PETAURINE OPOSSUM. 



Didelphis Petaurus. D. hypochondriis prolixis wlitans, supra 

 cinereo-nigricans ferruginco tincta, subtus albida, cauda longa 

 subtereti villosissima. 



Blackish-grey Opossum, tinged with ferruginous ; whitish be- 

 neath ; with lateral flying membrane, and long, subcylindric, 

 very villose tail. 



Hepoona Roo. White's Journal, p. 288. 



The Southern Petaurus. Naturalist's Miscellany, pi. 60. 



THE size, colours, and form, of the Petaurine or 

 great flying Opossum of New Holland, conspire 

 to render it one of the most beautiful of quadru- 

 peds. It measures about twenty-two inches from 

 the tip of the nose to the beginning of the tail, 

 which is twenty inches in length. The body is 

 about the size of a half-grown cat or a small rab- 

 bet, and the general appearance of the animal is 

 similar to that of a flying squirrel; an expansile 

 membrane, covered with fur, stretching frohi the 

 fore legs to the hind on each side of the body, 

 and thus enabling the animal to spring to a con- 

 siderable distance at pleasure. 



The general colour of this species is a very fine 

 sable, or deep grey-brown above, varied with a 

 cast of ferruginous : beneath it is nearly white : a 

 stripe of darker or blacker brown than the rest 

 runs along the back from head to tail : the fur 

 near the edge of the flying membrane on its up- 

 per part has also a blacker or darker tinge than 

 on the other parts, while the edge itself is white, 

 thus forming a beautiful contrast of colour round 



