302 LLOYD’S NATURAL HISTORY. 
the base of their outer edge. Fur close, soft, and velvety. 
General colour above a dark smoky or bistre-brown, a dull 
buffy tinge present on the fore back and sides. Under surface 
dirty whitish, the slaty bases of the hairs showing through ; line 
of demarcation on sides fairly well defned. Colour of face, 
limbs, and tail as in D. zzcana. Skull and canines shorter than 
in the latter. (Zhomas). 
DistributionRio Abbaregas, Merida, Venezuela; at an 
elevation of about 5,000 feet above the sea. 
GENUS DROMICIOPS. 
Dromiciops, Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, vol. xi, 
p. 187 (1894). 
Differs from all other opossums by the short and furry ears, 
hairy tail, the thick and doubly inflated auditory bull of the 
skull, the shortened canines, and the peculiar form and positions 
of the incisor teeth. 
I. CHILOE ISLAND OPOSSUM. DROMICIOPS AUSTRALIS. 
Didelphys australis, Philippi, Arch. Naturgesch., 1894, vol. 1., 
P- 33: 
Dromiciops gliroides, Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, 
vol. xill., p. 187 (1894). 
Characters.—Size and superficial appearance very similar to 
those of the Tasmanian Dormouse-Phalanger (Dromicta nana). 
General colour of upper-parts fawn-grey, darker on back than 
on sides; fur coloured as in Didelphys elegans, that is, pale 
grey, with distinct black rings round the eyes. Ears short and 
rounded, with the anterior basal prominence very slightly 
developed : covered on the back with thick fur like that of the 
