SCIURUS BICOLOR. 
THE Plate annexed to this Article exhibits the Sciurus bi color, in its 
common dress, in the eastern parts of Java. On the Continent of India and in 
Cochin-China it is found, almost uniformly, black above, and golden yellow under- 
neath. The specimen from which the first description was published by Sparrmann. 
in the Transactions of the Gotheburg Society, for the year 1778, had the same 
external marks. This was procured alive in Java, probably in the western dis- 
tricts, at Batavia or at Anjerpoint, by the crew of a Swedish East India ship, 
and afterwards formed part of the Museum of M. Staaf, CEconomie-director in 
Gotheburg. The diversity which exists in the hairy covering of the Sciurus 
bicolor, in the eastern parts of Java, where I chiefly observed it, gives rise to a 
variety in this species, of very irregular shades of colour, which it is now my object 
to describe. For an account of the common external appearance of the Sciurus 
bicolor, in the Indian Peninsula, I refer to the extract given from Dr. Hamilton's 
Manuscripts, in the VHth Number of these Researches. The specimens sent from 
Cochin-China by Dr. Finlayson, have the same external character. 
The entire length of the Sciurus bicolor, in Java, from the tip of the nose to 
the extremity of the tail, is three feet ; of this the tail comprises rather more than 
one half. These are also its dimensions both in India and in Cochin-China. The subject 
described by Sparrmann measured only twelve inches from the extremity of the nose 
to the root of the tail. In the specimens collected by me in the eastern parts of 
Java, the upper parts of the head and neck, the entire back, the sides of the body, 
and the limbs above, are dark coloured; but the tint varies from intense brown to 
tawny, and often passes into yellowish gray. The separate hairs composing the fur 
have either a uniform dark tint, or are dark only at the base, and yellowish at 
the extremity. According to the distribution of these hairs, the external coat of 
our animal receives its character. The surface is either uniformly dark coloured, or 
it is marked with irregular tawny discolourations, of different shades of intensity, 
appearing in broad transverse bands, or in patches of various extent. It is, in most 
specimens, dark and uniform on the sides of the neck, the shoulders, the upper parts 
of the legs and feet, the tip of the nose, and the root of the tail; but it varies in 
different individuals from very deep blackish-brown to chestnut and to reddish-brown. 
A ring of the same intense colour also surrounds the eyes. Between the eyes and ears 
a band of a paler tint commences, which in many cases extends across the head, and 
spreads over the vertex and anterior part of the neck, so as to give the animal the 
appearance of having a white head. This pale discolouration is however not uniform. 
