294 PHASCOLARCTOS. 



lower margin where they are white ; fur soft, and of 

 moderate length ; general colour grey, more or less 

 washed with yellow ; the upper and under sides of 

 the flank membranes, and the outer side of the limhs 

 is deep grey ; a dark patch surrounds the eye, and is 

 extended forward on to the muzzle ; the under parts 

 of the head and body are white ; the tail is brown, 

 nearly equal in length to the head and body, flat, of 

 even width throughout, or very nearly so, the hairs 

 covering the upper and under surface are small and 

 adpressed, those on the sides are comparatively long 

 and arranged like the barb of a feather ; the average 

 width of the tail is about 4 lines. 



Length from nose to root of tail 3^ inches ; tail, 2 

 inches 10 lines; ear, 3^ lines. 



Habitat, New South Wales. It is called by the 

 Colonists the flying mouse, and, according to the 

 Appendix to Captain King's " narrative of a Survey 

 of the Intertropical and Western coasts of Australia," 

 it is " exceedingly numerous in the vicinity of Port 

 Jackson," where it is called the Opossum Mouse. 



GENUS PHASCOLARCTOS. 



THE dentition in Phascolarctos differs but little 

 from Phalangista : -the incisors and canines are 

 smaller in proportion, and the molars are much 

 larger. As in the Phalangers, the crown of each 

 true molar presents four tubercles, but these are 

 more angular and of a pyramidal form. Correspond- 



