30 
MAMMALIAN GALLERY. 
by some with the Lemurs, hy others with the Insectivores, but 
differs sufficiently from both to he considered apart. It contains the 
so-called Flying Lemurs of Malaysia and the Philippines, animals 
of about the size of a cat, with a lateral extension of the skin of 
the body, supported hy the four limbs and tail, and forming a sort 
of parachute. By the help of this parachute, the Galeopitheci 
can float through the air for considerable distances from tree to tree, 
but their flying leaps are always in a descending direction, as in 
Flying Squirrels and Flying Lizards, and not as in Bats, which 
have the power of flapping their wings and rising and falling in 
the air at their pleasure. Galeopithecus lives exclusively on vege- 
table food. Two specimens, one of which has the parachute 
opened, are exhibited. 
Order VI. BODENTIA, or GNAWING MAMMALS. 
(Cases 27-32.) 
The Bodentia, or Gnawing Animals, comprise the Squirrels, 
Bats, Hares, &c., and form by far the largest order of Mammals, 
containing over 900 distinct species, a number more than double 
that of the next largest, the Chiroptera. As a whole, the Bodents 
are distinguished by their small size, nocturnal habits, and vege- 
tarian diet, all of them living mainly on fruits, leaves, nuts, and 
other similar food, although many of the species will occasionally 
eat eggs, birds, fish, or other animal food. Their peculiar denti- 
tion, by which they are distinguished from other Mammals, is 
described on p. 83. 
AVith regard to their geograjihical distribution, they are, next 
to the Chiroptera, the most widely spread of all Orders, extending 
over the whole world, with the exception of the more remote 
Pacific islands, to which they have never had means of access. 
IMany of the species are arboreal, like the Squirrels, or aquatic, like 
the Water-Voles and Musquashes ; but the great majority are bur- 
rowing and terrestrial animals, which only come forth by night to 
seek their food, on which account, although so numerous, they are 
but little seen by ordinary observers. 
The Order is divided into those with only one pair of incisor 
teeth in the upper jawq and those with two. The first of these 
