MAMMALS. 



609 



It has a broad membrane extending from its neck all round the body, 

 and reaching to the extremities of the toes and of the tail, so that when 

 the limbs are spread, the whole surface presented is very large, and hence 

 the animal is able to glide even better than the form with which it has 

 been compared. For our knowledge of its habits we are mainly indebted 

 to Wallace, who observed them in Sumatra. The colugo, or kaguan, as 

 this animal is called, rests during the day, clinging to the trunks of trees, 



Fig. 4110. — Kaguan, or colugo {Galeopithecus volans). 



where its mottled fur resembles closely the bark, and no doubt aids in 

 protecting it from observation by its enemies. In the twilight it is more 

 active, and it leaps and sails from tree to tree like a flying-squirrel, some- 

 times passing a distance of seventy yards. Wallace states that the animal 

 lives on leaves, — a strange diet for an insectivore, — and the structure of 

 the stomach and intestines would tend to confirm this, though the strange 

 character of the teeth would indicate that there was some other element 

 in the diet ; perhaps insects are also largely eaten. 



