252 Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting [No. 172. 



Such is the succession of the bands on the separate hairs. This organ 

 is less full and ornamental than in the generality of squirrels. The 

 species is apparently not numerous ; the largest out of five examined, a 

 female, was of the following dimensions — 

 Length from the apex of the nose to the root of the tail, 10 - inch. 



of the tail, . 6 i 



o 



,, of the head, . . . . . . . . 2 § ,, 



,, from the apex of the nose to the anterior angle 



of the eye, . . . . . . . . 1 - 



,, from the posterior angle of the eye to the ear, .Of 



Breadth above the apex of the nose, . . . . . . J ,, 



,, between the anterior angles of the eyes, . . J 



,, between the ears, . . . . . . - ,, 



o 



Diameter of the head at vertex,. . . . . . 1 



Its habits in confinement presented nothing remarkable. 

 Gen. — Pteromys, Cuvier. 

 Pteromys nitidus, Geoffroy. 

 Syn. — Sciurus petaurista, Lin. apud Cuvier ? 



Sciurus petaurista, Chin Krawa, Raffles ? 

 Pteromys albiventer, Gray Illustr. 



" Tupai Te>bang" or " Rubin" of the Malays of the Peninsula. 

 Hab. — Singapore, Pinang, Malayan Peninsula. 

 Java, Sumatra, Borneo. 

 The part of the head anterior to the ears, the cheeks, the chest, and 

 the abdomen, are white in some individuals of either sex, one of which 

 is figured in Hardwicke's Illustrations of Indian Zoology, under the de- 

 nomination of Pteromys albiventer, Gray. 



The black, or dark-brown eyelids, nose, chin, feet and tip of the tail, 

 appear to be constant characters. The shade, and intensity of the red 

 colour is liable to considerable variations.* In the very young, there is 

 a short black stripe behind the ears ; and the posterior part of the back 

 and anterior half of the tail are shining black, from each separate hair 

 having the apex of that colour. Traces of these characters occur in 

 some adult individuals. This species is very numerous in the Malayan 

 countries. It is not strictly nocturnal, for it is frequently seen abroad 



* In an individual from Malacca, the back was very dark Indian-red, with a few 

 dashes of pure white. The identity of the species is, however, doubtful. 



