222 EODENTIA. 



large series of skulls of these varieties, I had placed all these squirrels, including 

 >S'. giganteus, under one common denomination, viz., S. Ucolor. 



The skull of the large hlack squirrel from Borneo with the under parts 

 yellowish and with tufted ears, and in no way separable from squirrels of the same 

 kind from the Sikkim, Himalaya, and Assam, has broad nasals agreeing with typical 

 S. giganteus. 



This species ranges from the North- Western Himalaya through Assam, the 

 Garo Hills, Sylhet, and Cachar, and from Northern Assam across to Yunnan, and 

 spreading southwards also through Arracan and Burma to Tenasserim and the 

 Malayan peninsula and Borneo. 



SciURUS iNDicus, Erxleben. 



Bo7n.baij Squirrel, Pennant, Syn. Mamm. 1771, p. 281; Hist. Quad. vol. ii. 1793, 3rd ed. p. 143^ 



(in part) . 

 Sciurus indicus, Erxleben, Syst. Reg. Animal, 1777, p. 400; Zimmermann, Geograph. Gesch. 



1780, p. 340 ; Gmelin, Linn. Syst. Nat. 13tli ed. 1788, tab. i. pt. i. p. 149 ; Pennant, Quadr. 



vol. ii. 1793 (in part), p. 143; Shaw, Genl. Zool. vol. ii. pt. i. 1801, p. 133; Desmoulins, 



Diet. Class D'Hist. Nat. vol. vi. 1824, p. 74; Lesson, Man. de Zool. 1827, p. 234; 



var. elphinstonii, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xx. 1867, p. 273. 

 Sciurus purpureus, Zimmermann, Sp. Zool. Geo. Quadr. 1778, p. 518 ; Gray, Hand-List, Mamm. 



B. M. 1843, p. 136 (in part) ; Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. xvi. 1847, p. 868. 

 Sciurus bombayanus, Boddaert, Elencb. Animal, 1785, p. 117. 

 Sciurus maximus, Horsfd. Zool. Besch. Java (in part) ; Wagner, Scbreber, Saugeth. vol. iii. Suppl. 



1843, p. 188 (in part) ; Piscber, Syn. Mamm. 1829 (in part), p. 335. 

 Sciurus elphinstonii, Sykes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1831, p. 103 ; Schinz, Syn. Mamm. vol. ii. 1845, 



p. 33 ; Eraser, Zool. Typica, 1849, pi. xxvi. ; Horsfd. Cat. Mamm. E. Ind. Co.'s Mus. 1851, 



p. 157 ; Jerdon, Mamm. Ind. 1867, p. 167. 

 Sciurus malaharicus, Scbinz, Syn. Mamm. vol. ii. 1845, p. 32 (in part). 

 Sciurus [Ratufa] indicus, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xx. 1867, p. 273. 



Pennant described the Bombay squirrel from a stuffed skin in the cabinet of 

 Dr. Hunter, and he characterised it as a squirrel with tufted ears, with the head, 

 back, sides, upper part of the legs and thighs, and the tail, of a dull purple ; the 

 lower part of the legs and thighs and the belly yellow ; the end of the tail being 

 orange. The length of the body he gives as 16 inches, and that of the tail 17. He 

 states that it inhabits Bombay. Prom the entire absence of any allusion to the 

 occurrence of black in the animal he was describing, and which is always present 

 in the Malabar squirrel, it appears to me that this Bombay squirrel is the species 

 described by Sykes as S. elphinstonii from the Western Ghats and Deccan. 

 Pennant, in his History of Quadrupeds, refers to Buifon's figure of the Malabar 

 squirrel, and states that he suspected it to be only a variety. He also mentions that 

 the Bombay squirrel extends to Balisere (Balisore ?) on the opposite part of the 

 peninsula of India. Erxleben applied the term S. indicus to Pennant's Bombay 

 squirrel, and in this was followed by Gmelin, who afterwards separated the purple 

 and black Malabar form as S, maximus. 



