Q2 LLOYD’S NATURAL HISTORY, 
THE RING-TAILED PHALANGERS. GENUS PSEUDOCHIRUS. 
Pseudochirus, Ogilby, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1836, p. 36. 
Size large or medium; fur short and rather woolly ; ears 
medium or short, hairy behind. Fore toes sub-equal, the two 
inner ones markedly opposable to the other three; their re- 
lative lengths in the order 4, 3, 5, 2, 1. Claws moderate ; 
soles of both fore and hind feet naked, with large rounded 
and striated pads. Tail long and tapering, markedly prehen- 
sile, and its tip naked inferiorly for a variable distance. Four 
teats. The upper molar teeth are large and oblong, with the 
rounded tubercles of the preceding genus modified into sharp 
cusps with curved ridges radiating from them; those of the 
lower jaw having a nearly similar structure. 
The Ring-tailed Phalangers, of which there are half-a-score of 
species, while agreeing with the True Phalangers in their ar- 
boreal and leaf-eating habits, have a wider geographical range, 
extending over New Guinea, as well as Australia and Tasmania. 
According to the author of the British Museum Catalogue of 
Marsupials they naturally fall into three groups, of which the 
common Ring-tailed Phalanger, D’Albertis’ Phalanger, and the 
Hoary Phalanger, may respectively be regarded as typical. Of 
these, the first group is confined to Australia and Tasmania, 
and the third to New Guinea, while the two representatives of 
the second group respectively inhabit North Australia and New 
Guinea. With the exception of the common species, all the 
members of the genus appear to have relatively small geo- 
graphical ranges. 
From the crescent-like structure of the crowns of the molar 
teeth—a feature in which they make some approach to the 
Koala—it may be pretty confidently considered that these 
animals are somewhat more specialised than the True Phalan- 
gers ; although it should be observed that there is an approxi- 
