1444 



THE POUCHED MAMMALS, OR MARSUPIALS 



the back, and are mainly confined to Australia. This stripe is present in the re- 

 maining four, which are exclusively Papuan. Of the two species figured here, the 

 yellow-footed pouched mouse (P. flavipes} is a small form, liable to considerable 

 variation in point of size and color, and inhabiting a large portion of Australia al- 

 though unknown in Tasmania. It belongs to a section of the first group, charac- 

 terized by the tail being evenly covered with short hair. In general appearance it 

 is a mouse-like creature, with close and rather crisp fur, of which the prevailing 

 color is clear gray more or less suffused with yellow or rufous. The under parts, 

 together with the feet, in the typical East- Australian variety, are yellow; this color 

 sometimes deepening to rufous and spreading over the whole body. The variety 

 inhabiting Western and Northern Australia differs in that the whole of the under 

 parts and limbs are more or less nearly pure white instead of yellow. 



COMMON DASYURE. 



(One-fourth natural size.) 



The brush-tailed phascologale (P. penitillata] , is a larger species, inhabiting 

 the whole of Australia except the extreme north, although likewise unknown in 

 Tasmania. It belongs to a section of the unstriped group, characterized by the ex- 

 tremity of the tail being evenly tufted on all sides. It is a more stoutly-built animal 

 than the last, with short and coarse fur. The general color of the upper parts is 

 pale grizzled gray, while the chin is white, and the lower surface of the body pale 

 gray or white. The head is characterized by the large size of the ears, and the pres- 

 ence of a more or less indistinct black streak down the nose. These pretty little 

 animals are arboreal and insectivorous in their habits, and appear to fill the place in 

 Australia occupied in the Oriental region by the Placental tree-shrews, which they 

 much resemble in general habits. All seek their insect prey by climbing the boughs 

 of trees, and at least some make nests in the hollows of the trunks and branches. 



The tiny creature, known as the common pouched mouse (Sminthopsis murina), 

 constitutes, with three other nearly-allied species, a distinct genus, differing from 

 the last by the extreme narrowness of the hind-foot, and also by the circumstance 



