WcZLsrS 
- 
yVOIa XXXVII. No. 15.1 
3 WHOLE No. 1472 . 1 
NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 13, 1878. 
PRICE SIX CENTS. 
*2.30 PER YEAR. 
[Entered according to Act of ConttreBa, in the year 1878. by the Kural Publishing’ Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
®|c ftaturdtsi 
FLYING MAMMALS. 
Among the transition animals which serve as 
connecting links between the principal masses, 
so as to form an unbroken chain from the most 
imperfect up to the most perfect, not the least 
interesting are those which, while they distinctly 
belong to the mammalian class in tlio Auimal 
Kingdon, yet by their peculiar conformation 
link it with the class immediately below—that of 
birds. Of these there is quite a large number 
of species and genera belonging to several fam¬ 
ilies and to three orders—the Cheiroptera or 
wing-handed; the Quadrumanous, or four- 
handed ; and the Itodentia, or gnawing animals. 
In common language these orders are repre¬ 
sented respectively by all the bat tribes, some 
members of tho monkey, and some of 
the squirrel races. 
Between tho various species of the bat 
family there is a vaHt difference in size 
and appearance, ranging, as they do, 
from the hideous little nocturnal prowl¬ 
ers of our own neighborhoods to the 
rather handsome Flying Fox of Africa, 
•Polynesia, and Southeastern Asia, which 
attains the size of a squirrel, and often 
measures four feet across its extended $ 
wingB. The bats may well be regarded 
as the chief representatives of the tran¬ 
sition lino of animals, both on account of 
their vast numbers, their widespread dis¬ 
tribution over every part of the habita¬ 
ble globe and the fact that the membra¬ 
neous webs extending between their 
limbs, serve all the purposes of verita- 
ble wings, enabling them to soar about 
with an ease and power denied to many 
members of the feathered races. ,* 
Among the flying representatives of / 
tho monkey race the largest and best 
known is the Flying Lemur, also called 
the Oolugo, or Oat Monkey. There are 
Beveral genera of the family, raugiug 
from the size of a rat to that of a oat, all 
inhabitants of tho East Indian Archipel¬ 
ago. The body is surrounded by a hairy 
lateral membrane, extending from the 
Hides of the neck to tho base of the feet, 
embracing the wrists, continued between 
tint logs and inclosing the tail, as in many 
bats. When extended this servos as a 
parachute to sustain the animal in its 
astonishing leaps, often of 100 yards, 
from tree to tree. When traveling among 
the brauohus the female curricB her young 
in an abdominal pouch; their food con¬ 
sists chiefly of insects, small birds, eggs 
and fruit; their color varies from light 
gray to russet; and although emitting a 
somewhat disagreeable odor their flesh 
is considered palatable by the natives. 
They constitute the connecting link be- 
twoon the monkeys and bats. 
Of flying squirrels there are three gen¬ 
era and a multitude of species. Their 
common characteristic consists in their 
being provided with wing-like membranes 
extending along the flanks between the 
aulorior and posterior limbs. These 
membranes are eovored with hair, like 
the other parts of the body, and consti¬ 
tute, when outspread, veritable para¬ 
chutes, which enable them to sustain 
themselves in mid-air longer than the 
commonality of animals, and to dear 
from 50 to 100 yards at a single bound. 
Of them the Taguan is the best known spe¬ 
cies. When the creature wants to take 
one of its marvelous leaps it stretches its 
four limbs to their fullest extent and is 
up-borne through the air on the parachute-like 
expansion which extends along its sides. Its 
total length is nearly three feet, the tail measur¬ 
ing about one foot eight inches. The color of 
the animal is a clear chestnut, deepening into 
brown on the back, and becoming more ruddy at 
the sides. The little pointed ears are covered 
with short, soft fur of a delicate brown ; the tail 
Is heavily clad with bushy, grayish-black hair's. 
The parachuto-liko membrane is delicately thin, 
and covered witii long fur, chestnut on the upper 
Bide and beautiful silvery grayish white on the 
' lower. The Taguan belongs to the genus Pter- 
omys, whose members are much larger than 
those of the other two genera and inhabit 
Southeastern Asia and the Indian Archipelago. 
Tho Sciuropturus are the smallest of the family. 
