SCIURUS BICOLOR. 



The Plate annexed to this Article exhibits the Sciurus bicolor, in its 

 common dress, in the eastern parts of Java. On the Continent of India and in 

 Cochin-China it is found, almost uniformly, black above, and golden yellow under- 

 neath. The specimen from which the first description was published by Sparrmann, 

 in the Transactions of the Gotheburg Society, for the year 1778, had the same 

 external marks. This was procured alive in Java, probably in the western dis- 

 tricts, at Batavia or at Anjerpoint, by the crew of a Swedish East India ship, 

 and afterwards formed part of the Museum of M. Staaf, (Economie-director in 

 Gotheburg. The diversity which exists in the hairy covering of the Sciurus 

 bicolor, in the eastern parts of Java, where I chiefly observed it, gives rise to a 

 variety in this species, of very irregular shades of colour, which it is now my object 

 to describe. For an account of the common external appearance of the Sciurus 

 bicolor, in the Indian Peninsula, I refer to the extract given from Dr. Hamilton's 

 T^Ianuscripts, in the Vllth Number of these Researches. The specimens sent from 

 Cochin-China by Dr. Finlayson, have the same external character. 



The entire length of the Sciurus bicolor, in Java, from the tip of the nose to 

 the extremity of the tail, is three feet ; of this the tail comprises rather more than 

 one half These are also its dimensions both in India and in Cochin-China. The subject 

 described by Sparrmann measured only twelve inches from the extremity of the nose 

 to the root of the tail. In the specimens collected by me in the eastern parts of 

 Java, the upper parts of the head and neck, the entire back, the sides of the body, 

 and the limbs above, are dark coloured ; but the tint varies from intense brown to 

 tawny, and often passes into yellowish gray. The separate hairs composing the fur 

 have either a uniform dark tint, or are dark only at the base, and yellowish at 

 the extremity. According to the distribution of these hairs, the external coat of 

 our animal receives its character. The surface is either vuiiformly dark coloured, or 

 it is marked with ii-regular tawny discolourations, of different shades of intensity, 

 appearing in broad transverse bands, or in patches of various extent. It is, in most 

 specimens, dark and uniform on the sides of the neck, the shoulders, the upper parts 

 of the legs and feet, the tip of the nose, and the root of the tail ; but it varies in 

 different individuals from very deep blackish-brown to chestnut and to reddish-brown. 

 A ring of the same intense colour also surrounds the eyes. Between the eyes and ears 

 a band of a paler tint commences, which in many cases extends across the head, and 

 spreads over the vertex and anterior part of the neck, so as to give the animal the 

 appearance of having a white head. This pale discolouration is however not uniform. 



