284 EODENTIA. 



which is more brown than grey, serves to connect the species with P. albiventer. 

 Both of these flying squirrels are from Tcheli. 



Inches. 



Length of the body . 19'20 



„ tail 17-25 



In the Leyden Museum there is a large grey squirrel, which seems to be a 

 variety, or perhaps a seasonal (winter) phase of the species. Its history is not 

 accurately known, but Prof. Schlegel informs me that it was received in a collection 

 of animals, said to have been made in Tibet. The character of the fur, like that of 

 the type, in its density, indicates that the animal must have been an inhabitant of 

 a cold region, and its tarsus is thickly clad. Unlike any other Pteromys, except 

 P. leucogenys, the ears are thickly clothed externally and internally with moderately 

 long, rather woolly hairs, the external hairs projecting beyond the margin. The 

 ears also are larger than in the generality of flying squirrels, and are triangular and 

 pointed. The fur is extremely dense and soft, the long hairs measuring nearly 

 3 inches and the shorter haus 1"75. The basal portion is deep slaty, succeeded by 

 pale greyish-brown, followed by the exposed portion which is still paler and 

 occasionally marked by wlilte rings, narrowly tipped with blackish. These white 

 rings confer a grizzled appearance on the pale fur. The general colour, including 

 the tan, is pale greyish, all the upper surface, including the membranes, being 

 grizzled with white. The muzzle and the hairs clothing the internal surface of the 

 ears are pale yellowish, and those on the back of the ear pass into black at their 

 tips. At the posterior border of the ear there is a whitish tuft. The fore and hind 

 feet are brown, the hau's terminating in yellowish tips. The under parts are greyish, 

 washed with yellowish on the under surface of the membrane. The tail unfortu- 

 nately is imperfect, but it shows an obscure tendency to form alternate blackish and 

 grey rings. Cheek-bristles fully developed. The specimen, which is male, measures 

 18'75 inches along the back, and the imperfect tafl is 14 inches. 



Pteromys alborufus, A. M. -Edwards. 



Fteromys albornfus, A. M.-Edwards, Comptes Rend. 1870, vol. Ixx. p. 341 ; Rech. des Mamm. 1868- 

 74, p. 298, xlv. 



This large and beautiful species, the type of which I have examined, has the 

 head, the sides of the neck, the throat and upper part of the chest, variegated with 

 white, through which the rich maroon of the ground colour is partially seen, and it 

 forms a ring around the eye. The hinder part of the back is yellow, and the tail, 

 immediately beyond its base, is also yellowish for a short way, fading into the deep 

 maroon of its latter two-thirds. It has no black tip. The feet are concolorous 

 with the body. The under parts are pale rich orange-yellow. The ears are large 

 and moderately pointed. 



Inches. 



Length of the body 23 



,y » tail l(j 



