On a new Species of Pteromys. 405 



Manners, $c. — The Oral is very easily tamed even when 

 caught adult, and when young becomes a most engaging 

 pet. It can be reared on goat's or cow's milk, and in about 

 three weeks will begin to nibble fruit of any kind. During 

 the day it sleeps much ; either sitting with its back bent 

 into a circle and its head thrust down to the belly, or lying 

 on its back, with the legs and parachute extended, a position 

 it is fond of in sultry weather. During the night time it is 

 incessantly on the move. In spite of its flying parapherna- 

 lia, the Oral is by no means so agile as other squirrels ; its 

 pace on the ground is a hobbling or hopping kind of gallop, 

 nor is it particularly nimble even on trees, the parachute 

 flapping about and impeding its movements in moving from 

 branch to branch. In a wild state it scrambles in this 

 manner all over a tree, and when wishing to pass on to an- 

 other at some distance, does not descend to the ground, 

 but leaping from the topmost branches sails through the air 

 by means of the parachute, and reaches the lower part or 

 trunk of the adjacent tree. These leaps or flights can be 

 extended, I am told, to ten yards or upwards, (always of 

 course in a diagonal and lowering direction). I, myself, have 

 never witnessed them, and on the only occasion in which 

 I ever tried the powers of flight of the animal, (by throwing 

 it up to the ceiling,) it came down again to the floor on its 

 belly, with a thump that put me in fears for its life, indeed, 

 any cat in a similar predicament, would have managed more 

 cleverly. 



The Oral is a characteristic and fitting appendage to the 

 secluded and beautiful spots it is generally found in. And 

 the hour in which it appears, adds to the wildness of the 

 association; for it is when day-light begins to fade away, 

 and darkness accumulates faster under the umbrageous 

 trees which cluster round steep ravines, or entwine their 

 branches over running waters, that its faint querulous cry 



is first heard, and it creeps stealthily out of its diurnal re- 



3 G 



