rich maroon red. Hands and feet like 

 back, darkening terminally to black. Tail grizzled like body for its 

 basal three-fourths, the hairs ringed white and pale bufF}^, the termi- 

 nal fourth gradually passing into deep black. 



Dimensions of the type, measured on the skin : — Head and bod}^ 

 (c) 230; tail, 235; hindfoot, 51. Skull :— 54-5. 



Habitat. — N. E. Assam, Manipur, and neighbouring parts of 

 Upper Burma. Type from Sadiya, Assam. 



Type.— Adult male. B. M. No. 85. 8. 1. 170. Collected April 

 1877. Presented by Allan 0. Hume, C. B. 



Distinguished by the simplicity of its coloration, without an}^ of 

 the special markings that are found in other forms of this variable 

 group. 



This subspecies is in part the " Scmriis rufiventer, Geoff. (.?)" of 

 Blyth's 1847 paper on Squirrels,* and the "summer pelage" of 

 Sciurus erythraeus erythrogaster of Bonhote.t It is, however, certain- 

 ly not the true rufiventer, which is American ; and with regard to 

 erythrogaster we are convinced that, as Thomas stated in 1886^ the 

 two pelages described by Bonhote as those of summer and winter 

 are really indicative of racial and not of seasonal difference. Bon- 

 hote's " winter pelage " is the true erythrogaster of Blj^th. 



Of this squirrel the Museum contains, besides the type and 



• J. A. S. B. XVI, p. .871. t Ann. Mas'. N. H. (7) vii, p. 163, 1901. 



X p. Z. S. 1886, p. 61. 



