26 



MAMMALS OF THE PACIFIC WORLD 



The Spotted Cuscus (Phalanger maculatus) is one of those 

 rare kinds of animals in which the color pattern of the male is 

 sharply different from that of the female. In New Guinea, 

 north of the mountains, the general colors are brown and white, 

 the males having the brown back strongly spotted with white, 

 the females with the back unspotted. South of the mountains 



Fig. 11 — Spotted Cuscus (male) 



males have in addition blackish brown spots on the rump ; the 

 females have a blackish rump, more or less silvered with white. 

 In Queensland the males of the local race are predominantly 

 white with gray spots. The females are gray above and white 

 beneath. The total length is three and one-half feet, of which 

 almost half is tail. The spotted cuscuses are present also in 

 New Britain and on the Admiralty Islands. 



The Ring-tails {Pseudocheirus, Petropseudes) are a large 

 group of cuscus-like marsupials found in both Australia and 



