-"-ich carries on its activities up on the tree. This squirrel 
plucks the fruit with its fore-legs, nibbles off an opening through 
£<X6 
its various layers and eats the tender embryo, and probably also^the 
sweetish, astringent liquid within the central(nucellar) gravity of 
the fruit.All the bits it nibbles off in order to get at the embryo 
it throws away, and it discards the fruit also immediately after the 
removal of the embryo. Apparently it does not relish any other por¬ 
tion of the fruit. I have observed a squirrel which had not satisfied 
its appetite, though it had eaten embryos of more than thirty fruits 
in rapid succession. 
The fruits attacked are about 2 cm. in diameter with a nucellar 
0t- / &T /■ $~C*> sk , Gtsyuth C 
cnvity^j^ 0.2 to O.lf cm. long^gSmalier fruits have none or veyy 
little in the shape of embryo, narger*ones have a harder shell wifch 
plenty of yellowish, sticky resin in the tissues outside the embryo, 
so that the squirrel probably finds not only very difficult to 
bite at the shell but also very dangerous since the poisonous prin¬ 
ciple is found both in the oil and the resin. The fruits attacked 
#jay pertpe also^hav^the poisonous prinsiple in the tissues enveloping 
the embryo, but since there is no gummy resin to stick to its mouth 
and since all the parts gnawed: are thrown away, the squirrel does 
not suffer any harm. It is noteworthy that the squirrel is very exp** 
pert in judging the right kind or size of the fruits it can deal 
with without any harm, for inspite of my numerous observations made 
two 
during •jUpWfruiting seasons of each of the two trees in the Botanic 
garden, Singapore, I have not seen a single instance where the t upai 
had to discard a fruit because of its KMSLgxMiBsc&XM failure to 
judge the size or the development of the fruit correctly. 
The squirrel that derives so much benefit from the Fenaga laut 
trees in the Botanic Garden, Singapore, is Sciurus notatus singapo - 
rensis ,Robinson . 
It may be mentioned that the fleshy rind outside the hard 
shell of the fruit is harmless, at least this is so when the fruits 
are mature. This property of the rind is taken advantage of by a 
