1878.] W. T. Blanford — On some Mammals from Tenasserim. IGl 



S. eaniceps. 



Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 1842, Ser. 1, Vol. X, p. 263 ; Ser. 3, XX, p. 280 ; 

 Blyth, J. A. S. B., 1876, XLIV, Pt. 2, Extra number, p. 36. 



S. chrysonotus, Blyth, J. A. S. B., XVI, p. 873 ; XXIV, p. 474. 

 S. coHcolor, Blyth, J. A. S. B., XXIV, p. 474. 



Although there is nothing like the variation in colouring in this spe- 

 cies that there is in S. atridorsalis, still a wide difference is found 

 between different specimens, especially in the colouration of the upper parts, 

 as Blyth and Gray have noticed ; some having the back pale ferruginous, 

 whilst others .have the whole upper surface dull olivaceous grey, minutely 

 punctulated with scarcely a trace of rufous. The most rufous specimens 

 I have seen are from the Houngdarau valley, east of Moulmain, in these the 

 crown of the head, the back from the nape to the commencement of the tail 

 and the sides are pale rusty red with scarcely a trace of punctulation. Moul- 

 main specimens, as a rule, are punctulated and merely washed with rufous, 

 especially on the anterior part of the back, or the rufous tinge is very faint, 

 and sometimes wanting. Blyth has noticed* that the least rufous specimen 

 he had seen came from Mergui. Southern Tenasserim specimens, judging 

 from one skin collected by Mr. Davison in Tavoy, and several from Banka- 

 sun, want the ferruginous tinge entirely. To the Bankasiin specimens I 

 will refer further presently. 



There is also some variation in the colouration of the abdomen. Some 

 specimens are almost white below, others more or less cinerous and more or 

 less punctulated. In some the colour of the lower parts is olivaceous grej, 

 scarcely paler than the sides. In very many specimens there is a dark 

 mesial line more or less developed, but it is not constant. These differences 

 of colouration in the under surface are apparently quite independent of the 

 degree to which the upper parts are washed with rufous, and none of the 

 differences, so far as I can judge, are due to age or sex. 



The specimens from Bankasun in the extreme south of the Tenasse- 

 rim provinces are decidedly darker, both above and below, than any 

 I have examined from farther north, much darker even than the Tavoy 

 specimen. The Bankasun skins are almost olive green above, distinctly 

 punctulated, and scarcely paler but rather greyer below. In two specimens 

 out of three there is a darker mesial line beneath. The only difference 

 between these skins and >S^. concolor of Blyth from Malacca, of which spe- 

 cies I have examined the type in the Indian Museum, consists in the latter 

 havincr a slight rufous wash on the upper surface. I have no doubt that 

 the Bankasun squirrel passes into the Malaccan S. concolor. These dark 

 olivaceous forms may perhaps be sufficiently distinct to constitute a local 

 * J. A. S. B., 1855, XXIV, p. 475. 



