THE LESSER FLYING SQUIRREL. 319 



and a half, never more than five inches ; and that of the tail 

 is three inches and three-quarters. The eyes are surrounded by 

 broad black circles ; the ears are somewhat pointed at the tips, 

 and nearly hairless on the surface ; the whiskers are long and 

 black. The belly is nearly pure white ; the upper surface of the 

 body of a bright mouse colour, with a tinge of fawn ; the flying 

 membranes are of a fawn colour, surmounted by a black band ; 

 and the tail is of the same colour as the body, but rather dusky 

 beneath. 



The flying membrane consists " of a folding of the skin along 

 either side, so as to form broad lateral expansions, supported 

 before and behind by the limbs between which they are ex- 

 tended, and by peculiar bony processes arising from the feet. 

 These expansions are not naked and membranous, like those of 

 the bats, but are actual continuations of the skin, clothed exter- 

 nally by a dense fur similar to that which invests every other 

 part of the body. Neither do they serve the purposes of wings j 

 their functions being limited to that of a parachute, giving to the 

 animal a considerable degree of buoyancy, and thus enabling it 

 to take leaps of almost incredible extent, through which it passes 

 with the velocity of an arrow. The name of flying squirrel is 

 consequently founded on an erroneous assumption, but it may, 

 nevertheless, be admitted as a metaphorical expression of their 

 most distinguishing peculiarity."* "They will dart," says 

 Catesby, " fourscore yards from one tree to another. They 

 cannot rise in their course, nor keep in a horizontal line, but 

 descend gradually j so that in proportion to the distance of the 

 tree they mean to dart to, so much the higher they mount on 

 the tree they are about to leave, that they may reach some part, 

 even the lowest, of the distant tree, rather than fall to the 

 ground, which exposes them to peril. But having once re- 

 covered the trunk of a tree, no animal seems nimble enough to 

 take them." 



In the day-time they hide and sleep in hollow trees, and are 

 seldom visible unless disturbed j but at night-time they come 



* Zoological Gardens Delineated (1831), vol. i. p. 18fi. 



