264 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 
is no bigger than a mouse.” All of them live 
among tall trees and keep hidden in the 
branches till evening, when they become very 
active in search of the fruits, leaves, and insects 
on which they feed. Their flight, too, is of the 
parachute order, but it is much more effective 
than that of the flying lizard. They have a fold 
of skin covered with hair extending from the 
fore-legs to the hind-legs, and, when they 
launch themselves into the air from the top of 
a tree, the outspread skin bears them up for a 
considerable distance, and even enables them 
to change their direction a little while in the 
air. They cannot, however, move the fold of 
skin up and down, and therefore they can only 
“fly” to a lower level than they started from. 
The “flying squirrels,’ mostly found in 
Asia, have a somewhat similar arrangement, 
and they are able to leap a distance of 20 
yards. The curious “ flying lemur” or Colugo 
of the Indian Archipelago has an even more 
effective parachute, for its fold of skin does 
not stop at the hind-legs but fills the space be- 
tween them, the long tail passing down the 
middle. Mr. Wallace, the naturalist, observed 
the flying lemurs in their native haunts, and 
he thus describes their flight: ‘““Once in a 
