THE COLUGO. 113 
Tt is found in many of the islands that belong to the Indian Archipelago, and is 
tolerably common. As far as is known, there are several species of Galeopithecus ; 
three, according to some naturalists, and four according to others. 
The colour of the fur is very uncertain, even in the same species, some specimens 
being of a light brown, others of a grey tint, more or less deep; while many individuals 
have their fur diversified with irregular marblings or stripes, or spots of different shades 
and tints. 
The teeth of the Galeopithecus are very curious in their shape, and present as great 
a contrast to the usual quadrumanous tooth as the entire form does to that of the true 
monkeys. The upper incisor teeth are separated from each other by a rather wide empty 
space, the lower incisors have their crowns deeply cut, as if they were being manufactured 
into combs, bearing, indeed, a very close resemblance to the rudely-manufactured wooden 
combs made by the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands. 
None of the fingers of this animal are furnished with the broad flat nail which is 
found in the real monkeys, but each finger is armed with a sharp claw, decidedly hooked, 
and retractile. The thumbs are not opposable to the fingers. The hinder limbs are 
slightly larger than the arms. The Colugo is by no means a small animal, as, when it is 
full grown, it equals a large cat in size. The natives of the countries where this animal 
is found are in the habit of using it as an article of food. Strangers, however, find its 
flesh very unpleasant, on account of a strong odour with which it is pervaded. 
As in this work it has been my endeavour to render the study of Animal Life as 
entertaining as possible, I have carefully avoided the use of scientific terms, which might 
give an air of pedantry to its pages, and deter the reader from venturing upon a 
subject so repellent. A greater stress has, therefore, been laid upon the disposition and 
habits of the various animals than on their purely physical form, and the descriptions 
have been rather of species than of genera. But if any reader should desire to learn the 
leading characteristics by which the genera are separated from each other and placed in 
their respective positions, he is referred to a “Compendium of Generic Distinctions,” 
which will be found at the end of Vol. L, and by means of which, the reader will be 
enabled to assign almost any animal to its proper genus. 
