THE TAGUAN FLYING SQUIRREL. 



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The Dormouse is rather gregarious in its habits, so that whenever one nest is dis- 

 covered, several others may generally be found at no very great distance. These nests 

 are of considerable dimensions, being about six inches in diameter, and are composed 

 of grass, leaves, and similar substances. The entrance to the nest is from above. 



The young animals are generally three or four in number at a birth, and make their 

 appearance about the end of spring or the beginning of summer. It is probable that 

 there may be a second brood towards the end of autumn, as Mr. Bell received from 

 one locality in the month of September one half-grown Dormouse, which had evidently 

 been born in the spring, and three very little specimens, which were apparently not 

 more than a week or two old. They are born blind, but are able to see in a very few 

 days, and in a remarkably short space of time become independent of their parents. 



Like many other rodent animals, the Dormouse carries the food to its mouth with 

 its forepaws, while it sits upright on its hinder legs. It is also able to suspend itself 

 by the hind-feet from any convenient branch, and may often be seen hanging in this 

 manner, and eating as comfortably as if it were seated on firm ground. The Dormouse 

 is not confined to England, but is spread over the whole of Southern Europe, and is 

 common even in Sweden. 



TAGUAN FLYING SQUIRREL. -Pleromys Petaurlsta. 



THE beautiful and active group of animals of which our English Squirrel is so 

 familiar an example, are found in almost every portion of the globe, and, with one or 

 two exceptions, live almost exclusively among the branches of trees. In order to enable 

 them to maintain a firm clasp upon the branches and bark, they are furnished with long, 

 finger-like toes upon the fore-feet, which are armed with sharp curved claws. 



In the Flying Squirrels, of which the TAGUAN is a good example, the skin of the flanks is 

 modified in a method similar to that which has already been noticed in the Petau- 

 rists of Australia and the Colugo of Java. This skin is so largely developed, that when 

 the animal is sitting at its ease, its paws but just appear from under the soft folds of 

 the delicate and fur-clad membrane. When the creature intends to make one of its 

 marvellous leaps, it stretches all its four limbs to their fullest extent, and is upborne 



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