SQUIRRELS. 
31 
Suborders contains by far the greatest number of species, and is 
itself divisible into three sections, of which the Squirrel, Rat, and 
Porcupine are severally typical. 
Of the Sciuromorphaj or Squirrel section, may be mentioned the 
following : — 
The Scaly-tailed Flying Squirrels {Anomalurus) of Equatorial 
Africa (Case 27, above) , with membranous parachutes like the'Flying [Case 27.] 
Lemurs described above (p. 30), and with a series of pointed scales 
so placed under the base of their tails as to be of use when the 
animal is resting on a vertical tree-trunk, the points of the scales 
sticking into the surface of the bark. 
The true Flying Squirrels of Southern Asia [Pteromys) , perhaps 
the most brightly coloured of all Mammals ; with the exception of 
their flying membrane, there is no structural difiPerence between 
them and the ordinary Squirrels. 
The Chipmunks, Sousliks, and Marmots [Tamias, SpermopMlus, 
s^ndiArctomys) (Case 28, above) live in burrows of their own construc- 
tion. TheCommon Marmot inhabits the Alpine 
regions of Europe. The North- American Prairie-Marmots {Cy- 
nomys), better known as Prairie-Dogs, excavate a large number 
of deep burrows close together, forming what is called a town. 
Frequently they have to share their home with weasels, burrowing 
owls, and rattlesnakes, which quarter themselves on the unfortunate 
Marmots, and feed on their young. 
The Squirrels [Sciurus) (Case 28, below) form the largest genus of [Case 28.] 
the present group, about 70 species being known, distributed over 
the whole world with the exception of the Australian region. They 
range in size from species more than a foot in length, such as 
the Purple Squirrel [Sciurus indicus) of India, down to others 
scarcely larger than Mice, as, for example, the Black-eared Squirrel 
of Borneo [S. melanotis). Squirrels are generally bright-coloured, 
and vary in an extraordinary degree, as may be gathered from an 
examination of the instructive series of S. hypopyrrhuSj the Grizzled 
Squirrel, placed in the lower part of Case 28. This species is orna- 
mented with patches or bands of white, yellow, grey, brown, and 
black, in every combination, each variety passing, by insensible 
gradations, into the next. Specimens of our common Squirrel also 
[S, vulgaris), killed respectively in England, Switzerland, and 
