The Polatouch ([fig. 121]) resembles but in a few particulars either the squirrel, loir, or rat. To the squirrel it has no affinity but in the largeness of the eyes, and form of the tail, the latter of which, however, is neither so long, nor bushy as in the former. He is more like the loir by the shape of his body, his short and naked ears, and the hairs of his tail, which are of the same form and length; but he is not like him, subject to numbness in cold weather. The polatouch is a different species from the squirrel rat, or dormouse, though he participates of the nature of all three. M. Klein gave the first exact description of this animal, in the Philosophical Transactions, 1733; he was, however, known long before that time. He is found in the northern parts both of the ancient and New Continent,[AB] but he is more common in America than in Europe, where he is seldom seen, except in Lithuania and Russia. This little animal dwells upon trees, like the squirrel; he goes from branch to branch, and when he leaps from one tree to another, his loose skin stretches forward by his fore-legs, and backward by his hind ones; his skin thus stretched and drawn outwardly more than an inch, increases the surface of his body, without adding to its weight, and consequently retards the acceleration of his fall, so that he is enabled to reach in one leap a great distance. This motion is not like the flight of a bird, nor the fluttering of a bat, both of which are made by striking the air with repeated vibrations. It is one single leap, caused by the first impulsion, the motion of which is prolonged, because the body of the animal presents to the air a larger surface, and thence finds a greater resistance, and falls more slowly. This singular extension of the skin is peculiar to the polatouch, and this characteristic is sufficient to distinguish him from all other squirrels, rats, or dormice. But the most singular things in Nature are not unparalleled; there is another animal of the same kind, with a similar skin, which is not only stretched from one leg to another, but from the head to the tail. This animal, whose figure and description has been given by Seba, under the denomination of the flying-squirrel of Virginia, seems so different from the polatouch, as to constitute another species; though probably it may be only a simple variety, or an accidental and monstrous production, for no traveller or naturalist makes mention of it. Seba is the only one who has seen it in the cabinet of Vincent; and I always distrust descriptions of animals made in cabinets of curiosities, which are often disfigured to make them appear more extraordinary.
[AB] The Hurons of Canada have three different species of squirrels. The Flying-squirrels are frequent in North America, but they have been lately found in Poland.
I have seen and kept a long while the living polatouch. He has been well described by travellers, particularly Sagard, Theodat, John of Laet, Fernandes, Le Hontan, Denys, Catesby, Dumont, Le Pague du Pratz, &c. and Messrs. Klein, Seba, and Edwards, have given exact descriptions of him, with his figure. What I have seen of this animal agrees with their relations. He is commonly smaller than a squirrel. That which we had weighed little more than two ounces, about the weight of a middling sized bat, and the squirrel weighs eight or nine ounces. However, there are some of a greater size, since we have a skin of a polatouch much larger than usual.
The polatouch has some analogy with the bat by this extension of the skin, which unites the fore and hind legs, and supports him in the air; he seems also to participate of his nature, for he is quiet and sleepy in the day time, having no activity but towards the evening. He is easily tamed, but soon offended, and must be kept in a cage, or fastened with a small chain; he feeds upon bread, fruits, seeds, and is remarkably fond of the buds and shoots of the birch and pine trees. He does not seek after nuts and almonds like a squirrel. He makes a bed of leaves, in which he buries himself, and sleeps through the day, leaving it only in the night, or when pressed by hunger. As he has little agility, he becomes easily the prey of martens, and other animals who climb up the trees, so that the species is not numerous, although they have commonly three or four young at a time.
SUPPLEMENT.
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.