PHALANGERID^E 149 



and slender muzzle. Mouth - opening small. The two lower 

 incisors are long, very slender, sharp -pointed, and horizontally 

 placed. All the other teeth are simple, conical, minute, and placed 

 at considerable and irregular intervals apart in the jaws, the number 

 appearing to vary in different individuals and even on different 

 sides of the same individual. The formula in a specimen in the 

 Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons is i y, c ^, p and m % on 

 one side, and - on the other; total 20. Kami of the mandible 

 extremely slender, nearly straight, and without coronoid process or 

 inflected angle. Fore feet with five well-developed toes, furnished 

 with small, flat, scale-like nails, not reaching to the extremity of 

 the digits. Hind feet rather long and slender compared with those 

 of the Phalangerince, having a well-developed opposable and nailless 

 hallux ; second and third digits syndactylous, with sharp compressed 

 curved claws.; the fourth and fifth free, and with small flat nails. 

 Ears of moderate size and rounded. Tail longer than the body and 

 head, scantily clothed with short hairs, prehensile. Vertebrae : C 7, 

 D13, L 5, S 3, C 24. 



Of this singular genus but one species, T. rostmtus (Fig. 46), is 

 known, about the size of a common Mouse. It inhabits Western 

 Australia, lives in trees and bushes, uses its tail in climbing, and 

 feeds on honey, which it procures by inserting its long tongue into 

 the blossoms of Melaleucce, etc. One kept in confinement by Mr. 

 Gould was also observed to eat flies. 



Subfamily Phalangerinse. Teeth normal. One or more 

 rudimentary teeth between the upper canine and fourth premolar, 

 and between the first lower incisor and fourth premolar. Tongue 

 of ordinary structure. No cheek-pouches. Stomach and ascending 

 colon simple. Caecum long, simple. Tail well -developed, generally 

 prehensile. 



A numerous group of animals, varying from the size of a mouse 

 to that of a large cat, arboreal in their habits, and abundantly 

 distributed throughout the Australian region. The members of 

 this group are the typical representatives of the family, and are 

 commonly known to the colonists as Opossums. 



Phalanger. 1 The typical genus Plialanger (Cuscus) presents the 

 following characters. No flying membrane ; size large or medium, 

 and build stout and clumsy; fur thick and woolly. Ears short 

 or medium, hairy externally, and in some cases also internally. 

 Toes of fore feet subequal, their relative lengths in the order 4, 3, 

 5, 2, 1. Claws long, stout, and curved. Soles of feet naked and 

 striated, with large ill -defined pads. Tail stout and markedly 

 prehensile, with the proximal half furred like the body, and the 

 terminal portion entirely naked. Four mammae. Skull (Fig. 47) 



1 Storr, Prodromus Meth. Mamm. p. 33 (1780). Syn. Phalangista, Geoffrey, 

 Huff. Soc. Philom. vol. i. p. 106 (1796). 



