248 GALEOPITHECID,E. 



Suborder DERMOPTERA. 



This suborder contains but a single family, represented by only 

 one genus. The connexion with the Insectivora is not very 

 obvious, and the view, already noticed, that the Dermoptera should 

 rank as a distinct order has much in its favour. 



Family GALEOPITHECID^E. 



Genus GALEOPITHECUS, Pallas (1780). 



It will be convenient to give all the characters of this anomalous 

 mammal under the head of the genus. The flying lemurs, as they 

 are called, are animals about the size of a small domestic cat, 

 having a rather long head, well-developed tail, and slender limbs. 



Fig. 70. Lower incisors of Galcopittecus. (Guide to ihe Galleries of 

 Mammalia, British Museum, 1885.) 



An expansion of the skin connecting the limbs begins from the 

 side of the throat, extends all along the neck, body, and tail to 

 the tip, and forms a web between all the toes which are included 

 in it to the base of the claws. The whole forms a parachute, by 

 the aid of which the animal glides from tree to tree. Something 

 similar is found in flying squirrels and in some other mammals and 

 a few lizards, but in none is it so fully developed as in the present 

 genus. 



Dentition: i. |, c. |=|, pm. |=|, m . J|. The upper incisors 

 are quite at the side, all the terminal portion of the upper jaw 

 being toothless. The anterior pair of incisors are compressed and 

 subpectinate, with one root. The second incisor and the canine 

 are similar to each other in shape, both being compressed and 

 two-rooted, with a triangular crown terminating in a median 

 point. Premolars and molars three-rooted. Anterior premolar 

 with two principal cusps. Second premolar and all the molars 

 similar in shape ; the crown semioval in section, with the convex 

 side inwards, and sharply tuberculate around a central hollow. 



