SCIURUS. 259 



Sciums triUneatus, Kelaart, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1850, p. 157; Fauna Zeylanlcaj 1852, p. 54. 



Sciurus palmamm, Elliot, Madras Journ. Lit. and Sc. vol. x. 1839, p. 218 ; Kelaart, Fauna 



Zeylanica, 1852, p. 19. 

 Sciurus hrodiei, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. vol. xviii. p. 602, 1849; ibid. vol. xx. 1851, p. 166; ifnd. 



vol. xxi. 1852, p. 350; Layard, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. ix. 1852, p. 335. 

 Sciurus kelaarti, Layard, Journ. As. Soc. Mus. vol. xvi. 1847, p. 602; ibid. vol. xx. 1851, p. 166; 



ibid. vol. xxi. 1852, p. 350; Kelaart, Fauna Zeylanica, 1852, p. 53. 

 Macroxus penicillatus, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xx. 1867, p. 279. 

 Sciurus dussumieri, A. M. -Edwards, Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1867, vol. xix. p. 226; Rech. des 



Mammif. 1871, p. 163. 



This squirrel attains to a larger size than S. palmarum. It manifests consider- 

 able variation, especially in the colour of the dark Knes of the back. In some 

 these lines are almost rufous, wliile in others they are dark brown or black through- 

 out their whole extent, or black only from the shoulder to the lumbar region, the 

 two mesial lines being rufous in the rest of their extent, or the black may be dis- 

 tributed irregularly in patches. The bands generally extend from the shoulder to 

 the root of the tail, but in some they stop short of that distance. The prevailing 

 colour of the sides and of the limbs varies from greyish-olive to oHve-brown, or 

 even brownish. The head generally is more or less tinged with rufous, especially 

 on its upper surface, but one Madras specimen has the sides of the face and the 

 whole of the upper surface of the head, from the muzzle to the ears, and the anal 

 region and the under surface of the tail, bright rufous. In a Sikkim specimen, 

 the head also is rather bright rufous over the muzzle. The under parts are white, 

 but ia some specimens the line of union of the dorsal and ventral colours is marked 

 by a pale, yellowish line. The caudal hairs are banded with four alternate rings of 

 either pale or rich orange-yellow and black, the first of these colours being basal ; 

 the fixst three rings are narrow, and the terminal black band nearly as broad as the 

 united tlu'ee, and it is broadly white-tipped. 



Inches. 



The body measures . . . . . . . . . . 8'00 



Tail without hairs . . . . . . . . . . - 6-25 



„ with hairs . .......... 7"50 



This species occurs in Ceylon and Southern India, and on the Nilgiris even 

 as high as Ootacamund ; it has also been obtained in Midnapore, and it ranges 

 northward to the Himalaya. 



Lesson was the first naturalist who figured and described this form, from a 

 Pondicherry specimen, but he confounded it with the common palm squirrel. 

 Waterhouse was the first who clearly distinguished between S. palmarum and 

 S. trisfriatus. He observes that the skull of the latter differs from the former 

 " in being a little larger, considerably broader in proportion, and in having the 

 upper surface less convex ; the post-orbital process is larger, the width between the 

 orbits is greater, and the nasal portion is more suddenly contracted, the nasal bones 

 are longer, and narrower posteriorly."^ 



' Proc. Zool. Soc. 1839, p. 118. 



