THE OPOSSUM MOUSE. 759 



GENUS BELIDEUS. 



The five species of Flying Opossums are found in New Guinea, as 

 well as in Australia. 



The Great Flying Phalanger, Edidcus Aiistralis (?\2Xq LXIII), is 

 an inhabitant of New Holland. Its color is variable, but generally may 

 be described as brown tinged with gray, with a darker line along the 

 spine. The abdomen and under portions of the flying membrane are 

 white, very perceptibly worked with yellow. The feet are blackish- 

 brown, the tail is covered with long and soft fur of a brown tint. The 

 total length of the animal is a little over three feet. The native name 

 for the creature is the Hepoona Roo. 



The Sugar Squirrel, Belideus sciurcus, is also called the Norfolk 

 Island Flying Squirrel, and the Squirrel Petaurus. Its fur is 

 very beautiful, being of a nearly uniform brownish-gray, of a peculiarly 

 delicate hue, and remarkably soft in its texture. The parachute mem- 

 brane is gray above, but is edged with a rich brown band, and a bold 

 stripe of blackish-brown is drawn along the curve of the spine, reaching 

 from the point of the nose to the root of the tail. The head is somewhat 

 darker than the rest of the body. The under parts of the body are 

 nearly white. Its long and bushy tail is covered with a profusion of 

 very long, full, soft hair, grayish-brown above, and of a beautiful white 

 underneath. 



GENUS ACROBATA. 



The Opossum Mouse, Acrobata pygnicens, is also called the Flying 

 Mouse. It is about the size of our common mouse, and when it is rest- 

 ing upon a branch, with its parachute, or umbrella of skin, drawn close 

 to the body by its own elasticity, it looks very like it. 



Its color is the well-known mouse-tint ; but on the abdomen, and 

 under portions of the skin-parachute, the fur is beautifully white. 



The remaining genera Dromecia and Tarripes call for only slight 

 mention. The former contains five species of beautiful dormouse-like 

 creatures. The latter is formed of one species which is a true honey- 

 sucker, with an extensile tongue, and of the size of a mouse. 



The family Phascolomgid^E contains only one genus of tliree species. 



