2 2 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



simulates the stump of a broken branch. Then 

 again the cobegoes or flying lemurs of the East 

 Indies and Philippine Islands are another instance 

 of colour-protection. 



The common cobego or flying lemur {Galeopithecus 

 volans) — also called colugo and kaguan — is about 

 the size of a cat and measures twenty-five inches in 

 total length, the head and body together taping sixteen 

 inches. A specimen now before me has the head 

 small and pointed, with small eyes and ears, and a 

 few slender whiskers about the muzzle. The incisor 

 teeth are most remarkable, being compressed from 

 before backwards and expanded laterally; those in 

 the lower jaw are so deeply cusped as to be comb- 

 like, and have very narrow bases. The outer upper 

 incisors are double rooted — a curious circumstance 

 unique amongst mammals — while under the tongue 

 is a rudiment of the lemurine sublingua briefly 

 noticed when describing the spectre tarsier. The 

 cobego is further noteworthy in the possession of a 

 well-developed fold of skin, which unites the fore 

 and hind limbs and can be expanded like the para- 

 chute of a flying squirrel. A well-marked patagium, 

 partly cutaneous, partly muscular, connects the fore- 

 limb with the neck, while even the fingers and toes 

 are webbed for three-quarters their length. The 

 tail is encased in a well-developed steering mem- 

 brane. Such an extraordinary being, half bat, half 

 lemur, seems a survival of antediluvian times when 



