364 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Photo i W. Savilli-Kint, F. Z. 3. 



FRONT VIEW OF GREY OPOSSUM, OR PHALANGER 



Display* the bare under-surface of the prehensile tail 



consumed, played an impor- 

 tant part in the unusally 

 frequent occurrence of this 

 phenomenon. 



The ring-tailed opossums 

 differ essentially from the com- 

 mon opossum or phalanger 

 and its allies in their life 

 habits. While these latter 

 habitually take up their abode 

 and bring forth their young 

 in hollow trees, the ring- 

 tailed species construct a 

 regular nest of interlaced 

 sticks, leaves, grass, or any 

 other available material for 

 their domicile. The struc- 

 ture much resembles the nest, 

 or " drey," of our own fa- 

 miliar squirrel, and may 

 be perched high up among 

 the tree branches or within. 



M 



only a few feet from the 



ground among the scrub thickets. In New Guinea a variety of these ring-tailed phalangers 

 occurs, not found in Australia, which has no white tip to its tail, and the ears are very short 

 and wide. The group as represented by this species leads to the consideration of the so-called 

 CUSCUSES or typical phalangers indigenous to New Guinea and North Queensland, though but 

 rarely seen there, which, as an exception to the Marsupial Tribe, are distributed among the 

 Indo-Malay Islands as far westward as Celebes. In the cuscuses the tail is altogether naked, 

 and pre-eminently prehensile throughout 

 almost its entire terminal moiety ; the ears 

 are round and, proportionately, exceedingly 

 small ; while the fur is very short, thick, 

 and woolly. Compared with the opossums 

 or phalangers, the cuscuses are very dull 

 and sluggish in their movements, creeping 

 slowly among the branches of the trees to 

 browse on the fruit and leaves which 

 constitute their principal diet. Like the 

 opossums, however, or even to a greater 

 extent, they vary this vegetarian regimen 

 with insects or an occasionally captured bird. 



THE CUSCUSES 



The familiar SPOTTED CUSCUS of New 

 Guinea is the most ornate marsupial 

 mammal. The males, more especially, are 

 as variegated in colour as a tortoiseshell cat, 

 their tints, moreover, closely corresponding " h w. s<,viii,-K,nt, F.Z.S 



in hue with those of the feline. No two PROFILE VIEW OF GREY OPOSSUM, 



. ... . ORPHALANCjER 



individuals, however, are precisely alike in ... 



The opossums are usually shot by moonlight, as seen silhouetted against 



this respect. Usually the ground-colour of the ' the sky 



