PTEEOMYS. 281 



Three specimens of this species exist in the Leyden Museum, two from Colombo, 

 Ceylon, collected by Diard, and the other from the Himalaya. The only difference 

 between them is that the former specimens have the tail not quite so black as the 

 Himalayan individual. Both are much grizzled with white aU over the upper parts, 

 head, back, and wing membrane. 



The two types of P. griseiventer are in the British Museum, but their habitat 

 is unknown. They exactly agree with the specimen procured by the Marquis of 

 Tweedale at Travancore, except that the under parts are slightly greyish. 



This species ranges from Ceylon northwards to the Himalaya, and Tickell met 

 with it in the Midnapore jungles and described it as P. oral. There is a specimen 

 in the British Museum said to have come from Singapore, but as that port is the 

 centre to which animals from all parts of Southern and Eastern Asia are carried 

 for sale, it is highly probable that it was taken thither from Ceylon or Southern 

 India. 



Mr. Baker remarks^ that this species, hke other flying squirrels, being nocturnal 

 in its habits, is difficult to procure, except by watching under fruit-trees on moon- 

 light nights, or, when the forest is cut down, by observing the hollow trunks and 

 securing their tenants. The noise that this squirrel makes by night in the depths 

 of old jungles, he states, is sometimes alarming to strangers. 



Pteromts cineraoeus, Blyth. 



Pteromys petaurista, Walker, Cal. Journ. Nat. Hist. 1843, vol. iii. p. 266 j Horsfield, Cat. Mamm. 



E. Ind. Co.'s Mus. 1851, p. 159 (in part). 

 Pteromys petaurista var. cineraceus, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 184-7, vol. xvi. pt. ii. p. 865. 

 Pteromys cineraceus, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1859, vol. xxviii. p. 276 ; ihid. vol. xliv. 1875, 



ext. No. p. 35 J Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. Beng. 1863, p. 94. 



This species is closely allied to P. oral, from which it is distinguished by the 

 grey character of its fur, and its almost white, but black-tipped tail. In form it 

 exactly resembles that species which it represents in Assam, Burma, and Tenasserim. 

 Blyth describes it as differing from P. oral in the more predominating white tips 

 to the hairs, which impart a hoary appearance to the whole upper surface, which is 

 continued along the bushy tail to the blackish tip. The fur generally is an inter- 

 mixture of pale greyish and brownish, the hairs of the back and head having a 

 whitish sub-terminal band, whereas, on the tail, the pale greyish or hoary prevails, 

 to the exclusion of the brown hairs. The upper surface of the parachute is reddish- 

 brown and ungrizzled, if a few hairs are excepted which have a pale reddish-yellow 

 sub-apical band. The under parts are pure white, or nearly so. The dimensions 

 are the same as those of P. oral, TickeU, of which it will probably prove to be a 

 local race. 



In the India Museum, London, there are two examples of this flying sqmrrel, 

 and in the Calcutta Museum there are two adults and a young specimen from 



' Journ. As. Soc. Beng. (1859), vol. xxviii. p. 287. 



m2 



