774 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, VoL XXVI T. 



The arrangement has, however, been carried out haphazard, for the 

 most part, each author basing it on some character or characters 

 which appealed, specially to him. The latest arrangement is that 

 of the list by Robinson and Kloss, published in the Journal of 

 the Federated Malay States Mu.seum (xv., p. 196, 1918). In this 

 list, as well as the Assam forms, others from as far away as Siani 

 and Formosa are included in the ' erytJirceus group ' while about the 

 intervening country are recognised other quite distinct groups. 

 The system of using groups seems to me here to cease to be a 

 convenience and to become instead a very possible source of con- 

 fusion, I would urge therefore that the composition of groups 

 should be controlled geographically and as the system is confessedly 

 provisional I can see no objection to this course. 



To make a start, I propose for the ' erythrceus group ' the area 

 lying between the Brahmaputra and ChindAvin Rivers as a habitat. 

 Korth of the Brahmaputra we find hhutanensis, Bonhote, in 

 Bhutan, and cnimin named by myself in Sikkim. These two 

 oquirrels are very closely related and no other has been recorded 

 from this region. As extreme western outliers of the genus they 

 may be accepted as forming a group of their own, while along the 

 eastern bank of the Chindwin are found, at intervals of less than 

 fifty miles, extending from its source to its junction with the 

 Irrawady, a series of forms which make up another group, sladeni. 

 This ' sladeni group ' almost certainl}^ fills the area between the 

 Chindwin and the Irrawad}^. 



The species erytlirceus was named by Pallas in 1778, 'ex India 

 orientali.' The Indian Museum seems to have had specimens 

 from the Garo Hills which were identified by Blyth as erythrcBUS, 

 the National Museum has however so far had only one poor 

 specimen collected by Griffiths in ' Assam '. The series collected 

 by Mr. Wells for the Mammal Survey, at Tura, Garo Hills, con- 

 firm Blyth's identification and may now be accepted confidently 

 as representing erythrcGUs, Pallas. 



The next oldest forms are erythrog aster, Blyth and punctatissimus , 

 Gray, established in 1842 and 1867, respectively. The type of the 

 former has prevented its examination. Its type locality is Manipur. 

 From a fine series in the National Collection, obtained by Hume from 

 Manipur, it has long been recognised that there are two forms found 

 in that country, viz., a southern dark, and a northern paler one. Sclater 

 in his " Catalogue of the Mammals in the Indian Museum" writes: 

 " Southward a little in Cachar and Manipur the whole dorsal surface 

 becomes very much darker, so that the extreme forms are almost 

 black, this form was named S. erytlirogaster, by Blyth and Macroxus 

 'punctatissimus by Gray." Robinson and Kloss mention Sylhet and 

 Chittagong as other localities where this dark form is found. It is 

 evident therefore from this that erythrogaster, Blyth, is the darker 



