182 ACCOUNT OF A SPECIES OF PHALANGISTA. 



and the same may be said of the tail, for it is j^rehensile, is curved 

 inwards at the tip, and is devoid of hairs upon and under that 

 portion. 



The skin on each side of the flank, near the hind thighs, I ob- 

 served to be somewhat loose and extensible, and thus, perhaps, 

 indicating some rudiment of the loose lateral skin, which is so 

 conspicuous in the JI?jmg opossums. 



In colour, the upper portion of the body is gray, mixed with 

 some brown and black hairs: the neck, breast, belly, and inside of 

 the legs are yellow, with a rusty-red spot and line down the 

 breast, which extends under the forelegs. The cheeks are orange. 

 Tail thick, black, and hairy. Insides of the ears pinkish, nearly 

 bare of hairs. 



Length from the nose to the ear about 31 inches; and that of 

 the ear, about 2£ inches ; width of the same in the middle 1 j inches. 



This male specimen appeared to be fully grown ; but as the 

 teeth were little worn and the claws so sharp, he was evidently 

 of no age — the general appearance of the animal being not un- 

 like a small gray fox, though less sharp across the muzzle, and 

 with shorter legs. I found in Bewick's " History of Quadrupeds," 

 (Edit. 4, 1800), p. 435, a species of Marsupial from New South 

 Wales, called, the " Vulpine opossum," which in dentition and 

 description seems to agree with it. He describes it thus : — 

 " Upper part of the body grisly, consisting of dusky, reddish, and 

 w^liite hairs ; the under parts light-tawny, two-thirds of the tail 

 black, a blackish space round each eye, and long black whiskers." 



And in Cuvier's "Regne Animal," the same animal is, I con- 

 clude, that named "Le Phalanger Renard," Phalaiigista vulpina. 

 There is, however, another species of Phalangista which is like- 

 wise indigenous in New South Wales, called fuliginosa, or the 

 " Sooty Phalangista," which, in some characters and dimensions, 

 resembles it. 



Bewick has not given a figure of the " Vulpine OjDOSsum" ; 

 and I must therefore wait until I visit the British Museum 

 and Zoological Gardens, in November, to determine with which 

 of the two species it is to be identified; but from the descriptions 

 that I have as yet seen, it appears to correspond best with the 



