28 MEMOIR OF PALLAS. 
one has received a more detailed description. - The 
next animal of which he gives an account is the 
great flying-squirrel from the islands of the Indian 
archipelago, by him denominated Sciwrus petaurista, 
from the enormous leaps it takes by means of its 
wing-like membranes. It is the Pteromys petaurista 
of our systems. After briefly alluding to the dimi- 
nutive species of Northern Asia and America, which 
had long been known, and mentioning the very 
little that had been recorded of the animal before 
us, by Valentyn and in the Lettres Hdifiantes, he 
states, that he drew his description from three spe- 
cimens in the respective museums of Leyden, the 
Hague, and the Prince of Orange. These gave the 
size equal to that of a small rabbit, about eighteen 
inches long. The description is accompanied by 
an excellent representation, which is still copied 
into some of our most popular works. Another 
animal, concerning which he states that naturalists 
had preserved the most profound silence, and which 
he describes at length, supplying good figures, is 
his Cavia Capensis (Caliai). He is at pains to 
distinguish it from the water-hog (ydrocherus), 
and the Guinea-pig (Cabaya) of South America; 
he also distinguished it from the agouti and the 
aperia and paca of Marcgraf, &c. This animal is 
now arranged as the {/yrax of Hermann, the Duman 
of Buffon, Desmarest, &c.; it is the Jsrael of the 
Arabs of Mount Lebanon, and is generally regarded 
as the Coney of the Sacred Scriptures. We shall 
next allude to his Apis ithiopicus, which. at pre- 
