268 RODENTIA. 



Schinz, Syn. Mamm. vol. ii. 1845, p. 36; Miiller und Schleg-el, Verhandl. 1839-44, pp. 86, 95 ; 



Cantor, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. vol. xv. 1846, p. 250; Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. vol. xvi. 1847, 



p. 872; iUd. vol. xxiv. 1855, p. 476 ; Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. Miis. 1863, p. 105. 

 Sciurus griseiventer, Is. Geoff. St.-Hil. Mag-, de Zool. 1832, cl. i. ; Voy. aux Indes Orient. Belang-er, 



Zool. 1834, p. 147; Coulon, Mem. de Soc. Neufchatel, vol. i. 1835, p. 124, pis. xi. and xii. ; 



Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. vol. xvi. 1847, p. 872; ibid. vol. xxiv. 1855, p. 476. 

 Scinrus affinis, Wagner, Schreber, Saugeth. Suppl. vol. iii. 1843, p. 202. 

 Sciurus assamensis, Gray, Hand-List, B. M. 1843, p. 143 (in part). 

 Macroxus nigrovittatus, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xx. 1867, p. 278. 

 Macroxus {Bagmia) plantani, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xx. 1867, p. 279. 



I have examined the type of S. nigrovittatus, Horsfd., and another specimen 

 referred to the same species, besides three examples of S. plantani. The consi- 

 deration of these had suggested to me, before I had read the remarks of Horsfield 

 and of Miiller and Schlegel on S. nigrovittatus, that the two so-called species were 

 very closely alHed. 



Horsfield observed that S. nigromttatus agreed with S. plantani in the distribu- 

 tion of the external marks, but that it was of somewhat larger size, and, as far as he 

 had ascertained, was less abundant in Java. It had also, according to him, a darker 

 tint above, while the under side was grey with a bluish cast : the transverse bands 

 of the tail were broader and more strongly marked, and he considered that the black 

 hne along the sides afforded a clear specific distinction. The type, however, is not so 

 dark as one of the examples of S. plantani, another of which shows quite as grey a 

 belly as S. nigrovittatus. The only perceptible difference between the latter and the 

 former is the more intense dark lateral line, and the less strongly marked yellow 

 line in S. nigrovittatus ; and Miiller and Schlegel state that there is no distinction 

 between these supposed species other than a deviation in colouring which is by 

 no means constant. 



Dr. Gray in his Synopsis of the Asiatic Squirrels regarded S. nigrovittatus and 

 S. plantani as so distinct that he placed the former in his sub-division {h) charac- 

 terised by " the pale lateral streak on the side of the body with a black streak 

 beneath it ; the fur black, blackish, or olive ; beneath, red ; tail as long as body and 

 head ;" the latter he classed in his sub-division {c), which he denominated Baginia 

 and distinguished as follows : " The pale lateral streak, with a streak of the same 

 colour as the back beneath it ; fur ohve, punctulated ; tail elongate, as long as the 

 body and head ; hairs pale, ringed." The artificial nature of this arrangement is at 

 once apparent from the circumstance that S. nigrovittatus has a bluish-grey belly, 

 while one of the leading features of the sub-division in which Dr. Gray placed it was 

 the red hue of the beUy ! 



Two squirrels from Western Java obtained by Mr. Wallace and now in the 

 Indian Museum are undoubtedly referable to S. plantani. The one is a young 

 male and the other is an adult of the same sex. The character of the upper parts is 

 the same as in light-bellied individuals. In the younger specimen, the under parts 

 from the chin to the vent, the inside of the limbs and under surface of the tail, are 

 pale orange-yellow in the adult ; tliis colour is richer and of a much lighter and 



