THE FLYING-SQUIRRELS OF ASIA AND AFRICA 241 
with the latter, flying-squirrels are more strictly nocturnal 
animals ; and their shrill scream is familiar to all travellers 
in the wooded districts of the Himalayas, as they are 
attracted by the light of the camp-fire. 
The smallest members of the group are the pigmy 
flying-squirrels, typified by Sccuropterus volans of Eastern 
Europe and Siberia, and represented in North America 
by the closely allied S. volucella. They are pretty little 
creatures, with soft velvety fur and enormous staring 
black eyes. In all the pigmy flying-squirrels the mem- 
brane connecting the hind-legs and the base of the tail is 
absent ; but, in compensation, the tail itself is broad, flat, 
and laterally expanded, so as to form an efficient aid in 
flight. 
The typical and larger flying-squirrels, formerly known 
as Pteromys but now called Petaurista, are confined to 
Europe and Asia, having no transatlantic representative. 
Unlike that of the pigmy flying-squirrels, the tail of these 
rodents is cylindrical and comparatively thin, while, as 
already said, the parachute is fully developed between the 
hind-limbs. 
In the last and finest representation of all the flying- 
squirrels—the species shown in the accompanying plate— 
the writer has a special personal interest. About the 
year 1878, when in Srinagar, Kashmir, he purchased 
the skin of a large flying-squirrel from a chamra-walla 
(tanner), who stated that it came from Astor or Gilgit, 
and that he had never previously seen its like. In due 
course this skin was brought to England, and converted 
into a perambulator-rug, in which capacity it was in use 
for several years, on one occasion narrowly escaping 
complete destruction by the jaws of a favourite pug-dog. 
At this period, it may be mentioned that the writer was 
16 
