PTEROMYS GENIBARBIS. 
Sagitta is mentioned as a native of Java, by Linnaeus, in tiie 12th Edition of 
the Systema Naturae, on the authority of Nordgren ; and a detailed description of it 
is given after the specific character : I was not so fortunate as to procure it* By 
M. Cuvier it is enumerated as an inhabitant of the Eastern Archipelago, generally. 
Professor G. Fischer has arranged the Scrums Sagitta, as a synonym of the Fetaurus 
Petaurista (Sciurus P.) : Pennant also has formed the opinion that they were the 
same animal, but Bodda^rt admits its existence as a distinct species, and Pallas 
enumerates, with his usual precision, the characters which distinguish it from Sciurus 
Petaurista. From these various opinions among the most eminent naturalists, it 
appears that its history and description require further illustration. 
To distinguish the Sciurus Sagitta, as far as it is yet known, at once, from the 
Pteromys genibarbis, it is sufficient to state, that it is described as having a 
ferruginous brown colour, that the flying-membrane extends from the head to the 
anterior extremities, and that it is only one palm in length. The appearance which 
is expressed by the specific name of Sagitta, is not observed in the Pteromys 
genibarbis ; and several other distinctions will appear in the following description. 
The specific name of our animal is derived from a numerous series of bristles 
or vibrissae, disposed on the cheeks, in a radiated manner ; and which, as far as I 
have been able to determine, distinguishes it from all other species. The Pteromys 
genibarbis has very nearly the size of the common European Squirrel : it measures 
full eight inches from the nose to the root of the tail. Its general appearance is that 
of the Flying-Squirrels of northern climates. The head is short, ovate, laterally 
compressed, and attenuated to a short, obtuse muzzle, which projects beyond the 
lower jaw. The nose is fleshy, thick, elevated, and the nostrils are pierced in 
part from the extremity, and in part from the sides. The emargination of the upper 
lip is scarcely perceptible, and the lower lip is short and regularly defined. The 
rictus, or gape of the mouth, is small ; and the head passes gradually, and imper- 
ceptibly to the body, by a very short neck. A peculiar character is afforded to our 
animal, by the vibrissa?, or beard of long, stiff bristles on the sides of the head, 
which are disposed successively above the upper lip, on the cheeks, and on the 
extremity of the lobes of the ears. The vibrissae of the first series are numerous, 
longer than the head, spreading, and of a dark colour : the second series, from the 
existence of which the specific name has been derived, covers the cheeks in a radiated 
manner, from the posterior canthus of the eye, towards the jaws ; it consists of above 
twenty separate bristles, closely applied to the sides of the head, about an inch in 
length in the middle, and gradually decreasing at the upper and lower margin : the 
third series arises from the base of the posterior portion of the lobe of the ear ; it 
