1012 



ORIENTAL FLYING SQUIRRELS OF THE 

 " PTEROMYS" GROUP. 



BY 



R. C. Wroughton. 



Excluding the peculiar trans-Himalayan genus Eupetaurus 

 Blanford arranges the Indian Flying Squirrels in two genera, 

 viz : — Pteromys and Sciuroptefus. With the latter Mr. Thomas has 

 dealt comparatively recently (A.M.N.H., 1908, p. 1), dividing up 

 the group into 6 genera and 3 sub-genera, and it is with the former 

 only that I propose to concern myself. 



The name Petauristcfh&s now been generally accepted in place 

 of Pteromys as being some years older. Quite recently Dr. 

 Stebbing has pointed out that ' petaurista ' meaning a 'rope- 

 dancer ' is masculine. 



Thanks to the generosity of the Duke of Bedford, and explora- 

 tion of the Mammal Fauna of China is now going on, and no 

 doubt new material in this group will shortly be available, and I 

 have therefore, under the circumstances, excluded from my review 

 all the species of China, Formosa, &c. Finally, as the "Petaurista" 

 group, south of Tenasserim has recently (A.M.N.H. 1908, p. 250) 

 been dealt with by Mr. Thomas, I have entered the species in my 

 Key, but have not again given detailed descriptions. I must note, 

 however, that Pallas (Misc. Zool. p. 56, 1766) applied the specific 

 name "petaurista" to the Javan animal very many years before 

 Desmarest established nitidus for the same form, and consequently 

 that name must be substituted for nitidus- in Mr. Thomas' paper. 



The superficial resemblance of philippensis, lanka and cindrella 

 on the one hand, and lylei and cineraceus on the other is, I believe, 

 a mere coincidence. The last two are almost certainly variations 

 of yunnanensis, as is also candidulus of N. Burma, which extends 

 west at any rate as far as Assam. The three former are most pro- 

 bably variations of albiventer, though it is just possible that they 

 are also variations of yunnanensis through candidulus, parallel to the 

 forms of Tenasserim and Siam. 



P. albiventer seems to be the form of the eastern Sub-Himalayas 

 (Nepal, Sikkim) (with nobilis at the higher altitudes) while the 



