1902.] R. B. Sanyal Bahadur — Common Palm Squirrel. 137 



Mr. Ezra informs me that the present animal was killed in the 

 Maharajah's territories six years ago. 



XIV. — Notes on Animals observed at the Alipore Zoological Garden. No. III. 

 Melanic specimens of Common Palm Squirrel (Sciurns palmarum, 

 Linn.) — By Rai R. B. Sanyal Bahadur, Superintendent, Alipore 

 Zoological Garden. 



[Read June 4th, 1902.] 



Squirrels, it is well known, are subject to great diversity in size, 

 form and colour. The upper surface of the body of the large Indian 

 Squirrel (Sciurus indicus, Erxl.) is usually of a maroon red colour, but 

 darker, almost black individuals with thicker coats are not uncommon. 

 Apart from their seasonal dimorphism, no two specimens of the Sciurus 

 bicolor of Sparrmann are alike ; and it is no wonder that the species 

 proved a puzzle to Desmarest, Horsfield, Is. Geoff. St. Hilaire, and other 

 naturalists of classic repute, each of whom described it under a differ- 

 ent name. Palm Squirrels (Sciurus palmarum, Linn.) so common 

 and abundant in Bengal, North-Western Provinces, the Punjab, and 

 Central India, are also remarkable for great diversity of form and colour, 

 and this tendency to variation in colour, which is so characteristic of 

 the genus, has led, in the case of the Palm squirrels, to an increase 

 in the deposition of pigment, resulting in the production of a definite 

 melanic form. 



Melanism as a common colour phenomenon is well known to 

 naturalists, but as far as I remember, I have seen no case of complete 

 melanism in squirrels recorded in the literature of the genus, and I 

 have therefore ventured to exhibit to the Society a melanic specimen 

 of a Palm squirrel which lately came under my observation. The 

 following notes sent to me by Haji Mahammud Mustapha Khan of 

 Aligarh, the donor of the animals, will, I hope, be found interesting : 



"Sometime in December last [1901], so far as I can recollect, my 

 bearer came to me in Aligarh and said he had seen four or five black 

 squirrels in the jungle at Burhegaon. Burhegaon is the headquar- 

 ter village of my estate, in Tahsil Atrauli in this district, and lies 

 about 25 miles east from Aligarh. I told him to try and catch them, 

 and explained to him how best to do it by the usual basket snare. 

 About a fortnight later, when I had gone to stay for a time at Burhe- 

 gaon, he brought one of the squirrels to me. A couple of weeks after 

 that he brought a second one. So far as I can judge they seem to be 

 J. ii. 18 



