LUNG-SNOUTED PHALANGERS. 121 
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 Zai¢, and Vulbenger, 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 femaie, 
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 its 
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 
