Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [July, 



woolly texture : that of the upper-parts dusky exeept at tip. Three speci- 

 mens, presented by Capt. Phayre. 



Zoologists who profess the opinion that nearly allied races of animals, 

 respectively inhabiting different localities, and presenting constant differences 

 of colouring and other trivial distinctive characters, should be set down as 

 permanent local varieties of the same rather than as distinct allied species, — 

 leaving it quite optional, however, which should be considered a species and 

 which a variety, — and who, with M. M. Temminck and Schlegel, thus regard 

 the Indian Sciurus purpureas as a permanent local variety of Sc. bicolor, or 

 rather both as races of the same Sc. maximus, might well incline to reduce 

 the whole series of restricted Pteromydes to the rank of varieties only of a 

 single widely distributed species, however true they may be and are to their 

 distinctions of colouring, and although two such marked races as Pt. niti- 

 dus and Pt. punctatus inhabit together in the Malayan peninsula — both oc- 

 curring in the vicinity of Malacca. But be this as it may, such various 

 permanent races require discrimination : and the analogy of the Sciuropteri 

 inhabiting the same countries, which are well distinguished apart by good 

 specifical characters, and are even more numerous than the Pteromydes, would 

 point to the conclusion that the latter are alike distinct and independent of 

 each other, at least in the generality of cases, however closely they may re- 

 semble ; and that theories on the geographical range of particular species, 

 founded on the alleged specifical identity of what can only be presumed to 

 be varieties of the same, rest upon a very insecure and disputable founda- 

 tion. I add a summary of the distribution of the Indian Flying Squirrels, 

 with those of the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, as far southward as 

 the Straits of Malacca. — Those of Ceylon remain to be identified. In the 

 Indian peninsula generally, from the jungles of central India to Travancore, 

 there have only been observed the Pteromys petmrista, and Sciuropterus 

 fuscocapillus lately discovered (I believe in the Nilgherries). In the Hima- 

 laya, Pteromys albiventer, Pt. magnificus, and Pt. nobilis, would seem to appear 

 successively, as we proceed from the N. W. to the S. E. ; and Sc. Baberi (?), 

 Sc.fimbriatus, Sc. alboniger, and Sc. caniceps, present apparently a similar 

 succession, — the two latter alone certainly occurring together, in Sikim. In 

 the Assam ranges, Pt. magnificus re-appears, which would argue its existence 

 in the intervening country ; and, indeed, it remains to ascertain whether Pt. 

 albiventer and Pt. nobilis are really different from Pt. magnificus. Sc. villosus 

 has been observed hitherto only in Assam. One or two species are found in 

 Sylhet that I have not yet seen. In Arracan, there appear to be only the 

 Pt. petaurista (?), var. cineraceus, which extends southward to the Tenasserim 

 provinces, and the diminutive Sc. spadiceus. Lastly, the Malayan peninsula 

 yields Pt. nitidus and Pt. punctatus, and Sc. Horsfieldii and Sc. genibarbis. 

 From the great eastern archipelago the Society does not possess a single 

 specimen. 



Of the ordinary Squirrels (Sciurus), we may commence with a group of 

 large species, or (more or less ?) permanent races, peculiar to S. E. Asia and 

 its islands ; the whole of which are but local varieties of a single species, in 

 the opinion of some zoologists. 



1 . Sc. purpureas, Zimmerman : Sc. maximus (in part), Schreber ; Sc. 

 bombayensis, Baddaert ; Sc. indicus, Erxleben ; Sc. Elphinstonii, Sykes. 

 These synonymes, copied from Mr. Gray, and to which may be added Sc. 

 malabaricus, Schinz, I believe to be correctly assigned to the common great 

 Squirrel peculiar to the peninsula of India. So far as I have seen, it varies 

 chiefly in the development of the black on the shoulders and fore-limbs, 

 and that of the croup and thighs, which last is very commonly wanting, the 

 former rarelv more than reduced ; the tail also has more or less black or 



