1859.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 287 



rufescent-whitisli, inclining to pale ferruginous round the border : feet 

 light brown : moustaches long and black. The young is essentially simi- 

 lar, with tail indistinctly distichous, reaching fvertehrce) when reflected 

 to between the ears ; brown above, black below medially to near its base, 

 with a slight albescent tip. Length of adult female, to base of tail, 10 

 in. ; of hind-foot (with claws) 2 in. ; of ear-conch (posteriorly) | in. : in 

 front of and behind the ears are numerous long fine dusky hairs. 



" The Flying-squirrels," remarks Mr. Baker, " being nocturnal animals, 

 are difficult to procure, except by watching under fruit-trees in moonlight- 

 nights, or, when a forest is cut down, by observing the hollow trunks and 

 securing their tenants. The noise made by these creatures at night in 

 the depths of the old jungles, is sometimes alarming to a stranger to it."* 



Sciurus maximus (?), Schreber, apud Horsfield ; but certainly not the 

 Bombay Squirrel of Pennant, which seems rather to be Sc. Elphinstonei, 

 Sykes ; while the corresponding animal of Central India, so abundantly 

 brought alive to Calcutta, is intermediate, and is always black on the up- 

 per half of the fore-limbs, but with never any black upon the croup or 

 hind-limbs. The Southern Malabar specimens sent by Mr. Baker have 

 the entire shoulders and upper half of the fore-limbs, and also the entire 

 croup and haunch, black, advancing medially so as almost or quite to meet 

 the black on the shoulders. Of hundreds of the large Squirrels from 

 Central India, I have observed no variation worthy of remark. But 

 these gigantic Squirrels are equally puzzling with the great Flying- 

 squirrels (Pteromys). 



The stuffed skin and skeleton of one in the Calcutta Medical College 

 appears to be of an undescribed race : — 



Sc. albipes, nobis, n. s. Like Sc. macrourus, Pennant, but of an 

 uniform dull brown colour above and on the outside of the limbs down to 

 the feet, the fur very obscurely grizzled, except with whitish on the 

 anterior half of the head. Paws whitish, with black hairs intermixed 

 upon the toes. Lower-parts uniformly white, abruptly defined. Ears 

 blackish externally, with no pencil-tufts. Tail dusky-brown, with a dull 



* I extract the following notice from, some ' Notes on Shooting in Kashmir,' 

 descriptive of the haunts of some species either of Pteromys or Sciuropteea, 

 — probably the former, and the particular species Pt. inoenatus, Is. Geoff. 

 "There are numbers of Flying- squirrels to be got in the forests about Wurdwan ; 

 they live in the tops of the dead fir-trees, where they make a round hole in the 

 bark and hollow out a nest for themselves inside. On scraping with a stick at 

 the bottom of a tree, the animal pops out its head like an Owl," and is then 

 easily shot. Indian Sporting Review, n. s. I, 35. 