They inhabit the northern parts of the globe, in¬ 
cluding our own country; and intermediate in 
size are the Anomalures, .dwelling on the west 
coast of Africa. 
®jjf fhttprir, 
GRAFTING THE GRAPE FOR HYBRID¬ 
IZING. 
D. 8. MAKVIN. 
There are so many persons now interested in 
trying to improve our native grapes that a few 
notes by the way, of the processes, experiments, 
failures and successes, of the writer wilt doubt¬ 
less interest many of tho readers of the Rural. 
Even if it were otherwise desirable, however, 
space and time would forbid me to detail all my 
experiments, carried on now for quite a number 
of years. But one series of experiments and 
their results are so interesting that I will at¬ 
tempt to sketch the processes and speak of the 
reasons for their hopeful results, as it points to 
the way and manner that will probably lead to 
TAGUAN@-(A Bpeoles of Flying Squirrel.) 
important improvements, and give us, in a gen¬ 
eration or less, results that have required thou¬ 
sands of years to accomplish in Europe, by slow 
increments of gain, through the natural pro¬ 
cesses of amelioration by cultivation. 
It was loDg ago observed, in the attempted im¬ 
provements by growing seedlings of Pears, Ap¬ 
ples, Plums, etc., that seedlings from gvafted 
fruit yielded better results than from natural 
fruits. The seeds were lessoned in quantity and 
the fruit enlarged, for the stock, being different 
from the top, the sap thus generated being 
blended and commingled complicated the result, 
greatly increasing the chances and tendencies 
to produce sports, when, if the normal seed of 
the native plant alone had been used, it would 
have repeated itself, and no variation would 
have ensued. It is by the production of sports 
that we are enabled to go beyond the ordinary 
variations accomplished by nature through ame¬ 
liorating circumstances of propitious surround¬ 
ings. Such are the conjunction of a 
genial climate and a favorable soil to 
the seed of some plant carried by accident 
in the coat or intestines of some auimal, 
or the favorable contigirity of two plants 
of like or kindr ed botanical classification 
happening to blossom at tho same time 
and mingling pollen from one upon the 
o her, the seed dropping and germinating 
where it could, yet finding the proper 
surroundings for fall development. Why 
y t some one has not thought out and applied 
i grafting long ago for improving our na- 
tive grapes, only shows how young we 
still are in this important culture. Au- 
\ other most potent reason for retarded 
improvement has been that so much 
precious time has been wanted, in try¬ 
ing to utilize Yitis vinifera, the European 
grape, on the Atlantic seaboard, when, in 
reality, it will only succeed for hot-house 
culture. We are only now just realizing 
ftv-u and beginning to act energetically upon 
rO this stubborn fact. But to show that it 
is not even yet comprehended in its full 
import, some hybridists continue to use 
1 pollen from Y. vinifera to the present 
time, thinking that they can, by some 
hocus-pocus, overcome the laws of na¬ 
ture in mixing. 
After studying and thinking over the 
subject, some eight years ago, when the 
Eumelan was first introduced, and reeog- 
jV. nizing it as an aestivalis grape, I grafted 
it upon an Iona root for hybridizing pur¬ 
poses, and have uow for three years 
fruited a number of seedlings grown from 
the first cluster of grapes grown upon 
this vine, hybridized with pollen from 
Delaware, Iona, Concord, Adirondack, 
Martha and Walter. I used pollen from 
so many sources purposely, to complicate, 
if possible, the result, and was enabled 
t" to see that I liad made the desired im¬ 
pression, for the cluster was full and 
compact, while the normal clusters, ev¬ 
ery one who has fruited the Eumelan 
^1 knows, aro more or Jess emasculated. I 
' 1 '■ \\ chose the Iona for the stock because, in 
my judgment, it is itself a hybrid be- 
tween V. Labrusea and Y. cordifolia, 
although classed in the books as La- 
; brusca. 
' The Eumelan being a genuine V. festi¬ 
vals, I had the strains of two, if not 
three, botanical classes united, from 
which to grow my seedlings, aud am now 
making experiments with double grafted 
hybrid seedlings, but have uot fruited 
1 them yet, I did not take the pains to 
cut off the stamens of the Eumelan, for 
I had the idea that I could, in part, pre¬ 
occupy the stigma with the transported 
pollen, on account of the preference of 
