702 SCIURID^— SCIURUS 



Gorebridge, Midlothian, in January 1908 (W. Evans, MS.). Of parti- 

 coloured specimens the following are remarkable : one, having the 

 moustache, nose, upper lips, forefeet, two joints of the hind toes, and 

 the claws white, with, in addition, on each side a band of white, an inch 

 broad, proceeding from the white of the belly, and nearly meeting its 

 fellow dorsally ; a similar band, about 2 inches broad, towards the tip 

 of the tail was arched over the back (Bold, Zoologist, 1848, 195). The 

 latter seems to have been somewhat similar to one in the collection 

 of J. W. Whitaker, of which he kindly sent us a sketch ; this specimen 

 was shot in Nottinghamshire, and has a broad transverse band of white, 

 only narrowly interrupted dorsally, around the middle of the body, 

 the nose, fore-limbs, and distal half of the tail being also white. A third 

 specimen of somewhat similar appearance was noticed in the Field of 

 3rd November 1888, 653 (C. B. Dack). 



Skull: — The skull is broad, smooth, and rounded, with a short, 

 narrow, but deep rostrum, and a large, broadly ovate and deep brain- 

 case. In dorsal profile the nasals are slightly, and the fronto-parietal 

 region very, boldly convex ; the line is slightly concave between the 

 orbits, and again just in front of the occiput; these concavities mark 

 the positions of the internal divisions between the cerebral part of the 

 brain-case and the olfactory and cerebellar fossae respectively. The 

 occiput is vertical or slightly overhanging, the condyles being hidden 

 in the dorsal view, and owing to the backward deflection of the cranial 

 axis the foramen magnum lies wholly below the level of the alveolar 

 line. The nasals are short and broad, widest and well arched in front ; 

 their tips end well in advance of the incisors ; posteriorly their ends lie 

 a little in front of the very broad ends of the ascending branches of the 

 premaxillffi. The frontals have large superciliary processes, which 

 partly roof the orbit and terminate behind in long, slender, postorbital 

 processes, directed backwards, outwards, and downwards. From the 

 hinder edge of each of these processes a feebly indicated temporal line 

 passes backwards to blend with the weak lambdoid crest ; the fronto- 

 parietal area between the two temporal lines is lyre-shaped. The inter- 

 parietal is small and distinct in young skulls, but in adults it is 

 completely fused with the parietals. The very small infraorbital 

 foramen on each side is placed considerably in front of the cheek-teeth, 

 and its lower edge forms a conspicuous little process of the maxilla for 

 the attachment of the tendon of the masseter. The anterior root of 

 each zygomatic arch is a stout plate, homologous with the " masseteric 

 plate " of the murine skull ; the ridge which forms its upper boundary 

 and marks the limits of the origin of the masseter lateralis muscle is 

 continued forwards for some considerable distance upon the side of the 

 premaxilla. The large jugals form distinct though low postorbital 

 crests ; posteriorly they articulate by means of a long scale-like suture 



