96 CUSCUS ORIENTALIS. 



Ireland and New-Zealand , moreover Cuscus alhus Lesson 

 et Garnot came from New-Ireland. 



The question however was settled by Fran9ois Valen- 

 tyn long before the birth of Pallas, Temminck , Waterhouse 

 Gray and Schlegel. Fran9ois Valentyn very exactly descri- 

 bed in 1726 this species from Amboina under the name 

 Coescoes', he said that sometimes, but always rarely, there 

 are pure white individuals, and these white specimens al- 

 ways are adult males and have red eyes , meanwhile the 

 eyes of the other specimens are blue with a few red round 

 the eye-ball , a. s. o. Valentyn extremely well knew the 

 habits of this species , and its behavior , the way to pro- 

 cure it used by the indigenous, that it is a food, and he 

 described the medical use of tail and claws, a. s. o. Fi- 

 nally Valentyn figured it (very badly). Pallas translated 

 Valentyn 's description (Valentyn's book is written in Dutch) 

 in Latin and called the species Phalangista orientalis. 



Although Is. G. St. Hilaire cited Valentyn and Pallas , 

 it is clear that he misunderstood those authors or per- 

 haps never consulted their works, otherwise he would not 

 have described a white colored specimen as a distinct spe- 

 cies {Phalangista alba). Moreover he cited » Pallas, Misc. 

 Zool. p. 62 , Didelphis forte africanci\ meanwhile on p. 62 

 there is question of y> Didelpliidis opossum varietas orienta- 

 lis {Macropus hrunii) from Arou, and I believe that Pal- 

 las in his Misc. Zool. nowhere has given a name to an 

 African Didelphis (Phalangista). Is. Geoffroy's Phalangista 

 rufa is a female-specimen of Cuscus orientalis, with an 

 excellent description. 



Temminck's Phalangista cavifrons was called so after 

 the peculiar concave forehead. It is not very clear for what 

 reason Temminck did not accept Pallas' specific-title. 



The specimens from St. Cristoval united by Gray with 

 his Cuscus {Strigocuscus) celebensis belong without question 

 to Cuscxis orientalis as the two woodcuts of the skull de- 

 monstrate. Gray's Cuscus ornatus is nothing else as the 

 spotted variety of Cuscus orientalis: we possess individuals 

 Notes from the Leyden Musenm, "Vol. "VII. 



