SCIURUS PLANTANI. 



Plantani, in a general enumeration of Indian Sciuri. The history and characters of 

 several of these stiU require further observations, and the comparison of good speci- 

 mens, with authentic descriptions made in the native countries. The varieties to 

 which several of them are subject, have, in a few cases, led to an erroneous multipli- 

 cation of species ; but while the examination of the numerous animals belonging to 

 this genus is extended, several, as yet doubtful subjects, will probably be shewn to 

 be really distinct species. 



The entire length of the Sciurus Plantani is seven inches. Many individuals 

 that I examined, measure only six inches and an half. The tail is a little longer than 

 the body and head together. The covering above is delicately variegated ; the 

 separate hairs, as in several other Squirrels, are marked with alternate bands of tawny 

 and brown, by which a beautiful mixture is produced. The same colour also covers 

 the head, the extremities exteriorly, and the sides of the body, under the line 

 which characterizes this species ; it is more intense on the tip of the nose. The 

 under parts of the head, neck, body, and extremities, are fulvous, with a considerable 

 brilliancy of tint. The same tint also marks a circle around the eyes, a line extend- 

 ing from the shoulder to the thigh along the sides of the body, and the cheeks and 

 upper lip ; along the under side of the tail it is gradually blended with the colour of 

 the upper parts. The tail is regularly marked above with narrow transverse bands 

 of a dark brown colour, alternating with the same mixture of tawny and brown 

 that covers the upper parts. It is terminated by long hairs of a tawny hue, in which 

 the bands are indistinctly perceptible. The under parts are, in some cases, of a paler 

 tint : the individual described by M. S, I. Ljung was white underneath. The eyes 

 are vivid and prominent. The front teeth in the lower jaw are comparatively acute 

 and lengthened. 



Numerous long, stiff bristles, of a black colour, arise from the upper lip and 

 from the sides of the nose ; a few shorter bristles are thinly scattered on the cheeks. 

 The ears occupy a considerable space on the sides of the head ; the lobes are large 

 and erect, with an inflected margin ; they are without the tuft of long hairs which 

 decorates several Sciuri. The hairy covering is thick, and closely applied to the skin; 

 the separate hairs are of moderate length, downy at the base, and, especially under- 

 neath, very delicate and soft to the touch. The anterior extremities have, in place 

 of a thumb, a minute warty protuberance, which is scarcely perceptible; the structure 

 of the feet and toes, in other respects, agrees with that of other Squirrels, In 

 M. Ljung's account of our animal, the feet are erroneously characterized as four-toed 

 in all the extremities. The name of Sury-Cat which it has at Batavia, and which by 

 the Dutch is also given to the Ryztena or Suricata, found at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 has probably given rise to this mistake. 



