SCmNTIFIC RESULTS FROM THE MAMMAL SURFEY. 773 



Hab. — China. Type from Kiiatun, N.-W. of Fokien. Other 

 specimens from Fen Ping, Fokien, and Chungking, Szechuan. 



Ti/pe.— Adult B. M. No. 97.9.3.1. Original number 4. Collect- 

 ed April 1897. Presented by J. D. la Touche. Five specimens 

 examined. Curiously similar to the Indian form, but distinctly 

 darker on the average. 



The Annam specimen is unfortunately in very worn pelage and 

 cannot be subspecificall}^ determined with any certainty. 



No. XXVIII. 



On the erythrceus Group of Squirkels. 



By 



The late R. C. Wrodghton. 



Throughout Peninsular India, from Cejdon to Baluchistan and 

 from the Indian Ocean to the Ganges, the squirrels (exclusive of 

 the Giant and Flying Squirrels) are represented by a single genus, 

 viz. FuNAMBULUS. The genus moreover is practically limited to 

 that area, the only exceptions are a comparatively small number of 

 Palm Squirrels, the common striped squirrel of our bungalows, a 

 form which wherever found is commensal with man. 



North of the Ganges, in Nepal, etc., we find a number of genera, 

 e.g., Callosciurus, Tomeutes, Dremomys, Tamiops, etc., which 

 range eastwards and southwards to Szechuen, Yunnan, Burma. 

 Siam, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, Formosa, etc. 



Amongst these Callosciurus the genus to which erijthrcBus be- 

 longs is remarkable for its quite extraordinary variability. An 

 excellent example of this will be found in this Journal in a paper 

 by Mr. Thomas and myself on the squirrels collected by Mr. 

 Shortridge, for the Mammal Survey, on the Chindwin River 

 (xxiv, p. 230, et seq.). 



The tail in Callosciurus may be black, red, grizzled, or white, or 

 it may be particoloured with an}^ two, or even three of these 

 colours. The upper side of the body, the belly, the feet, and the 

 face each may (and does) vary to an almost equal extent. So 

 that with so many combinations possible with this large number 

 of variations, joined to the extraordinary variability in the 

 genus we should naturally expect to find (and do so find) an 

 immense number of forms closely related but easily distinguish- 

 able by colour and pattern, in many cases intergrading into one 

 another on their common boundaries. 



In dealing with a genus containing such a large number of 

 named forms, which though to a certain and large extent homo- 

 geneous are at the same time so varied, it has long been recognised 

 that convenience required a system of arrangement in •' groups." 



