I20 ANIMALS OF LAND AND SEA 



Some of the Malayan geckos or singing lizards have the body 

 expanded somewhat after the fashion of the flying lizards, but 

 the expansion is not stiffened. These have been supposed to 

 fly, but Dr. Stejneger believes that the broadening is merely an 

 adaptation for concealing them by obscuring their outline and 

 that they cannot really fly. 



Certain climbing snakes of the Maylayan archipelago are 

 able without any special adaptations of the body to glide 

 through the air like a missile from one tree to another over a 

 considerable distance. These flying snakes have the under 

 side of the body marked with deep longitudinal grooves, and 

 during the leap they hold themselves motionless like a rigid 

 stick. In the forests of Sumatra, Borneo and Java there lives 

 the flying frog, a sort of tree frog with especially elongate toes 

 and fingers between which are greatly developed webs. In 

 jumping from tree to tree this frog is said to spread its feet and 

 thus to glide on the expanded membranes much after the man- 

 ner of the flying squirrels, covering enormous distances. Most 

 tree frogs are prodigious jumpers, and there seems to be some 

 doubt whether this one is really helped much by its large feet. 



We all know that certain kinds of animals are only found in 

 certain regions of the world, tigers only in Asia, giraffes and 

 zebras only in Africa, kangaroos only in Australia, musk oxen 

 only in the arctic regions, armadillos and sloths only in trop- 

 ical America, etc. In the same way certain habits afTecting 

 many kinds of animals may be confined to particular localities, 

 Terrestrial flying creatures other than insects, birds and bats 

 are almost exclusively confined to the East Indian region, where 

 we find flying squirrels, flying makis, flying lizards, flying snakes 

 and flying frogs. Outside of the East Indies there are only 

 three types of flying animals, the flying squirrels of Asia, 

 Europe and North America, the flying opossums of Australia 

 and New Guinea, and the flying mice of Africa, only one sort 

 of flying creature in each place. Except for birds and bats and 

 insects there are no flying animals of any kind in South Amer- 

 ica. 



