280 EODENTIA. 



Pterom^s pJiilippensis, Elliot/ Madr. Journ. Lit. and Sc. vol. ±. 1839, p. 217. 



Pteromys griseiventer, Gray, Hand-List Mamm. B. M. 1843, p. 133 ; Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 



vol. xxviii. 1859, p. 277. 

 Pteromys inornatus, Miiller und Schlegel, Verhandl. 1839-44, p. 106. 

 Pteromys oral, Tickell, Cal. Journ. Nat. Hist. vol. ii. 1842, p. 401, pi. xi. ; Schinz, Syn. Mamm. 



1845, vol. ii. p. 59 ; Kelaart, Prod. Fauna Zeylaniea, 1852, p. 55. 

 Pteromys nitidus, Kelaart, Proe. Zool. Soc. 1850, p. 157. 



This is the only large flying squirrel, properly so called, occurring in India and 

 in the Island of Ceylon. 



The head is large, and the upper parts are dusky maroon-hlack, grizzled with 

 whitish, due to the presence of a suh-apical white band, which terminates in an 

 inconspicuous black point. The parachute and the limbs are much lighter and more 

 rufous-maroon. The feet, muzzle, and around the eyes are black, and the male is 

 distinguished by an irregular patch of rufous on the sides of the neck, which in the 

 female is a sort of pale fawn.^ The tail, which is rather longer than the body, is 

 bushy, and its terminal two-thirds or three-fourths are black or blackish, with rarely 

 a little white at the extreme tip. The under parts are dingy brownish-grey, some- 

 times nearly greyish-white. 



The Marquis of Tweedale procured in Travancore a specimen much paler than 

 usual, being of a light maroon-brown above, and with yellowish-white, sub-apical 

 bands ; the long hair behind the ears being pale rufous instead of dark maroon- 

 brown. The feet are only in part blackish, especially the fore feet ; the muzzle and 

 around the eyes are dark brown, and the tail has its terminal three-fifths uniformly 

 rufous brown, a little darker at the tip, while its base is paler, and slightly white- 

 grizzled. The under parts are clad with scanty annulated hairs of a predominant 

 pale colour ; and two whitish streaks extend longitudinally along the mammae. 



In the British Museum, there are two examples of this species from Madras 

 presented by Sir Walter Elliot ; one is much darker than the other in the basal 

 portion of its fur, which is dark blackish-brown, while in the paler individual the 

 hidden portion of the fur is pale earthy-brown. In both, the hair of the head, 

 neck, and upper surface of the parachute, has whitish sub-apical bands and black 

 tips, but the white rings are much more pronounced in the dark than in the pale 

 specimen. In the former, the hair on the parachute is very broadly banded with 

 yellowish-brown and with rufous, whereas in the foregoing Travancore specimen, 

 which in other respects resembles it, the parachute is dark brown, with only a few 

 hairs with pale sub-apical rings. There can, however, be no doubt of the specific 

 identity of all these specimens. 



^ I have not been able to trace tbe term P. philippensis beyond its occurrence in Sir Walter Elliot's Catalogue 

 and the explanation which he gives of it. In writing of the specimens which he had forwarded to the British Museum, 

 and which now stand there under the name P. petaurista, he says : " Mr. Gray designated the specimens of this 

 species presented to the British Museum by the specific name of P. philippensis, and showed a former description of 

 them under this title, the source of which I have mislaid. I cannot find any such species indicated in Griffith or 

 Fischer's Synonyms nor in any work to which I have access." The name P. philippensis is probably founded on 

 BufEon's description of the Taguan from the Philippines, I. c. 



2 ElHot {L c). 



