CLASS MAMMALIA. 



195 



The Southern Fo.c Squir- 

 rel has the ears and nose 

 white, the Western dark or 

 black, while the body of 

 either may be gray, black, 

 mottled, russet, or orange. 



The flying -squirrel has 

 an extension of the skin of 

 the flank between the fore 

 and the hind legs which, 

 \vith the flattened tail, forms 

 a parachute to sustain 

 it in leaping from tree 

 to tree.* There is prob- 

 ably but one species in 

 North America, though 

 ranging from British 

 America to Guatemala, 

 but differing somewhat 



FIG. 3.T,. 



Sciu'rus nil pi 1 mis. 

 Southern Fox Squirrel. ( 1.) 



FIG. 337. 



in color and size. 



titi u rop' te rus col u eel' la. Flying-squirrel. (A.) 



ORDER INSECTIVORA (ill sek tiv'6 ra). 



The members of this order are insect-eating, and have 

 teeth studded with points for crushing the hard integu- 

 ments of their prey. They are plantigrade, with a ten- 

 dency to an underground life. Those inhabiting cold coun- 

 tries hibernate, as their food fails them during the winter. 



swimming broad riveis (not sailing over on a piece of bark, as fabulously related), 

 sweeping through fields and forests, till, the imperious but inscrutable instinct 

 satisfied, they scatter and find homes. 



* It is not flight, since the squirrel can not propel itself in the air, nor even 

 sustain itself at the same height. The first impulse being given by its powerful 

 hind legs, it descends obliquely, and, just before reaching the point aimed at. by 

 an upward movement of the tail and the impetus of its velocity, ascends ;i short 

 distance, and thus alights flat upon its four feet. 



