398 Natural History 



" Principles of Geology " (lOtli edit. vol. ii. p. 355) he adduces 

 evidences to show that pigs have swum many miles at sea, 

 and are able to swim with great ease and swiftness. I have 

 myself seen a wild pig swimming across the arm of the sea 

 that separates Singapore from the peninsula of Malacca, and 

 we thus have explained the curious fact that, of all the large 

 mammals of the Indian region, pigs alone extend beyond the 

 Moluccas and as far as New Guinea, although it is somewhat 

 curious that they have not found their way to Australia. 



The little shrew (Sorex myosurus), which is common in 

 Sumatra, Borneo, and Java, is also found in the larger islands 

 of the Moluccas, to which it may have been accidentally con- 

 veyed in native praus. 



This completes the list of the placental mammals which 

 are so characteristic of the Indian region; and we see that, 

 with the single exception of the pig, all may very probably 

 have been introduced by man, since all except the pig are of 

 species identical with those now abounding in the great Ma- 

 lay Islands, or in Celebes. 



The four remaining mammals are Marsupials, an order of 

 the class Mammalia which is very characteristic of the Aus- 

 tralian fauna ; and these are probably true natives of the 

 Moluccas, since they are either of peculiar species, or, if found 

 elsewhere, are natives only of New Guinea or North Austra- 

 lia. The first is the small flying opossum (Belideus ariel), 

 a beautiful little animal, exactly like a small flying squirrel 

 in appearance, but belonging to the marsupial order. The 

 other three are species of the curious genus Cuscus, which is 

 peculiar to the Austro-Malayan region. These are opossum- 

 like animals, with a long prehensile tail, of which the termi- 

 nal half is generally bare. They have small heads, large 

 eyes, and a dense covering of woolly fur, which is often pure 

 white, with irregular black spots or blotches, or sometimes 

 ashy brown with or Avithout white spots. They live in 

 trees, feeding upon the leaves, of which they devour large 

 quantities. They move about slowly, and are diflicult to 

 kill, owing to the thickness of their fur, and their tenacity of 

 life, A heavy charge of shot will often lodge in the skin 

 and do them no harm, and even breaking the spine or pierc- 

 inc; the brain will not kill them for some hours. The natives 



