Sciwm laticaudatus, Müller und Schlegel, Verhandl. 1889-44, pp. 100 and 215, figs. 1, 8 ; Wagner,
¡pehreber, Säugeth. Suppl. vol. iii. 1843, p. 206; Schinz, Syn. Mamm. vol. ii. p. 40, 1845 ;
Cantor, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. vol. xv. 1846, p, 251; ibid. vol. xx. 1851, p. 167.
Müller and Schlegel’s description of 8. laticaudatiis would seem to leave no
doubt but that the animal described and figured by them under that name is this
species which is so remarkable, not so much on account of any character presented
by its tail, as by reason of its deep and rather long muzzle, with which there is associated
a correspondingly elongated and narrow skull, unlike the skulls of squirrels
generally with their much compressed and rather feeble incisors, while the first of
its five upper teeth is remarkable on account of its strong development and from
the presence of four distinct cusps, the foremost of which is the largest, while in
other squirrels there are only one or two small cusps. The skull of Ta/rmas
daviclanus closely approaches it in its general character, but the muzzle is shorter;
however, these two skulls are more closely related to each other than to the skulls
of the other squirrels of Southern Asia.
Gray’s type was purchased from a dealer and was entered in the British Museum
Register as coming from Malacca, but Dr. Gray in his Synopsis gives Singapore as
the habitat. Blyth received a specimen from the Malayan peninsula. The type
of S. laticaudatus was procured by Diard, in 1827, on the west coast of Borneo
near Pontinack, where this peculiar squirrel is not uncommon. Müller and Schlegel
met with it in that island, along the banks of the rivers Baritto or Doeson, and in
the mountain jungle.
As remarked by Müller and Schlegel, its pelage has a strong resemblance to the
pelage of S. imignis, having much the same character, except that it has no
black bands. The coloration, as in & insignis, is more murine than in any other
Asiatic squirrel, except perhaps T. davidanus, and it is very variable in its
intensity, varying from light to dark, almost blackish brown. I t is about the
size of S. insignis, and the tail is shorter than the body, reaching to about the
eye when laid forwards. The tail is moderately bushy, rather contracted at the
base, but expanding towards the tip. The hairs are banded rather broadly with
four alternate pale-brown and dark-brown bands, the last band being the darkest
and broadest, with a pale-brown tip. The ears have the same form as in the
squirrels, but the moustache is much more feeble. The under surface is nearly
pure white in some, and rich orange-yellow in others.
The figure of the muzzle, as given by Müller and Schlegel, appears to have
been taken from a stuffed specimen from which the skull had been removed,
so that the true character of the muzzle in the living animal is not correctly
represented.
I have examined the types of H. tupciioides and R. laticaudatus, and find that
they belong to only one species.
This species is found in the Malayan peninsula and in Borneo.
S c it jr u s ( R h e it h r o s c iu r u s ) m a c r o t is , Gray.
Sciurus macrotis, Gray, Proe. Zool. Soe. Lond. 1856, p. 841, pi. xlvi.
Rheithrosciurus macrotis, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xx. 1867, p. 272.
The head is large, compressed, and short ; the ears are large, with a pencil of
elongated hairs at their tips ; the feet are large and strong ; and the sides of the
animal are laterally banded.
The general colour is dark chestnut-brown, very minutely punctulated ; the
hind quarters, including the base of the tail, and the outsides of the fore and hind
limbs, bright bay ; the feet blackish. There is a brownish band from the «.villa to
the groin, with a yellowish-white band above it. The cheeks and inner sides of the
limbs are pale brownish ; the chin, throat, and under parts, white. Tail, broad and
full, grizzled, and with long white tips to the hairs.
Habitat.—Sarawak, Borneo.