R4 LLOYD’S NATURAL HISTORY. 
regions of the body which are generally white. The most | 
curious feature about the coloration of the species is, however, | 
that the females inhabiting the small island of Waigiou, to the | 
south of Ceram, are coloured like the fully spotted and reddish | 
males of the same island. That the ordinary grey hue of the | 
female is the primitive coloration of the species, may be pretty | 
safely admitted ; the spotted and rufous males being a higher | 
and more specialised development of coloration. For some, 
unknown and at present apparently inexplicable reason this } 
specialised type of coloration has spread to the females in the / 
‘sland above-mentioned, which thus contains what we may call | 
the most advanced representatives of the species. ‘ 
Habits.—In Australia this Cuscus is described as a shy, soli-' 
tary creature, which is but rarely seen, although often more} 
frequently observed by day than by night. It appears to be! 
sparingly distributed over the thin bush, especially in the neigh-| 
bourhood of the creeks and swamps, where it is generally found} 
singly. Although it is probable that the chief food of this} 
Cuscus is, like that of its allies, of a vegetable nature, yet the! 
creature bears an ill-repute among the colonists, by whom it is 
commonly termed the “Tiger Cat,” on account of its allegec} 
depredations on the poultry-roost. 1 
Ill GREY CUSCUS. PHALANGER ORIENTALIS. 
Didelphis orientalis, Pallas, Misc. Zool., p. 59 (1766). 
Phalanger orientalis, Storr, Prodrom. Method. Mamm., p. 3; 
(1780) ; Thomas, Cat. Marsup. Brit. Mus., p. 201 (1888); 
Phalangista rufa, et P. alba, Geoffr., Cat. Mus., pp. 148, 14] 
(1803). | 
Cuscus orientalis, Gray, List Mamm. Brit. Mus., p. 84 (1843; 
Characters.—In common with the two following members ¢| 
) 
