FLYING LIZARD. 



485 



pleasure of tlie animal, during its short aerial ex- 

 cursions. 



Among the mammalia we meet with a few spe- 

 cies, which have a broad membrane, formed of a 



222 



duplicature of the skin, extended like a cloak from 

 the fore to the hind extremities, and enabling the 

 animal to flutter in the air, and to break its fall 

 during its descent from the branches of trees. 

 Structures of this kind are possessed by the Sciurus 

 volans, or flying squirrel, and also by some other 

 species of the same genus. They are seen on a 

 still larger scale in the Lemur volajis, or Galeopi- 

 tliecus. The resistance which these broad expan- 

 sions of skin oppose to the air, when the limbs are 

 spread out, enables the animal to descend in perfect 

 safety through that medium from very considerable 



