SCIURIDE 451 
True Squirrels are found in most of the temperate and tropical 
regions of the world, exclusive of Madagascar and the Australian 
region. They are, however, most abundant in the Malayan part of 
the Oriental region, and attain their largest size and most brilliant 
coloration in the tropics. Their size is very variable, so that 
whereas S. soricinus, of Borneo, is no larger than a Mouse, S. bicolor, 
of the Malayan region, is nearly as large as a Cat. The common 
Fic. 200.—Burmese Squirrel (Sciurus pygerythrus). After Anderson. 
English Squirrel (S. vzlyaris) is found over the whole of the Palearctic 
region, reaching in one direction from Ireland to Japan, and in the 
other from the north of Italy to Lapland ; its remains occur in the 
Norfolk “Forest-bed.” In the Malayan region “nearly all the 
numerous species are brilliantly marked, and many are ornamented 
with variously coloured longitudinal stripes along their bodies. One 
of the commonest and best known of the striped species is the little 
Indian Palm-Squirrel (S. palimeruim), which in large numbers runs 
about every Indian village. Another Oriental species (S. cuniceps) 
presents almost the only known instance among mammals of the 
