THE CO LUGO. 
101 
The eyes are of a brownish-yellow color, ancl very sensitive to light, as may be expected 
in a creature so entirely nocturnal in its habits. The movements of the Aye-aye are slow 
and deliberate, though not so sluggish as those of the Loris. It is not a very small animal, 
measuring almost a yard in total length, of which the tail occupies one moiety. 
On a review of this and the Lemurine monkeys, it can hardly fail to strike the observer 
that there must be something very strange in the climate or position of Madagascar— perhaps 
in both— that forbids the usual quadrumanous forms, and produces in their stead the Lemurs, 
the Indris, and the Aye-aye. So very little is known of this important island, that it may be 
the home of hitherto unknown forms 
of animal life, which, when brought 
under the observation of competent 
naturalists, would fill up sundry blanks 
that exist in the present list of known 
animals, and afford, in their own per- 
sons, the clue to many interesting sub- 
jects which are now buried in mystery. 
The strange animal which is known 
by the name of the Flying Lemur, or 
Colugo, presents a singular resem- 
blance to the large bat which is popu- 
larly called the Flying Fox, and evi- 
dently affords an intermediate link of 
transition between the four-handed and 
the wing-handed mammals. 
By means of the largely-developed 
membrane which connects the limbs 
with each other, and the hinder limbs 
with the tail, the Colugo is enabled to 
leap through very great distances, and 
to pass from one bough to another with 
ease, although they may be situated so 
far apart that no power of leaping 
could achieve the feat. This membrane 
is a prolongation of the natural skin, 
and is covered with hair on the upper 
side as thickly as any part of the body, 
but beneath it is almost naked. When 
the creature desires to make one of its long sweeping leaps, it spreads its limbs as widely as 
possible, and thus converts itself into a kind of living kite. By thus presenting a large sur- 
face to the any it can be supported in its passage between the branches, and is said to be able 
to vary its course slightly by the movement of its arms. 
When the animal is walking or climbing about among the branches, the wide membrane 
is folded so closely to the body, that it might escape the observation of an inexperienced eye. 
The membrane is not used in the manner of wings, but is merely employed as a sustaining 
power in the progress through the air. It is evident, therefore, that at every leap, the spot 
at which it aims must be lower than that from which it starts, so that it is forced, after some 
few aerial voyages, to run up the trees and attain a higher station. It is said that the Colugo 
will thus pass over nearly a hundred yards. 
