SPECIES OF MAMMALS OF THE PACIFIC AREA 27 



New Guinea but not on the islands. They have dense, rather 

 soft hair, strongly prehensile tails (hence the common name), 

 and the thumb and forefinger together are opposable against 

 the other three digits. Characters of their teeth separate them 

 sharply from the true cuscuses and indicate distant relation- 

 ship to the koala or native bear. All have vegetarian diets and 

 all but Petropseudes live in rain forest, where they are strictly 

 arboreal. Five or six very distinct species occur in New Guinea, 

 and nearly as many more in eastern Australia. The size, de- 

 pendent upon the species, varies from that of a red squirrel to 

 that of a cat. 



The Rock-haunting Ring-tail {Petropseudes dahli) of the 

 Northern Territory of Australia is characterized by its short 

 tail, which barely equals half the length of head and body which 

 is eighteen inches. 



The Flying Phalangers {Petaurus, Acrobates, Schoino- 

 hates), locally called flying squirrels, are among the most in- 

 teresting and delightful of the Australian pouched animals. 

 All are built on the plan of the American flying squirrel, with 

 broad membranes attached to front and hind limbs by means 

 of which they glide downward from tree to tree. It is interest- 

 ing to note that this type of locomotion has developed twice 

 independently in the marsupials, since Petaurus and Acrohates 

 are relatives of possums and cuscuses, while Schoinohates, the 

 largest of the flying phalangers, nearly a yard in length, is 

 allied to the ring-tails and koala. All have forward-opening 

 pouches, are nocturnal, and eat fruit and insects. 



The Lesser Flying Phalanger {Petaurus hreviceps and al- 

 lies) is a brownish gray, soft-furred animal with white or buffy 

 underparts. The size is about fifteen inches, including the eight- 

 inch tail. It is found throughout New Guinea and on New 

 Britain, Aru, and the Gilolo group of islands. In Australia 

 it is represented by very similar forms. 



The Yellow-bellied Flying Phalanger {Petaurus australis) 

 is considerably larger. The color is dark brownish gray above, 



