264 EODENTIA. 



continued along the side of the back to the base of the tail. When below the eye it 

 embraces the orbit. This lateral line is sometimes not very distinct on the head and 

 sides of the neck, and in specimens from Tingchow (China) it is interrupted on the 

 shoulder. Its upper margin, in the types, has a dusky line which is darkest in 

 S. barbei, running parallel to it from the nose to the anterior margin of the eye, and 

 from the hinder angle of that organ along the side of the neck and back ; the area, 

 below its lower margin on the back, being also more or less dusky. A narrow black 

 dorsal line runs from between the shoulders over the vertebrae to the root of the tail. 

 These bands, in some, are not prolonged on to the sacral region, and in Chinese speci- 

 mens this is the case, and the bands are only feebly developed; but these slight differ- 

 ences cannot be regarded as more than instances of local variation. The ears are 

 moderately large and pointed; and their internal surfaces are clad with short, 

 adpressed hairs, and their backs with soft black broadly white-tipped hairs 

 which project beyond the margin of the ears, as a distinct white pencil. The 

 under parts of the type are dusky yellowish-white, whereas in Chinese specimens 

 these parts are more greyish, and washed with pale yellow especially along the mesial 

 line : in some Nepal examples they are pale orange-yellowish, a colour which is 

 much more intense in S. barhei. In the type, the tail shows a tendency to penciUa- 

 tion, but this seems to be due to a change of fur, as the other hairs are short, whereas 

 in other specimens the tail is bushy without any trace whatever of a pencil. The 

 tail shows a distinct tendency to yellow and blackish annulations, the hairs being 

 tipped with yellow, giving the appearance as if the tail were washed with this colour. 

 The annulation is due to the presence of four alternate yellowish-orange and 

 black bands ; the basal yellow and penultimate black bands are generally narrow, 

 and the two terminal bands of orange-yellow and of black being broad, it is to 

 these last that the ringed character of the tail is attributable. The whiskers are 

 black, and the limbs are concolorous with the upper parts. The tail is shorter 

 than the body, the latter being 5 inches long, and the tail, without the hair, 

 4 inches. 



This species has a wide distribution, ranging from Nepal and Tibet to the east of 

 China and Pormosa, and through Assam and Cachar south-eastward to Tenasserim 

 and Siam. 



I obtained it at Ponsee, at an elevation of 3,500 feet. 



I have examined all the specimens which have given rise to the above syn- 

 onymy, and although they differ among themselves, the divergence is so slight that 

 it cannot in any instance be regarded as entithng them to specific rank. The 

 Malayan form described by Blyth as S. barbel is only more brightly coloured than 

 the Himalayan race, and was also named by Temminck Tamias leucotis, and 

 by A. M.-Edwards, who obtained it from Cochin China, S. rodolpUi ; whereas 

 the Pormosan animals are duller in their colouring than S. maclellandi. The 

 best-defined race is that which occurs in Tibet, S. maclellandi, var. swinhoei, and 

 which A. M.-Edwards has indicated in his work on the animals of that region. 

 The fur is longer and denser than in the more southern animals, and the longitudinal 



