CHAPTER XXVI. 



THE FLYING SQUIRREL AND ITS RELATIVES. 



(Family Sciuridw.) 



QUIRRELS, the world over, constitute a very large 

 group of mammals that naturalists associate together 

 in the family Sciuridw, it being one of the principal 

 families of the order Rodentia. In North America the 

 Sciuridw are chiefly represented by the marmots, the chipmunks, 

 the spermophiles, the squirrels, and the flying squirrels. In this 

 country we have at least two well-marked forms of the last- 

 named species; namely, the Northern flying squirrel (S. v. hud- 

 sonius), and the Southern flying squirrel (S. v. volucella), the for- 

 mer inhabiting the upper part of California and northward 

 through the Pacific regions to the Rockies, while the latter va- 

 riety occurs in all suitable localities over the United States, 

 except where hudsonius is found. It also ranges through Mexico 

 and Guatemala. 



Occasionally, in the old works upon the natural history of 

 these animals, we find the American flying squirrels called Assa- 

 pans, the origin of which term has just now escaped me. There 

 are also animals in eastern Asia that have been called Tayu<nix, 

 but they are flying marmots of the genus Pteromys, allied to the 

 squirrels. Both possess lateral dermal expansions, by means of 

 which they can for certain distances sail through the air, upon 

 launching themselves into it from some elevated position. 



Anatomically, our little flying squirrels very closely resemble 

 the typical members of the genus Sciurus; their large, full eyes, 

 certain dental differences, and the possession of the dermal para- 

 chute being evident distinctive differences. Flying squirrels are 

 also of small size. Sciurus volans, of Linnaeus, is the flying squir- 

 rel of Europe, popularly called the Minene in some quarters, 

 and the King of the Squirrels (Konig der Grauwerke) by the Ger- 

 mans. In many of its habits it is said to agree with our Sciurop- 

 terus, but is more solitary in disposition. 



Around my present home the little flying squirrels are quite 

 plentiful, and they have taken to living under the eaves and in 

 the water pipes of the house, and not long ago a very beautiful 

 little specimen came into the kitchen one morning, where he was 



