274 RODENTIA. 



the Celebes. The moustachial and cheek bristles are greyish, the cheeks being 

 black, but finely grizzled with grey, a colour which does not occur in JS. rufoniger. 

 The type of S. rufoniger is black above, with a greyish tinge on the shoulder and 

 outside of the thighs, and along the sides, in which latter locality this colour is dis- 

 tributed in a linear form, but in some Bornean examples the grey assumes the 

 character of a white band between the axilla and groin, the grey being absent on 

 the shoulder and thighs, while in others from the same locality, the white or grey 

 is almost obsolete, being reduced to an obscure lateral line, while in another speci- 

 men there is no trace of it beyond a few greyish hairs along the position occupied 

 by the lateral line in the others, and in this respect it resembles >S'. erythromelas. 

 The grey or white lateral line is always separated from the deep chestnut of the 

 under parts by an intense, but narrow black line. The chin, and all the upper parts 

 and the outside of the limbs and the tail, are jet black. The throat and all the 

 under parts are deep chestnut. 



S. schlegelii is from Koma, also in the Celebes. The fur is wholly and finely, but 

 sparsely grizzled with yellow on the upper parts and on the tail and on the outside 

 of the limbs, but the feet are black. The sides of the face around the eye are rich 

 chestnut, passing into deep maroon on the under parts. There is a pale yellowish- 

 grey line from the shoulder to the groin, and below it a black band. The tail is 

 black, sparsely grizzled with yellow, and terminating in a black tip. 



All of these forms lead so gradually from one into the other that their specific 

 identity seems unquestionable. The series here considered, yields indisputable evi- 

 dence that the white or grey lateral streak occasionally disappears by the white 

 being replaced by black hairs, but it is found in every stage of disappearance, and in 

 some it is only indicated by the intermixture of a few white among the black 

 hairs. Likewise, the underlying black streak is also the subject of analogous changes 

 in those forms referable to S. prevostii, var. borneoensis, the black being replaced 

 by the red of the under parts. The thighs and shoulders of the type of S. rufoniger 

 from Borneo, which is essentially the same as S. prevostii, var. borneoensis, are also 

 distinctly greyish, as in the forms referred to S. erythromelas, S. sclilegelii, and 

 S. atricapillus, all of which have the white lateral streak and a distribution of 

 colour which has a well-defined general correspondence throughout them all. 



The next modification is one which only differs from S. prevostii, var. borneo- 

 ensis, Schl., by the absence of the wliite on the moustachial region, and in the com- 

 plete disappearance of the black below the white lateral line, which is well marked in 

 Schlegel's specimen. This example differs from the two first-described specimens in 

 the upper surface of the head, neck, and shoulders being ungrizzled jet black. The 

 sides of the face from the muzzle to the ear, and the sides of the neck, are greyish, 

 more or less marked with rufous. The shoulder is reddish, paling upwards into 

 yellowish, which is more or less continuous from behind with the white lateral line 

 which extends backwards from the shoulder to the groin ; the outside of the thighs 

 and the legs to the ankle being grey. The fore limb is rufous, and more so than 

 the shoulder, but it shows the remains, as it were, of grizzling, and the hind 



