28 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[Febbuaby 1, 1895. 



head and body scarcely exceeds five inches. These squirrels 

 collect iu numbers in hollow trees, where they remain in 

 slumber during the daytime, to issue forth at night for the 

 purpose of feeding. Climbing to a coign of vantage on 

 some tree, they take their flying leaps to the bough or 

 trunk of another at a lower level, not unfrequently covering 

 a distance of some thirty or forty yards. The length of 

 the leap is, however, still greater among the members 

 of the next genus, reaching from sixty to nearly eighty 

 yards. 



The larger flying squirrels (Pteromys) form an exclusively 

 Asiatic gi'oup, represented by some ten species, and extend- 

 ing from the Malayan region as far north as eastern Tibet. 

 In addition to their superior dimensions, these flying 

 squiiTels are distinguished from the preceding group by the 

 greater width of the parachute along the sides of the body, 

 and the enclosure of the base of the tail in the portion 

 connecting the two hind-legs. The tail itself is, moreover, 

 completely cylindrical, instead of slightly compressed ; and 

 the molar teeth have rather taller and more complex 

 crowns than in the lesser flying squirrels. In some of the 

 larger species the head and body may measure as much as 

 eighteen inches in length, while the tail may reach to 

 twenty-four or twenty-five inches. 



The last member of the family is the woolly flying 

 squirrel f Kiqii'tatinis i — a magnificent species from the 

 neighbourhood of Gilgit, distinguished by the very tall 

 molar teeth, which have flat instead of ridged masticating 

 surfaces. It may be mentioned that the first skin of this 

 species brought to England was the property of the present 

 writer, who did not recognize its scientific interest until 

 the arrival of a living example. From having been 

 used as a perambulator-rug, it now occupies a position 

 in the British Museum as one of the type specimens of the 

 species. 



Although, as already mentioned, we are unable to trace 

 the three genera of typical flying squirrels to as many 

 ancestral non-volant forms, yet it will be seen that these 

 occupy a position in the family Sciurula precisely similar 

 to that held by the flying phalaugers in the Phidamjeiidir. 

 Whereas, however, we have a flying phalanger of dimensions 

 not exceeding a mouse, no member of the typical flying 

 squirrels has such extremely diminutive proportions. 



In spite of the circumstance that ordinary climbing 

 squirrels are met with abundantly in Africa, it is remarkable 

 that the typical flying squirrels are replaced by a group so 

 different from the latter that they are regarded by zoologists 

 as constituting a family by themselves — the Anomaluridm. 

 With the exception of the flying lemurs, these are the only 

 mammals provided with a parachute which constitute a 

 family by themselves ; and, so far as we are aware, no 

 suggestions have hitherto been ofi'ered as to the family of 

 rodents fi-om which they have originated. These African 

 flying squirrels, as they may be collectively called, differ 

 in several important structural features from their Asiatic 

 allies. In the first place, as is well shown in the accom- 

 panying illustration, the parachute is supported iu front by 

 a rod of cartilage projecting from the elbow, instead of 

 from the wrist ; and an additional peculiarity is to be found 

 in the presence of a row of overlapping horny scales on 

 the under surface of the root of the tail, which are believed 

 to be of assistance in climbing, and give the name to the 

 family. Certain structural peculiarities connected with the 

 skull need not be mentioned here. 



Hitherto the family has been known only by the short- 

 tailed Afi-ican flying squirrels constituting the genus 

 Anamalurus : most of the species inhabiting West Africa, 

 although one is found in Equatoria, and a second on the 

 east coast near Zanzibar. The smallest is the equatorial 



species {A. pusillus), the so-called pigmy flying squirrel, ia 

 which the length of the head and body is eleven inches, 

 and that of the tail just over five inches. 



It is but a few years ago that the last-named species 

 was first brought to the notice of science, and with its 

 description most zoologists probably thought that we had 

 exhausted all the interesting representatives of the family, 

 and that nearly the last word had been said about African 

 flying squirrels. 



Quite recently there has, however, been discovered in 

 the Cameroons district of Western Africa an entirely new 

 and most interesting representative of the family, con- 

 stituting a distinct genus (7(/('«;-i(s), and being by far the 

 smallest of all the known flying squirrels. Of this little 

 creature, which may be known by the name of the long- 

 tailed flying squirrel, we are enabled, by the courtesy of its 

 describer (l3r. Matschie, of the Zoological Museum, Berlin) 

 to give a lifelike figure — the first ever published in this 

 country. This little animal is not larger than a small 

 house-mouse, the length of the head and body being only 

 just over two and a half inches, and that of the tail four 

 inches. Agreeing with the ordinary African flying squirrels 

 in the general form and mode of support of the parachute, 

 as well as in the presence of rows of scales on the under 

 surface of the tail, the new species is at once distinguished 

 by the short knob-like nose, and the thinly-haired tail, 

 terminating in a pencil of hairs, and being nearly double 

 the length of the head and body, instead of considerably 

 shorter. In place of being uniformly and thickly covered 

 with fur, the tail is short-haired on its upper surface, with 

 three longitudinal rows of elongated sparse hairs, while 

 beneath it is naked, with three rows of scales near the 

 base. An important difference is also to be found in the 

 structure of the fore-foot, in which the thumb is reduced 

 to a mere knob-like rudiment, while in the hind-foot the 

 first toe is much smaller than the other four, which are of 

 approximately equal length. There are likewise structural 

 differences in the skull, into the consideration of which it 

 will be imnecessary to enter on this occasion. 



In colour, the fur of the back and upper surface of the 

 parachute is pale whitish-brown, the hairs being blackish- 

 grey at the base ; while on the under surface the general 

 hue is a mixture of yellowish and dark grey, with a tinge 

 of silver-grey on the parachute. 



At present known only by the single example represented 

 in our illustration, the long-tailed flying squirrel has 

 precisely the same relation in point of size to the largest 

 members of the family as is presented by the pigmy flying 

 phalanger to the great flying phalangers of Australia, and 

 thereby shows us another curious instance of parallelism 

 in development. Of course, nothing is known as to the 

 habits of the new African animal, and comparatively little 

 of those of the pigmy flying phalanger. The latter 

 creature is, however, stated to be very active in leaping 

 from bough to bough of the trees it frequents ; and it 

 may be presumed that, iu the case of both animals, the 

 flying leaps merely extend from one bough to another, 

 and do not enable the creatures to pass from tree to 

 tree after the manner of the larger flying phalangers and 

 squirrels. 



As it is only quite recently that anything has been 

 recorded regarding the habits of the larger members of the 

 family, we may conclude with an extract from a note 

 published by Mr. W. H. Adams in the L'riictrdings of 

 the Z()ohi(jical Saciety, concerning Pel's flying squirrel 

 ( Annmalnrus jieli ) from West Africa. The writer there 

 states that these squirrels " come out of their holes in the 

 trees some hours after sunset, returning long before day- 

 break. They are only to be seen on bright moonlight 



