The ears are rather large, and their inner surfaces are only very sparsely covered
with very short, adpressed hairs, and the backs with short, soft, silky hair. All the
under parts are white, very slightly washed here and there with yellowish. The tail
is moderately bushy, and all the hairs are annulated with four alternate orange and
black bands, the terminal black band being occasionally tipped with white and being
as broad as the three remaining bands, so that the tail has a decidedly black tint
washed with whitish, the orange bands, however, appearing through the black.
Blyth calls this a ground squirrel, but it is not so in the sense of being a
Tamias, nor does it appear to be less arboreal in its habits than 8. maclellandi or
S. pctlmarum.
This species ranges southward through Martaban and Tenasserim to Cambodja
and Cochin China.
I have examined the various types indicated in the above synonymy.
S c i u r u s i n s ig n i s , P. Cuvier.
Macroxus insignis, P. Cay. Hist. Nat. des Mammif. Nov. 1821, pi. 228; Lesson, Man. de Zool.
1827, p. 288; Gervais, Mag. de Zool. 1882, pi. xxxii. figs. 5, 8 (skull).
Sciurus insignis, Horsfield, Zool. Reseh. in Java (plate); Cat. Mamm. E. Ind. Co/s Mus. 1851, p. 151;
Desmarest, Mamm. 1820, Suppl. p. 544; Fischer, Syn. Mamm. 1829,p. 359; Wagner, Schreber,
Säugeth. Suppl. vol. iii. 1848, p. 205; Müller und Schlegel, Yerhandl. 1889-44, pp. 87, 99;
Gray, List Mamm. B. M. 1848, p. 141; Schinz, Syn. Mamm. vol. ii. 1845,. p. 87.
Macroxus (Laria') insignis, Gray, Ann, and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1867, vol. xx. p. 2.76.
The young of this squirrel is dark brown, with a rather bright rufous tint on
the front of the thighs, and, more or less also, on their outsides, and on the shoulder.
There are three narrow black streaks from the shoulder converging slightly towards
the root of the tail. The under parts and the insides of the fore limbs are white,
washed with rufous. The inside of the lower part of the hind leg is dusky and
tinted with th,e previous colour. The feet are dark, unpunctulated brown. The
backs of the ears are clad with short hairs. The whiskers are black. The tail is dark
brown with some of the hairs having very obscure greyish tips. The fur is very
finely punctulated with rich yellow, the tips of the hairs being brown and their
basal "two-thirds greyish. The hairs of the tail, when pulled asunder, are also seen
to be feebly annulated with yellowish-brown and dark brown, the subterminal
(basal) ring being of the former colour, and the free end of the hair very broadly
blackish-brown, occasionally with a greyish tip.
In the adult, the sides of the animal are rufous-brown, lightest on the thighs.
The area between the black dorsal lines, on the two anterior thirds of the trunk, is
much punctulated with yellowish which also extends on to the head. The hinder
part of the back is rich red-brown, the under parts are clear mellow white, the insides
of the limbs are washed with rufous.
1 Müllerand Schlegel suggest that as they never heard the term “ Lary” applied to this squirrel, as stated by
Horsfield, the term perhaps was given in joke by some native, inasmuch as larie means to run!
A specimen from Malacca differs from all the others in the yellowish-brown
colour of the upper parts generally; and in the red tint of the thighs being but
little pronounced and tending more to yellow than red; the under parts are pure
white.
Length, from muzzle to tail 7*50 inches; tail reaching forwards to nearly the
head.
The skull has a rather narrow and pointed facial portion, and no great breadth
between the orbits.
In S. insignis the two wnst-pads are largely developed, especially the inner of
the two, which is enlarged internally by a peculiar development, as it were, of the
metacarpal of the thumb, whieh projects outwards; and the other bones of the digit
appear as if they were bent inwards on themselves, towards the front end of the pad,
acting as a kind of support to it. The small nail is flat and placed near the end of
this hook. I have not observed a similar arrangement in any other squirrel. But
in all the Southern Asiatic species the thumb can always be detected, generally,
with a small flattened nail; but in some species, such as 8. palmarnm, it is most
rudimentary.
This species occurs in Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and has also been found at Canton.
In these islands it is essentially an inhabitant of the mountains, and is seldom found
upon trees. Müller and Schlegel observe that it builds its nest in the trunks of
fallen trees.
* S c iu r u s m a c l e l l a n d i , Horsfield.
Sciurus maclellandi, Horsfd. Proc. Zool. Soe. 1839, p. 152; ibid. 1856, p. 402; Cat. Mamm.
E. Ind. Co/s Mus. 1851, p. 151; Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xvi. 2nd ser. 1855, p. 113;
Wagner, Schreber, Sáugeth. Suppl. vol. iii. 1843, p. 207; Gray, Hand-List Mamm. B. ML
1843, p. 142; Walker, Cal. Joum. Nat. H is t.‘vol. iii. 1843, p. 266; Schinz, Syn. Mamm.
vol. ii. 1845,. p. 34; Blyth, Joum. As. Soc. Beng. vol. xvi. 1847, p. 875; Cat. Mamm. As. Soc.
Mus. 1863, p. 107; Gray, Proc. Zodl. Soc. 1861, p. 137; Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xx
1867, p. 274; Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1862, pp. 1 1 , 357; ibid. 1870, p. 634; ibid. 1872
p. 818; Jerdon, Mamm. Ind. 1867, p. 173.
Sciurus pembertonii, Blyth, Joum. As. Soc. Beng. vol. xi. 1842, p. 887.
Sciurus barbei, Blyth, Joum. As. Soc. Beng. vol. xvi. 1847, p. 875, pi. xxxvi. fig. 3 ; ibid. vol. xviii.
1849, p. 603; ibid. vol. xliv. 1875, ex. no. p. 38; Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. Mus. Bene 1863*
p. 107. - i ’
Tamias leucolis, Temm. Esq. Zool. sur la Cóte de Guiñé, 1853, p. 252.
Sciurus {Tamias) rodolphi, A. M.-Edwards, Rev. et Mag. de Zool. Juillet 1867, vol xix p 227 ■
Rech. des Mammif. 1871, p. 162. ' r ' j ’
Sciurus barbei, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xx. 1867, p. 280.
Sciurus maclellandi, var. Swinhoe, A. M.-Edwards, Rech. des Mammif. 1868-71, p. 308.
This small lineated squirrel, with white pencils to its ears, has the general colour
of the fur oliye-brown, each hair haying a dart brown or nearly blackish tip, with a
sub-apical yellow band, the base of the hair being slaty black. A pale, yellowish hand
commences in the types of S. maclellandi, S. pembertoni, and S. barbei on the side
of the nose, and passing underneath the eye and ear along the side of the neck, is