370 



Mr. McClelland's Catalogue 



Order VII. RODENTIA. 

 Genus Sciurus, Linn., &c. 



12. Sciurus bicolor, Auctor. Sciurus giganteus, McClelland's MS. 

 " Upper part of the head, the nose, the ears, outer and hinder 



portion of the fore-legs, the feet, tail, and back, deep glossy-black ; 

 beneath yellowish-white ; two small spots on the chin ; cheeks white ; 

 a rudiniental thumb, covered by a flat nail. Body fifteen, tail sixteen 

 inches long. 



" The above description has been derived from seven or eight 

 specimens procured during the course of three months. Among the 

 various individuals I have seen there appeared to be no difference. 



" It differs from the Sciurus maximus by the absence of the ma- 

 rone colour on the head, and from Sciurus Leschenaultii by its 

 greater size, its deep black colour above, without any diminished 

 intensity of shade on the anterior part of the head and nose ; and 

 from Sciurus bicolor of Sparrmann by the uniform blackness of the 

 upper parts of the body, extending to the extremity of the tail, which 

 is entirely black." — McClelland s MS. 



Individuals of this species, agreeing in all particulars with those 

 collected in Assam by Mr. McClelland, have been observed in other 

 parts of India by Dr. Francis (Buchanan) Hamilton and by Dr. Fin- 

 layson. The latter forwarded several specimens to the Museum at 

 the India House. The specific character originally constructed by 

 Sparrmann, and subsequently adopted by all systematic writers, de- 

 fines accurately the animal as described by Dr. Hamilton and by 

 Mr. McClelland. Schreber's figure also agrees with the same, while 

 the animal from Java (represented in Horsfield's Zoolog. Res.), and 

 indicated as a variety in Fisher's ' Synopsis Mammalium,' appears to 

 differ from the continental species by the variations to which its 

 tint is subject. It remains therefore for further research and ob- 

 servation to determine, whether these two varieties may not be spe- 

 cifically distinct, and whether the name proposed by Mr. McClelland 

 should not henceforth be applied to the species observed in Conti- 

 nental India by himself and by Hamilton and Finlayson. 



13. Sciurus hippurus, Isid. Geoff. Guerin. Mag. Zool., PL VI. 



" Gray above, on the cheeks, on the outside of the limbs, and base 

 of the tail : feet grayish-black : throat and lower part of the body 

 reddish-brown : posterior third of the tail reddish-brown in a single 

 specimen procured by Mr. Griffith in the Cossia mountains, but 

 black in five specimens procured by myself in Upper Assam : tail as 

 long as the body. Entire length of the animal eighteen to twenty 

 inches. Inhabits the Cossia mountains, as well as the eastern parts 

 of Assam."— McClelland's MS. 



J 4. Sciurus Lokriah, Hodg., Journ. Asiat. Soc, Bengal, V. 1836. 

 p. 232. 



" Above brown, sprinkled with yellow, the hairs being dark at 

 their bases, but towards their extremities alternately barred with 

 fulvous, A broad irregular yellowish stripe extends from the chin 



