942 



RODBNTIA 



above, both surfaces clothed with fine short hairs which never 

 form tuft at tip. Feet relatively shorter and broader than in 

 S. vulgaris, the digits much less graduated, particularly those of 

 hind foot, the claws rather short, strongly curved, very acutely 

 pointed, those of hind foot nearly concealed by tufts of curved 

 hairs lying over them ; front foot with fourth digit longest, third, 

 fifth and second successively shorter, supporting cartilage about 

 twice as long as foot, thumb an inconspicuous tubercle with 

 rudimentary flattened nail ; hind foot with three middle digits 

 sub-equal and longest, first extending to base of claw of second, 

 fifth a little beyond base of first phalanx of fourth ; palmar and 

 plantar tubercles bare, arranged as in S. vulgaris, their size 

 relatively smaller ; palms thinly haired between pads, soles with 

 dense growth of long woolly hairs especially conspicuous along 

 inner side and adding much to apparent width of foot. Fur of a 

 peculiar silky texture, noticeably softer and more dense than in 

 S. vulgaris, this particularly marked in the broad, much flattened 

 tail ; hairs along anterior edge of membrane (in region of 

 supporting cartilage) noticeably stiffened. 



Colour. — Upper parts a uniform pale, silvery grey, with a 

 faint buffy cast, the slaty under colour appearing irregularly at 

 surface when hairs are disarranged, particularly near outer edge 

 of lateral membrane, and on feet ; everywhere there is a very 

 faint suggestion of dark " lining," produced by the presence of 

 black -tipped longer hairs ; cheeks paler and less buffy than 

 crown ; a narrow blackish eye-ring ; underparts and inner 

 surface of limbs dull buffy white, everywhere inconspicuously 

 sprinkled with blackish hairs ; tail more buffy than body (nearly 

 the cream-buff of Ridgway), the upper and lower surfaces and 

 the tip much clouded with dusky, the sides almost clear. 



Slcull. — As compared with that of Sciurus vulgaris the skull 

 is much smaller, but at the same time with all lines more 

 exaggerated, it might almost be said distorted, and contrasts 

 more abrupt. Profiles essentially as in Sciurus vulgaris, but 

 nasals abruptly curved downward at tip, occiput slightly concave 

 owing to the more posterior position of condyles and paroccipital 

 processes due to enlargement of bullae, and ventral profile more 

 nearly parallel with dorsal profile, its posterior portion carried 

 further downward by the large bullae. Brain-case squarish in 

 general outline when viewed from above, its posterior margin 

 broadly and evenly rounded, its width posteriorly about double 

 that of postorbital constriction ; surface essentially smooth, 

 though a faint ridge may usually be traced diagonally across 

 each side of parietal, the ridges curving inward posteriorly and 

 meeting in median line somewhat in front of lambdoid region ; 

 in old individuals a tubercular projection is developed on edge of 

 temporal fossa at antero-external corner of parietal, much as in 

 Lepus ; lambdoid crest low and rounded ; viewed from the side 

 the brain-case is more depressed than in Sciurus vulgaris, so that 



