26 TRICHOSURUS VULPECULA. 



Saugethiere. Suppl. Bd. III. p. 76. — Phalangista 

 (Trirhurus) melanura Waguer. 1. c. p. 81. 



Kerr described this species ia the following terms: »The 

 tail is long , thick and hairy : for three quarters of its length 

 it is black , and the origin is of a greyish colour , like 

 the body. Inhabits New South Wales. — The head and 

 body measure twenty-six inches , and the tail fifteen ; the 

 legs are short and of an equal length ; the foot is long , 

 and rests in walking as far as the heel ; each foot has five 

 toes , all armed with sharp crooked claws , except the 

 thumb , or great toe , on each hind foot , which is placed 

 high up on the foot, and has no claws; the head is long, 

 with a pointed muzzle, which is garnished with ten or 

 twelve very long black whiskers , which stand backwards , 

 and are longer than the head ; the ears are long , erect , 

 and pointed ; the upper jaw has four fore-teeth , and the 

 lower two , which point forwards , both being like those 

 of the Kanguru ; on each side , in the upper jaw , are 

 two small tusks , but none below ; there are four grin- 

 ders on each side in both jaws. The whole upper parts of 

 the body, and first quarter of the tail, are of a grisly 

 colour, proceeding from a mixture of dusky and white 

 hairs ; with a reddish-yellow tinge , chiefly on the head and 

 shoulders; the rest of the tail is black; all the under- 

 parts of the body are of a tawny buff, which is deepest 

 on the throat, where the bottom of the hairs is rusty 

 brown". 



Phalangista xanthopus Ogilby has the tip of the tail 

 white , but this alone is not enough to create a new spe- 

 cies , moreover Ogilby says » that in all other respects it 

 is most closely allied to the PhaL vulpina.''^ One of our in- 

 dividuals has the tip of the tail white (vide infra No. 3). 



Phalangista canina Ogilby has shorter ears according to 

 that author , but I find in Gray's List of the Specimens 

 of Mammalia of the British Museum, 1843, p. 85, that 

 the specimen described by Ogilby has the ears injured. 

 The other differences between Ph. canina and Ph. vulpina 

 Notes frona the Leyden M.iiMeum, Vol. "VII. 



