THE PHALANGER TRIBE 1435 



dormouse-like; the head being ornamented with stripes of white and dark brown, 

 while the fur of the body is uniformly buff. 



This curious and somewhat bear-like creature is an aberrant mem- 

 Koala 



ber of the family, constituting not only a distinct genus but likewise a 



separate subfamily by itself. To the natives it is known by the name of koala, 

 while by the colonists it is generally termed the native bear; its scientific title being 

 Phascolarctus cinereus. The koala has been compared in size to a large poodle dog, 

 the length of the head and body being about twenty-four inches. It is a heavily- 

 built animal, differing from all the other members of the family in the absence of 

 any external tail, and also readily recognized by its large, squared, and thickly- 

 fringed ears. The fur is extremely thick, woolly, and moderately soft; its general 

 color on the upper parts being ashy gray, with a tinge of brown, but becoming yel- 

 lowish white on the hind-quarters, while the under parts are whitish. All the feet 

 are provided with long claws, and the two innermost toes of the fore-feet are com- 

 pletely opposable to the remaining three. A peculiarity of the koala is the posses- 

 sion of pouches in the cheeks for storing food; while the dentition differs from that 

 of the typical phalangers in the absence of the minute rudimentary teeth referred to 

 above. The upper molar teeth have very short and broad crowns, somewhat resem- 

 bling, in the structure of their tubercles, those of the crescent-toothed phalangers. 

 In its internal organization the koala approximates to the wombats. 



The koala is confined to Eastern Australia, where it ranges from 

 Queensland to Victoria. Like the other members of the family it is 

 chiefly arboreal, moving awkwardly when on the ground, and when pursued always 

 endeavoring to gain a tree with all possible speed. Its movements are usually com- 

 paratively slow and sluggish, and, although mainly nocturnal, it may not unfre- 

 quently be seen abroad in the daytime. Koalas are generally found in pairs, and 

 spend the day either high up on the tree tops or in hollow logs. They are purely 

 herbivorous, and subsist chiefly on the leaves of the blue gum tree, although at night 

 they descend to the ground in order to dig for roots. In the evening these animals 

 slowly creep along the bough of the giant gums, the females often having a solitary 

 cub perched on their backs. When irritated or disturbed, the koala utters a loud 

 cry, variously described as a hoarse groan, and a shrill yell. 



The superficial deposits of 

 Giant Extinct A ,. , . ,, , 



, . Australia have vielded evi- 



Phalanger 



dence of the former existence 

 in that country of a phalanger ( Thylacoleo 

 carnifex) far exceeding any of the living 

 forms in point of size, and remarkable for 

 the exceedingly-specialized character of 

 its dentition. The functional teeth, as 

 shown in the accompanying figure of the 

 skull, were, indeed, reduced to a pair of 



large incisors, and a single elongated cut- SKUI<I< OF THE GIANT EXTINCT 



ting premolar on each side of both the upper PHALANGER. 



and lower jaws; the latter tooth evidently (One-third natural size.) 



