XEETJS EUTILtJS. 
249 
EODENTIA. 
Suborder S1M P LICID E N T AT A. 
SCIURID^. 
XERUS. 
Xerus, Ehrenb. Symb. Pliys. dec. i. gg (1832). 
Squirrels with short, flattened, bristly hair. Ears very short. Claws only slightly 
curved. 
Dentition', i. pm. m. | = 20. 
Xekus eutilus, Cretzschm. 
Sciurus rutilus, Cretzschm., Riipp. Atlas, 1826, p. 59, pi. 24. 
Sciurus brachyotus, Hemp. & Ehrenb. Symb. Phys. pi. (1828). 
Sciurus {Xerus) brachyotus, Hemp. & Ehrenb. Symb. Phys. dec. i. text (1832). 
Sinkat, inland from Suakin. Major Penton, R.A.M.C., D.S.O. British Museum, No. 93.6.7.5. 
Size about that of the Common Squirrel of Europe. Ears very short. Tail very 
bushy and long. Claws moderately curved. The whole body covered with harsh, 
flattened, bristle-like, short hair; the front and back surfaces of the hairs concave. 
The colour of the dorsal surface almost uniform reddish brown ticked with bufl- 
white, the hairs being brown from the base with the extreme tip whitish. A dirty 
white patch around the eye; the whole of the under parts rather thinly clad with dull 
white hairs. The tail covered with long hairs, ringed brown and buflf-white in their 
basal half, followed by a very broad brown ring and a broad whitish tip. 
Approximate measurements taken from the co-type in the British Museum, collected 
by Riippell at Massowah:—Head and body 220 mm.; tail 210, with terminal 
hair 273; hind foot 57 ; forearm and hand 70. 
In the specimen from Sinkat, which is young and in a poor state of preservation, 
the ear-conch has shrunk almost completely away ; but in Ruppell’s specimen the conch 
has a free margin of about 5 mm., and this is the normal state, 
2 K 
