216 RODENTIA.
Zool 1842 pi (skull); Wagner, SchieBer, Sangeth. Suppl. vol. iii. 1848, p. 193;
Gray, Handlist Mamm. B. M. 1843, p. 186; Schinz, Syn. Mamin, vol. 1 1 . 1846, p. 81;
Blyth, Jonm. As. Soo. Beng. vol.xvi. 1847, p. 870.I , , H H j ...
M S t e n i i , Coulon, Mdm. de la Soo. dee So. Nat. Neufchat. vol. 91886, p. 122, pi. viu.
Sciurm epldppimi, Muller, Tydsclr. Over. Nat. Gesoh. 1888-89 p. 147; Muller and Sohlegel,
Verhandl. Nat. Gesch. 1889-44, pp. 8&& 91, pi. xih. fig. 4 (skull, figs. 2 & 8) ¡ Waterhouse,
Proo. Zool. See. 1842, p. 116; Wagner, Schreter, Sangeth. Suppl. vol. m. 1848 p. 198;
Schinz, Syn. Mamm. vol. n. 1846, p. 40; Blyth, Jonm. As. Soo. Beng. vol. ^ i . 1847, p. 870;
Cat. Mamm. Mus. As. Soo. Beng. 1868, p. 100; Motley and Ddlwyn, Contah. Fauna, Borneo
&M™d™ iS a r ,86F om i Muller & Sohlegel, Verhandl. Nat. Gesch. 1889-44, p. 86; Gray,
Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xx. 1867, p. 288.
Sdmus (Xukati) Vhiffivm, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. g | » | p. 276.
Maoroam (Bnlaia) Uoolor, Gray, Ann. Nat. Hist. vol. =or. 1867, p. 276 (m part).
A great deal of mistmderstendiiig has for long existed regarding the true
nature of S. bicolor, Sparrmann. The type of this speoies is stated to have been captured
alive in Java by the sailors of a Swedish ship, and was stuffed and deposited
in the Collection at Ghthenhnrg and afterwards was described by Sparrmann as
I S. supra niger, m fra fu lm s , amrimlis acutis imberbibus, palmarum umgue polltcan
maqno rotnndatoE Schreber received from Linnseus a drawing of the animal and
reproduced it in his Saugethiere with the following description, altering the name to
— because he was of the opinion that the term Uoolor was mis eadmg:
1 lig h t brown, tending to fox-red (fulvous) on the chin, throat, and breast, the inner
side of the fore limb, the belly, and two-thirds of the tail from the tip backwards.
The upper portion of the animal from the nose backwards, including the hinder
third of the tail, black, besides the eyelids, ears, and exterior of the fore limbs,
and the feet. The hind limbs, externally and internally, are black all over. The
ears do not much exceed half an inch in length, are somewhat pointed, and clad
on both aspects with rather short, black hairs. The bristles of the moustache are
black and from two to three inches long. The extreme pomts of several of the
hairs on the head, sides, and back are somewhat reddish, and on a careful examin-
ation one finds all the light-brown hairs on the tail wholly black at their bases.
The fore feet have four toes and a rudimentary thumb. Length from tip of snout
to tail twelve inches, the tail equalling the length of the body, the hairs of the tail
scarcely more than an inch long.” I t is evident that these two descriptions convey
entirely different conceptions of the characters of the animal, but as Schreber took
the precaution to consult with Lmnarns before publishing his description, it is highly
probable that the latter in forwarding the drawing of the type to Schreber also communicated
its essential characters, because the f o r e g o i n g account professes to he a
description of the type of S. bicolor. The most important part of Schreber s description,
and that which modifies the idea conveyed by the statement that the upper
parts were wholly black, is the reference which he makes to the red-tipped character
of both the hairs on the head and sides of the back, the mention of which at once
recalls the characters of the common large squirrel of Java. But, at first Sight, so
inapplicable is Sparrmann’s description to the generality of the individuals of the
SCIURUS. 2 1 7
large Javan squirrel, that Muller and Sohlegel went so far as to state, that were
it not that Sparrmann insisted upon the fact that his specimen was caught alive
in Java, they would sooner have applied his description to S. hippwrus than to
S. bicolor, and they thought that this view of the question was rather supported
by the sketch sent by linnseus; hut more extended research has shown that the
large squirrel of Java not unfrequently merits the term bicolor, and that it is
distinguished by its ears being untufted, whereas the larger black squirrel with the
yellow under parts, found from the Himalaya to Borneo, has its ears generally
tufted. I have examined the types of S. albiceps, Desm., S. leschenaultii, Desm.,
S. cmri/oenter, Is. Geoff. St. Hil., S. hypoleucus, Horsfd., S. bicolor var. sondaica,
Horsfd., and S. ephippi/um, M. and S., and an extensive series of squirrels belonging
to these types and to many intermediate forms, and a careful consideration of these
materials has led me to regard them only as varieties of one species, depending
chiefly on local circumstances, the right understanding of which is probably complicated
by differences in age and seasonal changes of fur.
The Javan forms referable to S. leschenaultii, S. albiceps, and S. ja/oensis,
are very variable. The general colour of the fur on the upper parts is brown,
and in some this colour extends on to the head, which is nearly concolorous
with the body; hut the head exhibits many shades of brown, passing even into
yellowish-grey, in which condition it is S. albiceps, whereas in others it may he
only tinged with greyish-brown. In some its upper surface is dark brown, and
the sides of the head and face are greyish-yellow. The fur of the upper parts,
although described as reddish or maroon-brown, is in some squirrels broadly
tipped with yellowish-brown or even pale yellow,—so much so, that the general
colour is of that tint, except on the hind quarters, which are usually dark, almost
blackish-brown, frequently, however, grizzled with pale-yellowish; the feet, anterior
and posterior, being generally deep black. The sides of the neck, shoulder,
and outside of fore and hind limbs are always dark maroon or blackish-brown.
On the radial portion of the fore limb, the outer, brown surfaces are more or less
yellow-grizzled, but the dark colour is, at the same time, definitely marked, and
there is no approach to the formation of the encircling white of S, macrourus.
The under parts from the chin to the vent, and the inside and front of the
fore limbs, are yellowish, or orange-white of various degrees of intensity. The
ears are moderately sized, rounded anteriorly, nearly straight behind, but not tufted.
The tail at the base is usually blackish, or brownish-black, slightly grizzled, but
the remainder is so broadly tipped with yellow that this is the prevailing colour,
although the basal two-thirds of the hairs are, in general, dark brown, or black.
In one Javan specimen the tip of the tail is black. The middle of the under,
divided surface, owing to the bases of the hairs being exposed, is brown, the outer
portion yellow. In two Sumatran animals, the heads are dark brownish-black on
the vertex, and only a little paler before the eyes; and the croup, shoulders, and
outside of the fore limbs and the thighs are blackish-maroon; the body behind the
shoulders to the root of the tail being palish-rufous, or yellowish-brown. The tail
• d 2