﻿i.U5iL.-bN0aTED PHALANGERS. 12T 



of a Malayan Lemur-like animal known as the Tarsier, is one 

 of the most interesting members of the Phalangers, as show- 

 ing the modifications of form and structure produced by 

 specialisation for a particular mode of life. Known to the 

 natives by the name of Tait^ and Nulbeni^er, the Long-snouted 

 Phalanger, writes Gould, "is generally found in all situations, 

 suited to its existence, from Swan River to King George's 

 Sound. He adds "From its rarity, and the difficulty with which 

 it is procured, notwithstanding the high rewards offered, the 

 natives only brought me four specimens; one of these, a female, 

 I kept alive for several months, and it became so tame as to 

 allow itself to be caressed in the hand without evincing any 

 fear, or making any attempt to escape. It was strictly noctur- 

 nal, sleeping during the greater part of the day, and be- 

 coming exceedingly active at night. When intent upon 

 catching flies, it would sit quietly in one corner of it? 

 cage, eagerly watching their movements, as, attracted by the 

 sugar, they flew around ; and when a fly was fairly within its 

 reach, it bounded as quick as lightning, and seized it with 

 unerring aim, then retired to the bottom of the cage, and de- 

 voured it at leisure, sitting tolerably erect and holding the fly 

 between its fore paws, and always rejecting the head, wings, and 

 legs. The artificial food given it was sopped bread, made very 

 sweet with sugar, into which it inserted its long tongue, pre- 

 cisely in the way in which the honey-eaters among birds do 

 theirs into the flower-cups for honey. Every morning the sop 

 was completely honeycombed, as it were, from the repeated 

 insertion of the tongue ; a little moistened sugar on the end of 

 the finger would attract it from one part of the cage to the 

 other ; and by this means an opportunity may be readily ob- 

 tained for observing the beautiful prehensile structure of the 

 tongue, which I have frequently seen protruded for nearly an 

 inch beyond the nose. The edges of the tongue near the tip are 



