RATUFA BUNGURANENSIS (Thomas and Hartert).
1894. Sciurus bicolor bunguranensis Thomas and Hartert, Novitates Zoologicæ, I, p. 658. September, 1894 (Bunguran).
1895. Sciurus bicolor bunguranensis Thomas and Hartert, Novitates Zoologicæ, II, p. 491. December, 1895 (Bunguran).
1900. Ratufa ephippium bunguranensis Bonhote, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 7th ser., V, p. 497. June, 1900.
Thirteen specimens from Bunguran, all in various stages of the change from the bleached winter coat to the summer pelage. In the latter there is some color variation, mostly due to the greater or less distinctness of the drab wash overlying the Prouts-brown or 'chocolate' of the upper parts. Not only does the drab vary in amount in different individuals, but on every specimen it is more noticeable when the animal is viewed from in front. The drab wash is of the same character as that in Ratufa affinis, though less conspicuous.
As Mr. Thomas has pointed out to me, after examining a specimen of the latter, Ratufa bunguranensis is closely allied to R. pyrsonota. Indeed its relationship to the Siamese species is much closer than to the R. ephippium of Borneo. Together with R. pyrsonota the Bunguran giant squirrel differs conspicuously from that of Borneo in its narrow skull, lengthened audital bullæ, dark feet, dark median line on under surface of tail, and entirely brown back. From R. pyrsonota, however, it is readily separable by its darker, less ochraceous color both above and below, drab washed back, and by the much less distinct annulation of the hairs of the dorsal surface.