THE SUGAR SQUIRREL, OR SQUIRREL PETAURUS. 



459 



The tail of the Hepoona Roo is almost as long as the body, and is heavily covered 

 with long and soft fur of a general brown tint, warming to a reddish-rust near its inser- 

 tion, and darkening into a blackish-brown near its tip. 



Sometimes the fur of this animal varies so widely from the color which has just been 

 described, that it can hardly be recognized as the same animal, except by a very care- 

 ful inspection. In some specimens the back is ashy-gray, and the under portions of a 

 dirty grayish-yellow, while in others the coat is variegated with brown, gray, and white, 

 the only dark spot being the tip of the tail, which still retains its deep brown hue. A 

 similar phenomenon takes place with the weasels, when their hair becomes white dur- 

 ing a very sharp winter. 



In one or two instances, the fur is totally white, and in such cases it is evident that 

 the animal can only be considered as an albino. 



The head of the Hepoona Roo is small, and its large and expressive ears are covered 

 with hair. It is not a very small animal, as the total length is rather more than three 

 feet, the head and body occupying one foot eight inches, and the tail rather exceeding 

 eighteen inches in length. 



SUGAR SQIRREL, OR SQUIRREL PETAURUS.-Peteuri/s Sclureus. 



ON account of the wonderful resemblance which exists between the members of the 

 genus Petaurus and the flying squirrels that belong to the family of rodents, the Pe- 

 taurists have, ever since their discovery, been popularly known by the same title. 

 There seems to be little doubt but that the Petaurists are the representatives of these 

 flying rodents, and that the strange animal creation of Australasia is a kind of repe- 

 tition of the ideas which formed the animal creation of the older world, but carried 

 out in a different manner and for different purposes. 



The animal which is represented in the accompanying engraving is known by several 

 popular names, the most common of which is the SUGAR SQUIRREL. It is also called 

 the NORFOLK ISLAND FLYING SQUIRREL, and the SQUIRREL PETAURUS. 



It is not nearly so large an animal as the hepoona roo, being only sixteen inches in 

 total length, of which measurement the tail occupies one moiety. 



The fur of the Sugar Squirrel is very beautiful, being of a nearly uniform brownish- 

 gray, of a peculiarly delicate hue, and remarkably soft in its texture. The parachute 

 membrane is gray above, but is edged with a rich brown band, and a bold stripe of 

 blackish-brown is drawn along the curve of the spine, reaching from the point of the nose 



