THE SUGAR SQUIRREL. 365 
formed with great powers of grasp, and their structure is intended to fit them for procuring 
their food among the branches of the trees, on which they pass the greater portion of their 
existence. 
These creatures fall naturally into three subdivisions—namely, the Petaurists, or those 
which are furnished with a parachute-like expansion of the skin along the flanks, much 
resembling a similar structure in the colugo, or flying lemur, which has been already described ; 
the Phalangists, or those which are devoid of the parachute, and are furnished with a long 
prehensile tail ; and the Koalas, or those which are devoid of both parachute and tail. Accord- 
ing to many excellent authorities, these three subdivisions are, in fact, three genera, which 
comprise the whole of the Phalan- 
gistines, and which render any fur- 
ther separation into genera entirely 
unnecessary. 
THE animal which is represented 
in the accompanying engraving is 
known by several popular names, 
the most common of which is the 
SuGar SqurRReEL. It is also called 
the NorroLxk ISLAND FLYING SQurIr- 
REL, and the SQUIRREL PETAURUS. 
tis only sixteen inches in total 
length, of which measurement the 
tail occupies one moiety. 
The fur of the Sugar Squirrel is 
very beautiful, being of a nearly 
uniform brownish-gray, of a pecu- 
liarly delicate hue, and remarkably 
soft in its texture. The parachute 
membrane is gray above, but is edged 
with a rich brown band, and a bold 
stripe of blackish-brown is drawn 
along the curve of the spine, reach- 
ing from the point of the nose to 
the root of the tail. The head is 
somewhat darker than the rest of 
the body. The under parts of the 
body are nearly white. 
Its long and bushy tail is covered with a profusion of very long, full, soft hair, grayish- 
brown above, and of a beautiful white underneath. The extremely long tail with which these 
animals are furnished appears to be of exceeding service to them in balancing their bodies as 
they make their desperate leap through space, and may also be useful in aiding them to modify 
the original direction of their sweep through the air. 
This supposition is strengthened by the fact, that many long-tailed animals employ that 
member for the same purpose when they are perched in any critical position where an accurate 
balance is needful. I have seen a large spider-monkey employ her long prehensile tail for the 
same purpose. She was seated upon a loose horizontal cord, holding as usual by her hands 
and tail. But when I gave her an apple, she removed both her hands from the cord, grasping 
it firmly with her hinder feet, and then permitted her tail to hang its full length, so that she 
could balance herself by swinging it from side to side, according to the necessity of the moment. 
This was the more remarkable, as the animal is noted for the pertinacity with which it 
erasps any neighboring object with its tail, and never likes to move without securing itself by 
its tail to the various objects as it goes along, or even to the string by which it is led. 
The Sugar Squirrel, like the other Petaurists, is a nocturnal animal, and is seldom seen 
SUGAR SQUIRREL, OR SQUIRREL PETAURUS.—Pelaurus sciureus. 
