284 PETAURUS. 



Lengtli from nose to root of tail, 20 inches ; tkil, 

 22 inches; nose to ear, 2 inches 2 lines; ear, 1 inch 

 4 lines ; tarsus, 2 inches ; fore-foot, 1 inch 7 lines. 



Habitat, New South Wales — ''' Port Macquarie." 

 Catalogue of the Australian Museum — called the 

 Grey Flying Squirrel. 



This animal varies considerably in its colouring, 

 and is often of a greyish-black colour above, the 

 dark hairs of the upper parts of the body being more 

 or less pencilled with grey ; the flank membranes 

 are always of a paler hue than the back, and th6 

 limbs are black externally. Specimens which are 

 totally white, and others which are white and irre^ 

 gularly variegated with grey, are not rare. 



This species is at once distinguished from all others 

 of the genus,* by the ears being entirely covered ex- 

 ternally with long and dense fur ; they are broader, 

 and not nearly so long in proportion as in P. flavi- 

 venter, which approaches it most nearly in size. 



PERON^S PETAURUS. 



Petaurus Peronii. 



Petaurista Peronii, Desmarest. Nouveau Diet, d' Hist. Nat. 



2d Edit., Tom. xxv., p. 404. 

 Mammalogie, sp. 420, p. 270, 



General tint of the body above, brown ; beneath, 

 white ; head brown, particularly around the eyes ; 



* P. Peronii has the same character, but I regard that as 

 the young of the present species. 



