68 MR. O. THOMAS ON THE MAMMALS OF [Jail. 19, 



15. SciURUS CANiCEPS, Gray. 



a, b. Moulmein. c. Kankaryit, 13/1/77. d, e. Thoungyeeii 



Biver, 9 and 10/77 (Bingham), f, g. Thoungvah, 16/1/77 



(Davison), 10/10/78 (Darling). h. Myawadi, 2/10/77 



(Bingham). i. Tavoy, 16/3/78. j-l. Bankasun, Q/77 



(S. phayrii, Bly.). m, n. Pahpoon, W. Tenasserim. o. 



Thatone, 23/11/77. 



This fine series, with the seven Malayan specimens from Kussoom, 



(27/5/79), Taroar (12/2/79), Poongah (8/79), and Salanga (2 and 



3/79), collected by Darling, form an invaluable addition to the 



material for making out the relations, variation, and distribution of 



this troublesome species and its allies. 



Dr. Anderson, although he gives separate headings in his monograph 

 to S. pygerythrus, caniceps, phayrei, blanfordi, and griseimanus, 

 states that he believes that they are all closely related to one another 

 and should not perhaps be specifically separated. 



Ou laying out, arranged as it were on an imaginary map, the 

 whole available series of skins, 70 in number^ belonging to the above 

 species, one is able to make out five recognizable forms grading into 

 each other in various degrees, of which two occur in North Tenas- 

 serim, one in Pegu and Upper Burma, another in Cambodja and 

 Cochin China, and the fifth in S. Tenasserim and N. Malaysia ; but 

 anything more complicated than their inter-relations it is hard to 

 conceive, and they seem to l)e only definable by a free use of trino- 

 mial nomenclature. 



As the easiest method of explaining their relationships I will 

 attempt to trace out the history of S. caniceps, which appears to 

 have been something as follows ; — 



The original of the species, occurring about the centre of the 

 present range, Avould be such an animal as summer non-breeding 

 specimens of the true <S. caniceps of N. Tenasserim now are, viz. 

 grizzled yellowish grey above and grey below, the sides of the neck 

 and the sides of the belly being more or less tinged with yellow (85. 

 8. 1. 177^). The struggle for existence then necessitated a richer 

 ornamentation, at least in the breeding-season, and this was accom- 

 plished in various ways in different parts of the animals' range. 

 North-western specimens, those of Burma and Pegu, became rich 

 yellow underneath {S. pygerythrus, 81. 12. 2. 7), and eastern ones, 

 in Cambodja &c., a duller yellow below, with whitish feet {S. grisei- 

 manus, 78. 6. 17, 29), both forms having occasionally, presumably 

 by atavism, ordinary grey-bellied specimens, e. g.S\. 12. 2. 9 from 

 Pegu and 62. 8. 16. 4 from Laos. Southwards, beginning about 

 at Tavoy, and reaching down to Malacca, the yellow tinge of 

 the sides of the neck and belly were replaced by rich orange-red, 



' Of these, 22 belong to the Hume, 2.5 to the old Museum collection, and 23 

 have been kindly lent to me by Mr. Blauford out of his own collection. 



^ These numbers are those of the registers in the Natural History Museum, 

 and will always identify the particular phase of fur referred to, 



