256 EODENTIA. 



banded yellow and black, the latter being the predominant hue, and the tip is black. 

 The colours tend to an obscure arrangement in broad rings of yellow and black, but 

 frequently many of the hairs are yellow-tipped, which hides this grouping of the 

 colours. The tail is slightly shorter than the body. The ears are moderately large, 

 with the basal hairs behind palish ; their tips are rounded, and their backs are 

 clad with silky hairs which project but little, if at all, beyond their margins ; but 

 intermixed with these are longer black hau-s which extend beyond the tips, but they 

 are so few as to be apt to be overlooked. The measurements of the type specimen 

 are, from the muzzle to the root of the tail 5*75 ; length of the tail 5 inches. The 

 type has all the characters of a young squirrel, and it so closely resembles S. chinensis, 

 Gray, that it might be an immature example of that species. Miiller and Schlegel 

 referred a number of small squirrels of this type to aS'. modestus ; those from 

 Malacca and Sumatra correspond in size and other particulars to the foregoing ex- 

 ample of S. tenuis, but, in some specimens froni Borneo, the upper parts are darker, 

 and the under parts are more richly coloured, being washed with yellowish-orange. 



This species is also evidently closely allied to S. pUUppemis, Waterhouse, but 

 the type of the latter is in such a bad state of preservation that its characters 

 cannot now be well determined. 



Blyth considered S. tenuis as identical with >S'. modestus, M. and S., and 

 was inclined to regard it as the S. annulatus, Desmarest;^ but as the latter is 

 described as having the tail longer than the body, it does not seem likely that it is 

 aS'. tenuis. The locality from whence /S'. annulatus was procured is also unknown. 



The type of this species was from Singapore, but squirrels of its kind have been 

 found in the Malayan peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. 



SciURTJS MURiNUS, Mullcr & Schlegel. 



Sciurus murinus, Miiller und Schlegel, Verhandl. Nat. Gesch. 1839-44, p. 87. 

 Sciurus murinus, Temminck, Esqu. Zool. de Guine, 1853, p. 252. 



This is a small species, distinguished by the sombre character of its colouring 

 which is nearly uniform throughout. 



The upper parts are dark brown, very finely speckled with rich yellow. The 

 under parts are dark grey, slightly washed with yellowish, but the grey is generally 

 so dark that there is no line of separation between the colours of the two surfaces. 

 The tail is of the same colour as the body, but the hairs are more closely annulated, 

 and the hairs at the tip are long and blackish. The ears are of moderate size and 

 rounded, but not pencilled. 



Inches. 



Length from muzzle to root of tail ....... 4'30 



„ of tail without hair ........ 3-75 



„ „ with hair . . . . . . . . . 5*75 



There are three examples of this species in the Leyden Museum, all from the 

 Celebes. 



* Desmarest, Mammalogie, p. 338. 



