124 Mr. Bell on a new Species of Phalangistd. 



have been impregnated. When they were first brought to this 

 country there was a very obvious difference in the state of the 

 pouches. The teats, which are four in number, were much 

 larger in the elder specimen, particularly the two anterior ones ; 

 which is directly opposite to the state of these organs in the 

 Kangaroo, as described in the valuable and elaborate paper of 

 my friend Mr. Morgan, lately read before the Linnean Society. 

 At the present time, however, the teats in the two specimens 

 are nearly, if not exactly, of the same size, — an interesting cir- 

 cumstance, as indicating an analogy to these organs in the 

 Kangaroo ; in which animal, as shown in the paper just referred 

 to, a similar diminution of the teats takes place after the young 

 have finally left the pouch. The cloaca is placed about one- 

 third of the distance from the root of the tail to the pouch. 



On examining the characters of this interesting and elegant 

 little animal, it is impossible not to be struck with its general 

 approach to the Petauristce, — a resemblance to which 1 have 

 already alluded. The identity of many of its more obvious 

 characters with those of Phalangista nana is too marked not to 

 demand a particular investigation. The history of the latter 

 species is but very imperfectly known ; indeed, the short and 

 necessarily unsatisfactory account given by the celebrated Tem- 

 minck in his Monograph of this genus, serves only to raise our 

 curiosity, without affording an opportunity of satisfying it. The 

 small size of that species, being not larger than a mouse, to- 

 gether with some general similarity in the colour and marking, 

 would almost lead us to identify them as one and the same spe- 

 cies, were it not for one striking character, which cannot be 

 mistaken, namely, the surface of the ears. The description of 

 Phalangista nana, as given by the above-mentioned distinguished 



zoologist. 



