536 



MARSUPIALIA. 



and genus only. Hypsiprymnodon Ramsay, musk-kangaroo, Queens- 

 land. 

 Fam. 2. Phalangeridae. Arboreal, sometimes with parachute-like 

 expansions of the skin for flying leaps ; 5 fingers and toes, with nailless 

 opposable hallux ; pes syndactylous (Fig. 280) ; tail long and usually 

 prehensile ; stomach simple ; caecum present except in Tarsipes ; pouch 

 opening forwards ; dentition variable owing to the presence of minute 

 teeth which are not constant, even in the same species or on two sides 

 of the same jaw ; general formula t | c i p |^ m ^^* ; milk 



premolar gener- 

 ally small and 

 early deciduous ; 

 Papuan Islands, 

 AustraUa and 

 Tasmania; 

 about 35 species. 

 Flying m e m- 

 branes are pres- 

 ent in 3 genera, 

 which are more 

 closely allied to 

 genera without 

 flying me m- 

 branes than to 

 each other. 



Sub-fam. 1. 

 Tarsipedlnae. 

 Tail long ; 

 snout long 

 and slender, 

 tongue ex- 

 tensile; with- 

 out caecum ; 

 grinding 

 teeth min- 

 ute ; lower 

 jaw without 

 i nflection. 

 Tarsipes G. 

 and v., about 

 the size of a 

 mouse, ex- 

 tracts honey from flowers with its tongue, also insectivorous ; 

 1 species. 



Sub-fam. 2. Phalangerinae. Dentition normal ; tail long, gener- 

 ally prehensile ; snout broad ; tongue not extensile ; without cheek 

 pouches ; with large caecum ; throughout the Austrah.^n region. 

 Acrobates Desm., with flying membrane, Queensland, N S. Wales, 

 Victoria ; 1 species. Distoechurus Peters, New Guinea, 1 species. 

 Dromicia Gray, dormouse-like ; N. Guinea, W. Australia, Tasmania ; 

 4 species. Gymnobelideua McCoy, like Petaurus but without flying 

 membrane, Victoria, 1 species. Petaurus Shaw (Fig. 281), with 

 flying membrane, medium or small size, fur soft and silky ; insecti- 



FiG. 281. — Petaurus sciuritis, squirrel flying-plialanger (from Flower 

 and Lydekker). 



