can inflict terrible laceration upon its foe. It is of a sufficiently pugnacious disposition, 
and when it is enraged is a desperate fighter with teeth and claws. 
The flesh of the Taguan is said to be very good, and as the animal is a tolerably large 
one, it is a favourite article of diet among the white and black inhabitants of the country. 
It is, however, so extremely difficult of capture, that, without the assistance of native aid, 
the white men would seldom be able to make a dinner on this creature. But as travellers 
or hunters are generally accompanied by one or more “black fellows,” they are well 
supplied with Taguans by the quick eye and ready hand of their sable allies. 
In colour the Taguan is extremely variable, but the general arrangement’ of its 
colour is as follows. 
The back is of a rather deep blackish-brown, darker or lighter in different individuals, 
the feet and muzzle are nearly black, and the under surface of the body and membrane 
is white. The upper surface of the parachute membrane is rather grizzled, on account of 
the variegated tints of black and grey with which the hairs are annulated. Many varieties, 
however, of colour exist in the animal, and there are hardly any two specimens in which 
