112 



THE COLUGO. 



inexperienced eye. The membrane is not used in the manner of wings, but is merely 

 employed as a sustaining power in the progress through the air. It is evident, there- 

 fore, that at every leap, the spot at which it aims must be lower than that from which 

 it starts, so that it is forced, after some few aerial voyages, to run up the trees and at- 

 tain a higher station. It is said that the Colugo will thus pass over nearly a hundred 

 yards. 



Among other bat-like habits, the Colugo is accustomed to suspend itself by its hinder 

 paws from the branch of a tree, and in this pendant attitude it sleeps. Its slumbers 

 are mostly diurnal, for the Colugo is a night-loving animal, and is seldom seen in 

 motion until the shades of evening draw on. But on the approach of night, the Co 

 lugo awakes from its drowsiness, and unhooking its claws from the branch on which it 

 has hung suspended during the hours of daylight, sets off on its travels in search of 

 food. 



COLUGO. -Ouleopithecous volaas* 



The diet of this animal is said to consist of mixed animal and vegetable substances, 

 the former being eggs, insects, and small birds, while the latter is composed of various 

 soft fruits. Its paws are equally adapted for grasping the boughs of the trees among 

 which it passes its existence, and for seizing the prey on which it lives. The thumbs 

 are not capable of opposition to the fingers, and therefore cannot be used as are the 

 thumbs of the human hand. 



It will be remembered that, in the Aye-aye, the structure of the mamma? is very 

 different from that of the true monkeys ; and in the Colugo, the same organs are marked 

 by a singular peculiarity of form and number. Instead of the usual supply of two 

 mammae on the breast, the Colugo is furnished with four of those organs. 



The female Colugo is motherly in her habits, and carries her young family with her 

 until they have attained a moderate size. 



