TrPAIA PEOTIAKA. _" 65 



88. Tupaia peguana. 



Lesson, Belangbk, Voyage.— ^T. Belangeri, Wagner. — T. ferruginea. 

 var. Blyth, Cat 240. — Kalli tang-zhing. — Lepch. 



The Sikim Tree-shkew. 



Descr. — General hue a dusky greenish-brown, the hairs being ringed 

 brown and yellow ; lower parts the same but lighter, and with a pale buff 

 line ; a stripe from the throat to the vent, broadest between the fore arms 

 and then narrowing ; ears, Kvid red with a few short hairs ; palms and 

 soles dark livid red ; nails fleshy. 



Length of one, head and body not quite 7 inches ; tail 6^ ; the hair 

 one inch more; head to occipital ridge 2\; ear fths; foot 1|; hand 

 about 1. Another measured, head and body 7-^ inches, tail 1\. 



The Burmese Tupaia was considered by Lesson and others sufficiently 

 distinct from the Malayan ferruginea, of which Blyth, in his Catalogue, 

 considers it to be only a variety. My specimens differ somewhat from 

 those from Arracan, in having the lower parts much darker, and with the 

 pale central line narrower; in the Burmese examples the whole chin, throat, 

 and breast being buff. I obtained this tree-shrew at Darjeeling, being one 

 of the very few novelties that had escaped the notice of Mr. Hodgson. It 

 frequents the zone from 3,000 to 6,000 feet, and was said, by the natives, 

 to kill small birds, mice, &c. In its colors as well as in size and general 

 appearance, it wonderfully resembles Scuirus lokriah ; and I see in a note 

 on these animals in the English edition of Cuvier, edited by Blyth, the 

 statement that, "it is remarkable that the squirrels of the same region 

 have very similar fur, both in color and texture." 



As a sequel to the history of these animals, I may transcribe part of 

 Cantor's account of the common Malayan species, T. ferruginea. "The 

 natural food is mixed insectivorous and fnigivorous. In confinement indi- 

 viduals may be fed exclusively on either, though preference is evinced 

 for insects ; and eggs, fish, and earth-worms are equally relished. Their 

 disposition is very restless, and their great agility enables them to perform 

 the most extraordinary bounds in all directions, in which exercise they 

 spend the day, till night sends them to sleep in their rudely constructed 

 lairs in the highest branches of trees. .... The lateral 

 raised lines of the palms and soles, the posterior part of the first phalanges, 

 and the third phalanx, which is widened into a small soft disk, in fact all 



