GENERAL AND INTRODUCTORY. 23 



figure on the same page. The author is not aware that this peculiar comport- 

 ment of the caudal appendage is exhibited by any other known mammal, though it 

 would appear to be to some extent approximated by certain of the Lemurs and in 

 the Saki monkeys. 



The white example here figured and described, was a female, and, when 

 captured, had a half-grown male cub in its pouch. This young one, while having 

 white ears and a white breast, was otherwise of a dark Chinchilla grey tint, like the 

 more ordinary members of his species. A back view of this young individual, well 

 illustrating the great length and thickness of its beautiful fur, is reproduced in 

 Plate IV., fig. 4. Although this species has been frequently imported to Europe, 

 neither of these two Queensland individuals took kindly to any other diet than 

 the foliage of their native gum trees, and more especially the Queensland Peppermint 

 variety, Eucalyptus microcorys. Efforts were made to accustom them to a regimen : of 

 fruits and farinaceous substances, with the view of bringing them to England. The 

 young animal unfortunately succumbed to the ordeal, and the white one was left in 

 charge of an ardent admirer, who guaranteed it a constant and unlimited enjoyment 

 of its native pabulum. 



Among the several species of Australian Flying Phalangers, or so-called Flying 

 Squirrels, the little form known in many districts as the " Sugar Squirrel," Petaurus 

 breviceps, is in many respects the one best adapted for making a domestic pet, and 

 is most justly alluded to in Flower and Lydekker's volume, previously referred to, 

 as " the most beautiful of all mammals." Its size is somewhat less than that of 

 the British Squirrel, its thick downy fur most comparable in colour and texture 

 to that of the Chinchilla, and its habits in captivity are most attractive and 

 endearing. Its range in the Australian Colonies is practically cosmopolitan, it 

 occurring in Queensland, the Southern Colonies, and as far north as the Kimberley 

 district of Western Australia. Although apparently not originally indigenous to 

 Tasmania, it has been transported to and liberated there within recent years, and 

 is now tolerably abundant in the midland districts of that island - Colony. In 

 association with the several individuals kept at various times by the writer, it was 

 observed that the leaping, or so-called "flying" properties they so prominently 

 manifest, are somewhat erroneously represented in the majority of works on Natural 

 History. In the figures given of this and other species of Phalangers taking their 

 characteristic leaps, the body is almost invariably depicted as assuming a horizontal 

 position, or, if inclined at any angle, in such manner that the head is the lowermost. 



