SCIXJEUS. 229 



SciUBUs CANicEPS, Gray.^ 



Sciurus caniceps, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. x. 1843, p. 263; Hand-List Mamm. B. M. 



1848, p. 143 J Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. xxiv. 1855, p. 477; ibid. 1875, vol. xliv. 

 ex. no. p. 36 ; Horsfield's Cat. Mamm. E. Ind. Co.'s Mus. 1851, p. 155. 



Sciurus (?), Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. vol. x. 1841, p. 920. 



Sciurus clirysonotus, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. vol. xvi. 1847, p. 873, pi. xxxvii. ; ibid. vol. xviii. 



1849, pp. 602 and 603; iUd. vol. xxiv. 1855, p. 474; Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. Beng. Mus. 

 1863, p. 103; Horsfield, Cat. Mamm. E. Ind. Co.'s Mus. 1851, p. 159; Peters, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 Lond. 1866, p. 429; Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xx. 1867, p. 281 ; W. T. Blanford, 

 Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 4th ser. vol. i. 1868, p. 152. 



Macroxus caniceps, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xx. 1867, p. 280. 



The red-backed squixrel, wliicli occurs in Pegu with S. pygerytJirus and 

 S. 'phayrei, and which was described first by Dr. Gray under the name of S. caniceps, 

 and afterwards by Blyth as S. clirysonotus, has the general colour grey, or fulvous 

 above ; the outsides of the limbs, with the exception of the feet, are grizzled grey ; 

 the feet yellowish-grey : each hair being annulated with from five to seven alternate 

 black and grey, or black and fulvescent rings ; the tail grey- grizzled with an abruptly 

 defined, black tip, as in 8. pygerythrus, S. phayrei, and S. hlanfordii. Under parts 

 and inside of limbs pale- greyish, sometimes with a faint yellomsh flush. In certain 

 specimens the nape, shoulders, and upper parts of the back are vivid, light ferrugin- 

 ous or golden fulvous, sometimes continued on to the base of the tail ; in some it 

 occurs only to a very limited extent, and in others there is no trace of this colour, all 

 the upper parts being grey- grizzled, exactly as in 8. hlanfordii. The wliiskers are 

 long and black, and there are shght, albescent pencils to the ears. 



The skuU of an adult male S. caniceps, which had the bright, red, golden 



colour of the back well developed, presents so strong a resemblance to the skull of 



S. hlanfordii that it is extremely difficult to seize on any point wherein they differ. 



The character of the occipital region is apt to vary, as in two fully adult and male 



skulls of this species it slopes much more forwards and downwards ia one than 



iu the other. The nasals vary, being longer and broader in some than in others. 



The shape of the premaxillary portion of the skull is much the same as in 



S. hlanfordii. The teeth are a little larger tlian those of that form, but not more 



so than could be explained on the ground of individual variation. This skull 



has also a strong resemblance to the skull of S. griseimanus, but it is somewhat 



larger. It also has all the leading features of the skuU of S. phayrei, only the teeth 



are larger than those of any of the skulls of the types, but they are not larger than 



the teeth of a skull which Blyth referred to this species and which he obtained in 



Lower Martaban. Such facts, taken in conjunction with those to be mentioned 



under S. hlanfordii, suggest that there is a very intimate connection between all 



of these forms, if they do not ultimately prove to be identical. 



This species occurs in Upper Tenasserim and has been found also at Tavoy. 



1 Temminck, in Les Esq. Zool. sur la C6te de Guine (1853), has described a squirrel from the West Coast of Africa 

 under this name, so that this African species remains to be re-named and may stand as S. temminchii. 



