226 RODENTIA. 



the white cheeks, a dull, whitish band behind the ears, and the short fur upon the 

 outside of the ears is whitish, excepting a slightly black pencil anteriorly. 



There are two specimens from Ceylon in the British Museum ; one is a female 

 and the other apparently a male : the former is pale-brownish, and the latter is black- 

 ish, much grizzled, both corresponding, more or less, to Blyth's figure. The male 

 agrees with Pennant's description. In the dark specimen, a black band runs down 

 in front of the ear, separated from it by a narrow, pale area, but in the other there is 

 no trace of a band. In other respects, they are identical, it being impossible but 

 to regard them as one and the same. 



A well-marked, large variety of S. macrourus is generally distributed over the 

 higher parts of the Island of Ceylon. It was originally separated by Blyth as a 

 distinct species under the name S. tennentii suggested for it by Mr. Layard. It 

 differs from the generality of specimens of S. macrourus in being wholly black on 

 the upper parts, except on the vertex, but Kelaart mentions that some individuals of 

 S. macrourus occasionally assume that colour, and from the foregoing description 

 of the male S. macrourus, it is evident that that animal is intermediate between true 

 >S'. macrourus and S. tennentii. The area on the vertex is pale rufous-yellow. The 

 tail is black at its base, as in some examjDles of S. macrourus, but the rest of the 

 hairs are broadly tipped with white, with the exception of those at the end, which 

 are wholly black, or somewhat rufous, which are also characters of S. macro^m-us. 

 The mesial line of the under surface of the tail is yellowish. The ears are strongly 

 tufted. The black patch behind the eye is more defined than in 8. macrourus, but 

 it is liable to considerable variation. The muzzle, anterior to the eye, all the luider 

 parts, and the lower half of the extremities, except the feet, which are black, are 

 fulvous-yellow. 



The skull of the type of ^S*. tennentii, besides being larger than any skulls of 

 S. macrourus I have examined, has also greater inter-orbital breadth, but the general 

 form of the two skulls is alike, and the shape of the nasals is the same in both, 

 but the muzzle of S. tennentii is broader than in ^S*. macrourus. The two are, 

 however, so connected together by intermediate forms that I hesitate to regard 

 >S'. tennentii as a sub-species, notwithstanding these seeming, cranial differences, 

 because these in all likeliliood will be found to be variable, when a series of skulls is 

 examined. 



It is hardly necessary to remark that the Ceylon squirrel and its variety 

 8. tennentii are quite distinct from the Malabar squirrel of Sonnerat, although 

 Cuvier was inclined to see a sunilarity between Pennant's and Sonnerat's figures, but 

 a comparison of the two animals, side by side, dispels such a supposition. Horsfield 

 was under the impression that a good character by which to distinguish the Ceylon 

 squirrel from the large, maroon and black Indian squirrel, Avas, that in the animal 

 figured by Pennant the cheek-band was double, while in 8. indicus it was single ; 

 ]iut this character, although seemingly persistent in ^S*. indicus, is a variable one 

 in S. macrourus; some have no cheek-band, while others have it only feebly 

 developed, and others have it double. S. indicus is a larger animal, with its 



