THE TAGUAN. 711 



fur is delicate and soft, brownish gray on the back, lighter on the sides 

 of the neck, yellowish-white on the whole underside. The paws are 

 silver-white, the flying membrane is edged with black and white, and 

 the bright eyes are of a black-brown color. 



The Flying Squirrel is a harmless and very gentle species, becoming 

 tame in a few hours. After a few days it will take up its residence in 

 some crevice, or under the eaves, and will remain there for years. They 

 are gregarious, and live in considerable communities. There is nothing 

 resembling flying in their movements, they merely descend from a high 

 position by a gliding course, alight on a tree, ascend it at once, and again 

 descend with their membrane expanded. They do not build nests, like 

 the true squirrels, but confine themselves to a hollow in a branch. 



The Lyutaga, Sciuroptcrus Sibcricus, inhabits the northern portion of 

 Eastern Europe, but is most common, as its name indicates, in Siberia. 

 It is about the same size as our native Flying Squirrel. The thick, silky 

 fur is of a grayish-brown in the summer season ; it grows longer in win- 

 ter, and its color changes to a silver-gray. 



GENUS PTEROMYS. 



The twelve species of this genus comprise the Round-tailed Flying 

 Squirrels. It is a more southern form than the preceding genus, and is 

 confined to the wooded regions of India from the Western Himalayas to 

 Java and Borneo, with species in Fozosa and Japan. 



The TAGUAN, Pteromys petaurista (Plate LVI), is a native of India, 

 where it is tolerably common. It is rather a large species, as its total 

 length is nearly three feet, the tail occupying about one foot eight inches, 

 measured to the extremity of the long hairs with which it is so thickly 

 clothed. The general color of this animal is a clear chestnut, deepening 

 into brown on the back, and becoming more ruddy on the sides. The 

 little pointed ears are covered with short and soft fur of a delicate 

 brown, and the tail is heavily clad with bushy hairs, grayish-black on the 

 basal portions of that member, and sooty-black towards the extremity. 

 The parachute membrane is delicately thin, scarcely thicker than ordi- 

 nary writing-paper, when it is stretched to its utmost, and is covered 

 with hair on both its surfaces, the fur of the upper side being chestnut, 

 and that of the lower surface nearly white. A stripe of grayish-black 



