The probability, therefore, is that this latter skull from Sumatra is a female, and the
former a male, because the first of these is identical with the skull of P . grandis,
which is known beyond all doubt to belong to the female sex. Swinhoe observes
that the young is darker than the adult, with more black, especially about the head,
feet, and tail. The latter, as in all young Pteromys, has the hairs laterally adpressed
and parted down the mesial line, above and below. The pupil, the same observer
states, to be round and not linear, and the animal is nocturnal in its habits.
Its voice is in marked contrast to that of P. oral, its soft whistle being
heard at the approach of twilight.
The length of the sucking young is, body 6-75 inches, and tail 6*20: the
adult animal is 2 feet long, and its tail is the same length.
Pennant describes the colour of the head, body, and tail to be bright, bay, in
some parts inclining to orange; breast and belly of a yellowish-white; the tail
being covered with long hairs disposed horizontally. Length from muzzle to tail
18 inches, tail 15 inches. He states that it inhabits Java.
This species would therefore appear to have a wide range, being distributed
over the Malayan peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Eormosa, and Borneo.
In the Leyden Museum there is a large flying squirrel from Borneo, which
appears to be a variety of this species. I t is intermediate in its characters between
P . nitidus and P . melanotis, but unlike the latter, to the colour of which it has a
general resemblance, it has no black points.
The upper parts are rich ferruginous brown, finely grizzled with white on the
back, from the shoulders downwards, but not on the parachute. The cheeks and feet
are concolorous with the back, but the tail is darker, passing into a dark reddish-
brown. The under parts are pale white, more or less washed with reddish. The
cheek-bristles are well developed, and the tail is not bushy. The specimen is a
female, and the body measures 14-40, and the tail 15 inches.
P t e r o m y s m e l a n o t i s , Gray.
Pteromys melmoUs, Gray, Proc. Zo'ol. Soc. 1886, p. 88; Charlesworth’s Mag. Nat. Hist, (new series),
vol. i. 1837, p. 584; Hand-List Mamm. B. M. 1843,. p. 1341; Horsfield, Cat. Mamm. E. Ind.
Co/s Mus. 1851, p. 162; Blyth, Joum. As. Soc. Beng. vol. xxviii. 1859, p. 277.
Pteromys nitidus, Gray, Gray and Hardw. 111. Ind. Zool. vol. ii. 1834, pi. xvii. | Cantor, Joum. As.
Soc. Beng. vol. xv. 1846, p. 252.
Pteromys melanopis, Motley and Dillwyn, Contrib. Nat. Hist. Labuan and Borneo, 1855, p. 2.
This is a large flying squirrel with a relatively smaller head than P. oral and
its Himalayan allies, P . magnificus, P . albvoenter, and P , caniceps.
All the upper surface of the trunk is bright rich reddish-bay, paling to
yellowish on the tail, but especially brilliant behind the ears, which are sharply
pointed, and their posterior margins below the tip are concave. On the head the
1 Dr. Gray mentions P . diardii, Temm., as a synonym of this species, bat I have sought in vain for any other
reference to such a name.
reddish-bay fades into pale yellowish. There is a blackish area over the nose,
another around the eyes, while the moustachial region is brownish. The feet and
a line along one-half of the carpal cartilage, and a portion of the anterior border
of the limb, and the tip of the tail, are black. Cheek-bristles are present. The
chin is dark blackish-brown, and the front part of the throat and all the under parts
are rich rufous yellowish, most intense on the mesial line, on the inside of the limbs
and on the outer half of the parachute which is rich red. The tail is not very
bushy, and apparently tends to become distichous. The body, in the Museum
specimen, measures 21-75 inches, and the tail 14*75 inches, without the terminal hair.
The skull has a short muzzle, rather broader and shorter than in the other
species. The molars are strongly tubercular, and the incisors rather narrow.
Dr. Gray at first assigned this animal to Nepal, but afterwards, in his List of
Mammalia published in 1834, correctly referred it to Java. I t occurs also in Borneo
and Malacca, and in the latter locality is known as the “ Tupai Terbcmg” Einlayson
or Crawford’s Mission to Cochin China obtained it in Siam.
One of Cantor’s specimens from Malacca is in the India Museum, London,
with his own label attached to it as P . nitidus, and he mentions that the part of the
head anterior to the ears, the cheeks, chest and abdomen are white in some individuals
of either sex.
The figure in Gray and Hardwicke’s illustrations does not represent the Javan
animal P . nitidus which .has not a pale-coloured yellow head with a black ring
around the eye, and black paws, the tail being lighter coloured than the body; these,
however, are the characters of P. melanotis. The animal figured appears either to
have had no black tip to its tail, or to have lost that portion.
* P t e r o m y s p e a r s o n h , Gray. Plate XXIII.
Pteromys pearsonii, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. x. 1842, p. 262; Schinz, Syn. Mamm.
vol. ii. 1844, p. 57; Horsfd. Cat. Mamm. E . Ind. Co/s Mus. 1851, p. 162.
Pteromys sagitta, Walker, Cal. Joum. Nat. Hist. vol. ii. 1843, p. 266.
Pteromys (Sciurcpterus) setosus, Temm. Faun. Japon. Mamm. 1847, p. 49.
Seiuropterus villosus, Blyth, Joum. As. Soc. Beng. 1847, vol. xvi. pt. ii. p. 866; ibid. vol. xxxii.
1868, p. 96; Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. Mus. Beng. 1868, p. 96; Jerdon’s Mamm. 1867 p. 179.
Scimoptera villosa, Blyth, vol. xxviii. 1859, p. 278.
Seiuropterus kaleensis, Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1862, p. 859; ibid. 1870, p. 634.
I have examined the type of P . pearsonii in the Indian Museum, also the type
of P. villosus, Blyth, and of P . kaleensis, Swinhoe; and two skins from Teng-yue-chow
in Yunnan exactly agree with P. pearsonii and P. villosus. This species is a small
flying squirrel about the size of P . alboniger, but considerably more rufous than
that species, and at once distinguished from it and P. jvmbriatus by the long hairs
that clothe the base of the ears, and from P. genibarbis by the absence of the
postocular vibrissse. The upper surface of the head, and the back are rich glossy
reddish-brown, finely grizzled with black; the parachute being blackish-brown,
faintly and sparsely washed with reddish-brown. The fur is very fine, soft and