184/.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 861 



Of the first, we possess 23 (select) mounted specimens, pertaining to the 

 divisions Pteromys, Cuv., as at present restricted, and Sciuropterus, F. Cuvier. 



The species of restricted Pteromys are by no means satisfactorily determin- 

 ed ; and I can only contribute a little towards their elucidation. The Socie- 

 ty's specimens are as follow : — 



1. Pt. petaurista, (Pallas): Taguan of Buffon, from Malabar; Pt. oral, 

 Tickell, Calc. Journ. N. H. II, 401 : Pt. philippensis, Gray, apud Elliot, 

 Madr. Journ. No. XXV, 217. This is the only large Flying Squirrel of the 

 peninsula of India, and probably of Ceylon ;* that of the Moluccas and Phi- 

 lippine Islands can hardly be the same. In all the specimens I have seen 

 (excepting a pale variety to be noticed afterwards), the terminal two-thirds or 

 three-fourths of the tail were black or blackish, with rarely a little white at 

 the extreme tip. Upper-parts dusky maronne-black, grizzled with whitish 

 tips to the fur, terminating in inconspicuous black points : membrane and 

 limbs above, much brighter and more rufous maronne : feet, muzzle, and 

 around the eyes, black : and the under-parts are dingy brownish-grey. An 

 individual variety, procured in Travancore by Lord Arthur Hay, is much 

 paler than usual, being of a light maronne-brown above with yellowish-white 

 tips ; the long hair behind the ears is pale rufous, instead of being dark ; 

 the fore and hind feet only are, in part, blackish, especially the former ; the 

 muzzle and around the eyes are dark brown ; and the tail has its terminal 

 three-fifths uniform rufous-brown, a little darker at the tip, while its base is 

 paler with minutely mingled whitish hairs : under-parts with scanty annulat- 

 ed hairs, of a predominant pale colour ; and two white streaks extend longi- 

 tudinally along the rows of mammse. Of this Indian species, I have retain- 

 ed for the Museum a very fine specimen, from Travancore, presented by 

 Lord Arthur Hay ; and an example of the young, brought alive to Midnapore 

 probably from the Cuttack jungles, and presented (dead) by Mr. P. Homfrey. 



2. Pt. petaurista (?), var. cineraceus, nobis. The common large species 

 of Arracan and the Tenasserim provinces, and the only large kind I have seen 

 from that range of territory. Very like the preceding, but the whitish tips to 

 the fur more predominating, imparting a hoary-grey appearance to the whole 

 upper surface, and continued along the tail, the extreme tip only of which is 

 blackish ; under-parts pure white, or nearly so, in different specimens ; and 

 the rest of the colouring much as in the preceding variety (?) In both, the 

 white tips to the fur predominate in the newly put forth pelage, and disap- 

 pear to a great extent as the fur becomes old and worn. In the young of 

 the Arracan race, the black extreme points of the fur are much developed. 

 We have two adults, and a small young specimen, from Arracan, presented 

 by Capt. Phayre ; and another adult, in worn pelage, and unusually rufescent 

 with darker tail than ordinary, from Tenasserim, presented by the Rev. J. 

 Barbe. 



A third dark race, or species, of a bay-brown-colour above, variegated with 

 white splashes, was procured at Malacca by Capt. Charleton, and has been 

 described as Pt. punctatus by Mr. Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. 1846, p. 211.f 

 It is perhaps identical with Pt. elegans of Dr. S. Muller, from Java. 



3. Pteromys albiventer, Gray, Hardw. III. Ind. Zool. : placed as a syno- 

 nyme of the Malayan Pt. nitidus by Dr. Cantor, J. A S. XV, 252 ; six speei- 



* A notice of the habits of the Pteromys of that island is given in Major Forbes 's 

 " Journal of a Residence of 11 years in Ceylon." 



Felis Charltoni, Gray, described on the same occasion, is merely an occasional varie- 

 ty of F. bengalensis. Major Jenkins favored the Society with a living- specimen of this 

 variety from Assam, and with two live specimens of the ordinary marking', all of which 

 are now set up in the Museum. We have also an intermediate variety, which removes 

 all doubt of the speciheal identity. 



