264 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



is no bigger than a mouse." All of them live 

 among tall trees and keep hidden in the 

 branches till evening, when they become very 

 active in search of the fruits, leaves, and insects 

 on which they feed. Their flight, too, is of the 

 parachute order, but it is much more effective 

 than that of the flying lizard. They have a fold 

 of skin covered with hair extending from the 

 fore-legs to the hind-legs, and, when they 

 launch themselves into the air from the top of 

 a tree, the outspread skin bears them up for a 

 considerable distance, and even enables them 

 to change their direction a little while in the 

 air. They cannot, however, move the fold of 

 skin up and down, and therefore they can only 

 "fly" to a lower level than they started from. 

 The " flying squirrels," mostly found in 

 Asia, have a somewhat similar arrangement, 

 and they are able to leap a distance of 20 

 yards. The curious " flying lemur " or Colugo 

 of the Indian Archipelago has an even more 

 effective parachute, for its fold of skin does 

 not stop at the hind-legs but fills the space be- 

 tween them, the long tail passing down the 

 middle. Mr. Wallace, the naturalist, observed 

 the flying lemurs in their native haunts, and 

 he thus describes their flight: "Once in a 



