92 RODENTS. 



creature. When going to sleep, a specimen kept by Prof. F. H. King was in the 

 habit of first placing its nose upon the table, or other surface upon which it 

 happened to be standing, and then walking forwards and at the same time rolling 

 itself up, until the nose almost protruded from between the hind-legs. The tail 

 was then curved in a horizontal coil around the feet, so that the whole animal 

 appeared to form a complete ball of soft fur. 



One of the smallest representatives of these animals is the pigmy flying 

 squirrel (S. sp,t<lir,_ns), from Arakan and Cochin-China, in which the length of 

 the head and body is only about 5 inches, while the tail is half an inch shorter. 

 This species is chestnut-red above, with the basal portions of the hairs black, and 

 white beneath. The polatouche, or Siberian flying squirrel (S. volans) is about 

 6 inches in length, with the upper-parts of the body in summer tawny brown, and 

 the under-parts pure white ; the tail being greyish above and rufous beneath. 

 Extinct representatives of these flying squirrels have recently been recognised 

 from the middle Tertiary deposits of Europe, and it is probable that the genus is 

 likewise represented in the corresponding rocks of North America. 

 Larger nying The larger flying squirrels (Pteromys), of which an example is 



Squirrels. represented in our coloured Plate, in addition to their superior dimen- 

 sions, are distinguished from the preceding by the greater relative width of the 

 flank-membrane, by the presence of a well-developed membrane connecting the 

 hind-legs and embracing the upper part of the tail, as well as by the perfectly 

 cylindrical form of the latter appendage. They are further characterised by the 

 taller crowns and somewhat more complex structure of the molar teeth, which are 

 nearly similar in all the species. 



There are at least ten species of this genus, ranging from India, through 

 Burma and the Malayan region to the south of China and Formosa, and also 

 extending northwards into Eastern Tibet. One of the best known species is the 

 Malayan flying squirrel, or taguan (P. petav/ristd) from the Malay Peninsula and 

 Islands. Closely alned, is Hodgson's flying squirrel (P. magnijicus), from the 

 Nipal Himalaya and the ranges south of the Assam Valley, at elevations of from 

 five thousand to six thousand feet. The length of the head and body of this species 

 is 16 inches, and that of the tail from 18 to 22 inches. Its colour appeal's to undergo 

 a seasonal change : the upper-parts, in what is considered to be the summer-dress, 

 being of a deep maroon colour, usually with a more or less distinct yellow line down 

 the middle of the back: while the sides of the neck and the inner border of the 

 parachute yellowish, and the rest of the latter reddish or chestnut. On the other 

 hand, in the presumed winter-coat, the upper-parts are chestnut, without any light 

 line down the back. The larger forests of peninsular India south of the Ganges, as 

 well as those of Ceylon, Burma, and Mergui, are tenanted by another very fine 

 species known as the large brown flying squirrel (P. oral), in which the length of 

 the head and body varies from 16 to 18 inches, and that of the tail from 24 to 2.5 

 inches. The general colour is grizzled-brown above, varying from deep chestnut to 

 grey in one direction, and to black in the other: the under-parts being white, often 

 more or less tinged with grey or brown. In the Western Himalaya, at elevations 

 of from six thousand to ten thousand feet, and in Kashmir, this species is replaced 

 by the closely allied large red flying squirrel (P. inomatus), distinguished by its 



