In the original work I remarked having seen the skin of a polatouch
larger than the common size, but the difference was very trifling,
to one the Prince de Condé has since permitted me to examine, whose
bulk was perfectly gigantic, compared with those of Russia or America,
the latter never exceeding five inches in length, and this measured
twenty-three. It was taken upon the Malabar coast, where they are
very common, as well as in the Philippine Islands, and other parts
of India, where they are called taguans, or great flying squirrels;
but notwithstanding they resemble the polatouch in figure, and the
extension of their skin, yet I think they ought to be considered as
different species; for among other varieties, the tail of the taguan
is round, and that of the common kind flat; the hair of the former's
tail is also of a blackish brown, the face is quite black, the sides of
the head have a mixture of white hairs, and on the nose and round the
eyes, there are also some red ones; it has long brown hairs that cover
the neck, the whole back is a mixture of black and white, the belly of
a dirty white; the upper part of the extended skin is brown, and the
under a greyish yellow, the legs black with a reddish shade, the tail
brown, deepening by degrees until it becomes quite black at the end,
the toes are black, and the claws hooked like those of the cat, from
which, and the resemblance of the tail, it has been called by some the
flying cat. M. de Vosmaër, in his Description of an _Ecureuil Volant_,
gives a very particular account of both species, as does M. l'Abbé
Prevost, and both of which perfectly coincide with the above.
At this time, March 17, 1775, I have one of the small species alive;
I kept it in a cage, with a box at the bottom filled with cotton, in
which it covers itself all day, and only comes out at night to seek
for food. Whenever it is forced to come out, it cries somewhat like a
mouse; its teeth are small, but sharp, and it bites violently; it can
only be made to extend its wings by letting it fall from some height;
and it is so very chilly, that I am astonished how it preserves itself
in the northern climates, since it would very soon perish, even in
France, if it were not supplied with plenty of cotton to cover itself
all over.
Of the Great Flying Squirrel M. de Vosmaër remarks, "that it has a
great affinity to the smaller species described by M. de Buffon;
they both have the same kind of membranes, with which they support
themselves in the air when they leap from tree to tree." These animals
were first mentioned by Valentine, who states them to be found in the
island of Gilolo, where they are called _flying civets_; he describes
them to have long tails, and says, when at rest their wings are not
to be seen; that they are very wild and fearful; that their heads are
reddish, intermixed with grey, that their membranes are covered with
hair, their teeth so strong and sharp that they would soon escape from
a wooden cage; that they are sometimes called _flying monkeys_; and
that they are also to be met with in the island of Ternat, where they
were at first mistaken for squirrels.
M. l'Abbé Prevost says, it is also found in the Philippine Islands,
where it is called _taguan_; that he saw two females, the one at the
Hague, whose body was a light chesnut, rather darker on the back, and
black towards the extremity of the tail; and that he had also seen
two males in the Prince of Orange's cabinet, which were one foot five
inches long in the body, and their tails one foot eight. The hind part
of their heads, back, and the commencement of the tail are covered with
long hairs, black at the bottom, and of a greyish white at the ends;
the other part of the tail is black, and the hair is so disposed as to
make the tail have a round appearance, the cheeks are brown, and their
throats, breasts, and bellies are of a whitish grey. The membranes are
the thinnest in the middle where they are covered with chesnut hairs,
increasing in thickness towards the paws, and the colour growing darker
until it is nearly black at the extremities.