Gray referred S. grisementer, Is. Geoff., from Java to the S. assamensis,
M'Olelland, which, in 184S, he regarded äs distinct front S. lokroides, but S.
griseiventer is unquestionably S. nigrovittatus, Horsfield.
This species ranges from Nepal to Western Yunnan, and southward through
Assam and the Garo Hüls, Tippera, and Dacca, ooourring in Sylhet, Oachar and
Munipore, and the northern portion of Arracan: and from the Island of Ereparis,
the Tndmn Museum is indebted to Mr. V. Ball for a specimen.
S c iu r u s l o k r ia h , Hodgson.
Scimut lokriah, Hodgson, Jonrn. As. Soo. Beng. vol. v. 1886, p. 282; Proo. Zool. Soc. 1866, p . 126;
Ogilbv, Horsfield, Proo. Zool. Soo. 1839, p. 161; Boyles, HI. Ind. Bot. Mem. Mamm. 1810,
p °1S; Wagner, Schreber, Säogeth. Suppl. vol.iii. 1818, p. 202; Walker, Cal. Journ. Na .
Hist. vol. iii. 1813, p. 266; Blyth, Journ. As. Soo. Beng. vol. xvi. 1817, pp. 878, 871; t ti i. vol.
xviii 1819, p. 608; ibid. vol. xx. 1861, p. 166; ibid. vol. xxiv. 1856, p. 175; tbid. vol xkv.
1875, ex. No. p. 87; Cat. Mamm. As. Soo. Mas. 1863, p. 101; Horsfield, Cat.Mamm. E. Ind.
C o . 's ’m u s . 1851, p. 153 ; Proo. Zool. Soo. 1856, p. 102. j H H H
Seiurm locria, Hodgson, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. vol. x. 1811, p. 916; Cal. Journ Nat. Hist. vol.
iv. 1844. p. 293 : Gray, Cat. Nepal Mamm. B. M. 1846, p. 143.
M m mbflavivmtris, M’CMland, Gray, Hand-List Mamm. B. M. 1818 p. I l l ; Blyth Journ M .
Soo. Beng. vol. xvi. 1817, p. 873; M L vol. xx. 1851, p. 166 ; ibtd. vol. xxiv. 1855, p. 175;
Horsfield, Cat. Mamm. E. Ind. Co.’s Mus. 1851, p. 152.
Macroxus lokriah, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xxi. 1867, p. 281.
Hodgson described 8. lokriah as, “ above saturate brown, tipped with intense
orange,” and in his manuscript drawings he figures under the name of S'. lokriah an
animal of this description with deep orange under parts and no orange on the thighs,
although in his. description he says, “ below and the thighs deep orange; but on
another plate he again figures two squirrels, one with the under parts deep orange and
the outside of the thighs of the same colour, and thus agreeing with his description
of S lokriah, while the squirrel alongside of it has the u n d e r surf ace sullied white
and no orange or white on the outside of the thighs; to the former of these he affixes
the term S. lokriah and to the other S. lokroides. Dr. Gray, in his lis t of Mammalia
in the British Museum, regarded S. lokriah as the red-thighed squirrel, and
S. lokroides as the grey-thighed squirrel, but, in the Catalogue of Hodgson’s
Collection,1 we are informed that “ the specimens were misnamed m the former
sending, which has caused a mistake in the lis t of Mammalia,” so that what was
’ S’, lokriah of Dr. Gray’s List became in the Nepal Catalogue 8. lokroides.
Dr. Gray, in his Synopsis of Asiatic squirrels, separated 8. lokroides into two
species, placing one section in the genus Scmrus and the other in the genus
Macroxus. The first he regarded as S. lokroides, and included m it those Himalayan
and Assam squirrels with pale under parts, more or less sullied witi rufous-
vellow, and without red.thighs ; and to the other group, he referred the Himalayan
squirrel, M. similis, with reddish on the outside of the thighs, As I have already
stated, their skulls are in no way separable, whereas they are very distinct from the
skiill of S. lokriah, which is not so closely allied to S. lokroides, as would at first
he supposed from a cursory examination; neither is S. lokriah subject to much
variation. I t is much more richly coloured than S. lokroides, with no rufous even
on the thighs, and with generally a tuft of pure white hairs behind the ear, by
which it can be recognised, as it occurs in twenty instances out of twenty-five,
and even when absent the hairs in that locality have a paler colour. As this
whitish tuft lies backwards, it is only seen when the ear is carefully examined.
Besides these external distinctions, the two forms are markedly separated, as I have
said, by the forms of their skulls.
The pelage of S. lokriah is deep rich rather ferruginous olive-brown, soft and
silky; the under parts from the chin to the vent are rich orange, paler on the »Bin
and throat, but sometimes pale yellow, restricted to the mesial line. The tail
appears to be rather shorter than in S. lokroides, and the banding of the Bair
is much coarser and the paler bands are orange instead of yellow, but the distinguishing
feature is the great breadth of the apical black band, which is,
however, generally tipped orange or white; the hue of the tail being blackish,
washed either with yellow or white, most generally the latter. In some, the
annul i are very obscure, and the tail has an orange brownish hue; in others, owing
to the distichous arrangement of the hairs, the mesial line of the under surface of
the tail iff more or less obscurely banded orange and black, with a blackish margin
due to the broad terminal band.
In the Eastern Naga hills, Assam, there is a squirrel which agrees with S. lokriah,
except that the under parts, instead of being orange-red, are bluish-grey, and thus
may be indicated as var. tephrogaster. I t has no white spot behind the ears, but its
skull agrees with the skull of S. lokriah.
Dr. Gray included under S. lokriah a squirrel from Singapore which has a Very
strong external resemblance to it, with a rather bright orange belly and the upper
fur and tail much as in S. lokriah, but it has longer and more pointed ears, with
no white ear-tufts, and a skull remarkably distinct from S. lokriah, and which
may probably prove to he S. chinensis.
This species has been obtained in Nepal, the Sikkim Himalaya, and the
Naga hills, Assam; but I notice that Blyth, in his recent Catalogue of the
Mammals and Birds of Burma, states that it also inhabits the Khasia hills
and those of Arracan.
S c iu r u s letjcomtjs, Miiller & Schlegel.
Sciurus leucomus, Muller und Schlegel, Verhandl. 1889-44, p. 87; Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat
Hist. vol. xx. 1867, p. 272.
This is an olive-brown squirrel, about the size of S. lokroides, the hair being
grizzled or annulated in the usual way, but the bands are pale, especially on the