THE PHALANGER TRIBE 1429 



found in New Guinea, and they are the sole Old- World Marsupials occurring to the 

 westward of that island. The gray cuscus (P. orientalis], of Amboyna, Timor, and 

 some of the smaller islands, was the first Australasian Mammal known in Europe, 

 having been discovered and described as far back as the year 1611. 



All the species of cuscus are dull and sleepy creatures by day, but become more 

 active at night, which is their chief feeding time; the comparatively-large size of 

 their eyes being in accordance with nocturnal habits. Mr. Wallace writes that these 

 animals ' ' live in trees, feeding upon the leaves, of which they devour large quanti- 

 ties. They move about slowly, and are difficult to kill, owing to the thickness of 

 their fur, and their tenacity of life. A heavy charge of shot will often lodge in the 

 skin and do them no harm, and even breaking the spine or piercing the brain will 

 not kill them for some hours. The natives everywhere eat their flesh, and as their 

 motions are so slow, easily catch them by climbing, so that it is wonderful they have 

 not been exterminated. It may be, however, that their dense, woolly fur protects 

 them from birds of prey, and the islands they live in are too thinly inhabited for man 

 to be able to exterminate them." These animals appear to be nowhere common, 

 and in most parts of their habitat are very rare. In addition to leaves and fruit, 

 they will catch and eat birds and other small animals, and are, indeed, reported to 

 be more carnivorously inclined than any of the other members of the family. They 

 frequent only forests containing large trees, and pass from the boughs of one tree to 

 another after the manner of squirrels, sometimes swinging themselves by the tail in 

 order to reach a branch which would otherwise be inaccessible. There are four teats 

 in the pouch of the female, which usually contains from two to four 3 T oung; and it 

 is said that a female is never killed without at least one being in the pouch. So 

 tightly do the young adhere to the nipples, that they cannot be torn away without 

 causing blood to flow. 



The true phalangers (Trichosurtts} , of which there are two species, 

 Phalan s from Australia, and Tasmania, where, in common with the members 

 of the next genus, they are called opossums, are readily distinguished 

 from the cuscuses by the characteristic of their tails. Thus, instead of being taper- 

 ing and naked for about half its length, this appendage is thickly covered with 

 bushy hair up to its very tip, which, together with a narrow line on the lower sur- 

 face extending about a third of the length, is alone naked. The ears are more or 

 less hairy behind, and there is also hair on the hind-feet behind the heel. The rela- 

 tive lengths of the toes of the fore-feet are somewhat different from those obtaining 

 in the cuscuses, and there is also a gland on the chest not found in the latter. The 

 common phalanger ( Trichosurus vutyecula) is one of the most abundant animals in 

 Australia, where it is found everywhere in forest regions, with the exception of Cape 

 York; it is represented by a variety in Tasmania. Deriving its specific name from 

 its general resemblance in size and form to a small fox, it is especially characterized 

 by its comparatively-long and narrow ears, in which the length considerably exceeds 

 the width. In the ordinary form the general color of the soft and close fur is gray 

 above and yellowish white beneath; the ears being white, and the tail black. .In 

 the larger and stouter-built Tasmanian variety the fur is longer, and of a more de- 

 cided brown or rufous color, with little or no white on the ears. The short-eared 



