Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-04-21
FLYING WITHOUT WINGS.

Animals that Succeed In Moving Freely
Through the Authorizations of Nature
that Are Used in Flight.
Birds and insects are not the only
animals that fly Il veteran taxidermist
said. Here 5 Il collection I'm making
that shows all the animals known that
move through the air without wings; not
many, to be sure. but interesting enough
when You come to think about it. Now,
if any one should tell You that he'd seen
and shot Il monkey sailing through the
air one hundred feet from the ground.
you'd think perhaps hr was overloading
you with facts; but here the very Great
ure, a regular flying monkey. He amt
much at it now, on account of being 4
little too set up with Il cough of apol-
ogy for the professional joke. Its
name is the colugo or flying lemur.
They are found in the islands of the In
dian archipelago. You see. the limbs
are connected by this wide membrane
that looks exactly like 4 great hairy
cloak that, if the animal folded its arms,
would completely cover it up. 1t is 4
night animal, like the bat. and lives on
very much the same kind of food. and
spends its time in the trees. When it is
crawling along a limb the membrane
hangs closely to the body. and you nev-
er would suspect it of lying; but let
anything disturb it. and it's good-by
legs. 1t rllshes to the top of the tree.
out on the end of q branch. and dashes
off into the air. The four legs are
stretched out ut full length. and the
skin between them bellies out like 4
parachute. and it moves away. floating
down and swinging from side to side,
and after passing perhaps two or three
hundred feet downward sweeps up
twenty-five or thirty. faStens to Il limb.
and in less time than you can tell it, is
at the top of the tree and has flung
itself of again. L travels so fast i'm this
way that a man told me that he couldn't
keep up with one by running along be-
low; and in one case where one jumped
from 4 tree nearly one hundred feet
high. it came down about fifty feet with
a rush and by the force of its swOop
rose nearly the same distance again.
They carry their Young, generally two,
through the air with them
''Hcre are 4 number of squirrels that
are wonderful flyers. This one,"
ciiiOctliulS dONu DION III ShIIt vi
an animal resembling our striped va
riety, Z" is the sugar squirrel from the
South Pacific. Its legs are connected
by delicate membrance, which it uses
III very similar way to the flying
monkey, only it is much more of flyer,
and in this operation it uses the tail to
steer with. They travel in tlOcks, and
MIR. Bennett, the great traveller. often
saw them sweeping over river that was
nearly 200 feet wide, and the elevation
from which they started was not more
than thirty feet. Here is another that
looks like our common squirrel. It is
called the Ariel, and a good name it is,
as 1t spends most of its time in the air.
MIR. Broderip tells this of one of them:
I'VE had one of these squirrels on board
when off the coast of New Holland. On
one occasion it reached the masthead,
and. as the sailor who was dispatched
to bring it down approached, it made q
spring from aloft to avoid him. At this
moment the ship gave q heavy lurch,
which, if the original direction of the
little creatures course had been con-
tinued, must have plunged it into the
sea. All who witnessed the scene were
in pain for its safety. but it suddenly ap-
peared to check itself. and so to modify
its career that it alighted safely on the
deck This shows that the membrane
IS not merely parachute. rs they can
change their course.
Here is a flying mouse from Van
Diemen's Land, though it might be
called flying opossum. rs it has u
pouch for its young. In appearance it
resembles al ordinary mouse, being
about sly inches long. including the
tail. The hair is arranged ON either
side OF the tail in two rows. exactly like
feathers, and undoubtedly brought into
play as 4 rudder in its daring flights
from tree to tree. Another flyer is the
flying phalanger of New Holland. 1t is
nearly three feet in length. and a pom
derous animal for such aerial fiji ghts
But the largest and heaviest flyer is the
taguan, also from New Holland. It.
looks like n gigantic squirrel, with great
Happy ears, and a long tail covered with
bristling, stiff hairs more than two inch
es in length. 1t is never seen ON the
ground, but it darts from tree to tree
by the aid of the wonderful membrane
That 1t spreads to the breeze. The
hesh is eagerly sought after by the na-
tlves, who show remarkable cunning in
capturing them. A slight scratch on
the bark Of the tree, or Il chance hair
that has adhered to the side of the hole
IN The tree into which the animal has
entered. tells its tale, according to
WOOD; as clearly to the black man as if
Ne had seen the animal ascend the tree
anu enter the domicile. He is even able
70 garner from the appearance of the
scratch and the aspect of the hairs how