THE PIGMY FLYING PHALANGERS, 117 
body, the basal half-inch thickly furred, and the remainder 
naked, save for the lateral fringes of long hairs. Length of 
head and body nearly as in Dromicia nana, but the tail about 
half as long again. 
Distribution New Guinea. 
Although in size, coloration, and general appearance very 
different, this little Phalanger is, as Mr. Thomas remarks, very 
closely allied to the undermentioned Pigmy Flying Phalanger 
as regards its skull and teeth, and may, indeed, be very close 
to the ancestral form from which the latter was evolved. 
Although far less specialised than its Australian ally, the 
Papuan form, as in so many analogous instances, is the more 
brilliantly coloured of the two animals. 
THE PIGMY FLYING PHALANGERS. GENUS ACROBATES. 
Acrobates, Desmarest, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., vol. xxv., p. 105 
(1817). 
Size very small; ears medium; flanks with a narrow para- 
chute-like expansion of skin ; toes of normai proportions, each 
provided with a broad, striated, terminal pad; lengths of those 
of the fore foot in the order 4, 3, 5, 2, 1; claws sharp and well- 
developed, although not very prominent; tail as in Distechurus. 
Teeth as in the latter, except that the last premolar is larger, 
and present in both jaws. ‘Teats four. 
This genus is represented only by two species, one of which 
is Australian and the other Papuan. 
I. PIGMY FLYING PHALANGER. ACROBATES PYGM&US. 
Didelphis pygmaa, Shaw, Zool. New Holland, vol. i, p. 5 
(1794). 
Phalangista pygmea, Geoffr., Cat. Mus., p. 151 (1803). 
