71 



A NEW GIANT SQUIRREL FROM PULO CONDORE. 



By C. Bodex Kloss, f.z.s. 



Ratufa melaiiopepla condorensis, subsp. nov. 



3 c? ad., 3 ? ad., 1 ? subad. Main Island, Pulo Condore 

 Group, near Cochin China. 



8-1 3th September 1919 (Nos. 2700-6/CBK). Dr. Malcolm 

 Smith's collector. 



The smallest black-and-tan Giant Squirrel known : hindfoot 

 apparently not exceeding 60 mm. Skulls showing no special pecu- 

 liarities apart from abnormally small size, the greatest length yet 

 known being 64 mm. 



Colour generally resembling R. m. leucogenys mihi (P. Z. S. 

 1916, p. 43. South— East Siam), geographically the nearest known form 

 (though perhaps the upper parts are never so intensely black); but 

 the yellow parts a trifle richer, more like R. m. sinus mihi (t. c, p. 44. 

 Koh Kut Id., S. E. Siam) and R. m. peninsula! Miller (Proc. Wash. 

 Acad. Sci. II, 1900, p. 71. Trang, Peninsular Siam). 



The yellow of the hindlegs sometimes extends over the upper 

 surface of the feet and sometimes only reaches their inner sides. In 

 one specimen the black part of the lower leg is grizzled with bufl*. 

 Otherwise the seven specimens examined are very uniform in 

 appearance except that Nos. 2702 and 2704 have the upper parts, 

 owing to bleaching, largely dark brown and No. 2703 only slightly 

 so. There is always a russet patch between the ears. 



Type. Adult female (skin and skull). No. 2706/CBK. 

 11th September 1919. 



All those Giant Squhrels, which I have referred to Ratufa 

 melanopepla, should probably stand as races of R. bicolor (Sparmm. 

 Java) of which melanopepla itself is undoubtedly a subspecies, and 

 gigantea (McClell, Assam) also, though in a small area (North Siam) 

 the latter is found together with an animal with untufted ears (R. 

 phceopepla Miller, Smithsonian Misc. Collections, vol. 61, No. 21, 1913, 

 p. 25. South Tenasserim). 



VOL. IV, NO. 2, 1920. 



