272 EODENTIA. 



fore limb, tlie front of the tiind leg, and the hind foot and all the under parts, are 

 rich maroon-chestnut. The tail black, rufescent towards the tip. 



The ears are moderately sized and pointed, and are not pencilled. The mous- 

 tache and whiskers are long and black, 



Inches. 



Length of body ........... 9*50 



,, of tail, without hair ......... 940 



The squirrel from the Island of Banka differs from the type of S. raffiesii in two 

 respects : firstly, the shoulder is grey instead of being red ; and secondly, the black of 

 the upper parts is prolonged down in a narrow band before the shoulder, separating 

 it from the grey of the side of the neck. The tail also wants the brownish tip. In 

 all other respects it agrees most closely with the Sumatran race. In both of these, 

 there is generally indicated an obscure dusky, or blackish Hne from the shoulder 

 to the groin, underlying the white lateral band. 



The Bornean and Celehean race. — The Islands of Borneo and the Celebes have 

 yielded a number of squirrels which have been described at various intervals, during 

 the last twenty -five years, as distinct species, with one single exception, viz., the 

 S. rafflesii, var. horneoensis, which Miiller and Schlegel justly regarded as only 

 a local race of the laterally white-banded and red-bellied squirrel of the Malayan 

 peninsula, Sumatra, and Banka, and which had been first described by Desmarest 

 under the name of S. prevostii and afterwards by Horsfield and Vigors as S. rafflesii, 

 which latter term Miiller and Schlegel accepted in preference to the former, 

 which had the claim of priority. They did so in recognition of the services rendered 

 by Bafiles to the progress and development of knowledge regarding the islands over 

 which he had been placed as ruler. 



The following is a chronological list of these supposed species from Borneo and 

 the Celebes, viz. : Sciurus rufogularis, Gray ; S. rufoniger, Gray ; S. erythromelas, 

 Schlegel; S. atricapillus, Schlegel; S. schlegelii, Gray; ;S'. pluto. Gray; and 

 S. saraioakensis, Gray. Those from Borneo are S. rufoniger. Gray ; S. atricapillus, 

 Gray ; >S'. pluto. Gray ; S. sarawakensis, Gray ; S. schlegelii, Gray ; and those from 

 the Celebes, S. erythromelas, Schlegel ; and S. schlegelii. Gray ; whilst the locahty 

 from whence S. rufogularis. Gray, was obtained is unknown. 



That the Celebes form, S. erythromelas, Schlegel, is not a local race, or essentially 

 distinctive of that group of islands, is fully proved by the circumstance that it is 

 almost the exact equivalent of the Bornean S. rifoniger; S. schlegelii, on the 

 other hand, approaches the squirrels which resemble S. atricapillus, Schlegel, in 

 every respect but the presence of the black on the head. The skulls of these latter 

 specimens clearly prove that they are young individuals. Their bodies are slaty- 

 grey, finely black and white speckled, the back being blackish, whereas the sides 

 of the neck, the shoulders, and the lower haK of the limbs, are much the same as 

 the head in colour and speckling ; the feet, however, tend to black in some, in which 

 the outside of the thighs is pale greyish-white, whilst in others it has a yellowish tinge. 

 The tail is occasionally banded grey and black, and in other instances yellowish and 



