'554 



. / f r S TR. ILASIA 'ILL USTRA TED. 









Certain of them the so-called flying-squirrels have, like the true flying-squirrels, a 

 sort of parachute, formed of an expanse of furry skin, extending between the fore and 

 hind limbs, and enabling them to shoot through the air obliquely downwards from one 

 branch to another. One member of this family the Cuscns a near ally of the common 

 phalanger or opossum, but with very short ears and a naked tail, extends from Northern 

 Queensland to New Guinea, the neighbouring islands, and to the Celebes; and one of the 

 flying forms Bclidcns, or the sugar-squirrel is not only represented by several species 

 on the Australian Continent, but extends also to New Guinea and the Moluccas. 



The family of the Koalas, or native bears, has only one member, the Phascolarctos 

 cincn'Hs, an animal restricted to the eastern portions of the Australian Continent, of 

 habits similar to those of the phalangers, but less active, of much heavier make, with 

 relatively large head and rudimentary tail. The wombats are large, thick-bodied marsu- 

 pials, with short and powerful limbs, by means of which they burrow for the roots that 



form their food. They have 

 peculiar chisel-shaped gnawing 

 teeth, like those of the true gnaw- 

 ing quadrupeds or rodents, and 

 the skull has a remarkable super- 

 ficial resemblance to that of such 

 a member of that order as the 

 beaver. The wombats are con- 

 fined to Australia and Tasmania. 

 The bandicoots are rather slender 

 limbed, burrowing marsupials, of 

 moderate size, with more or less 

 narrow and pointed mouths; they 

 live naturally on roots, but are 

 verv destructive to grain and 



^ o 



other crops in agricultural dis- 

 tricts. In their range they extend 

 nearly over the whole of Aus- 

 tralia and Tasmania, and several 

 species inhabit New Guinea. The 

 family Dasynridtc, comprising the 

 native cats and tiger-cats, the Tas- 

 manian devil, the thylacine or 



marsupial wolf, and the banded ant-eater, contains all the truly flesh-eating Australian 

 marsupials, together with a number of small forms which are more insectivorous than 

 carnivorous. These marsupial Carnhora have teeth adapted to the nature of their food, 

 and are distinguished by the swiftness and agility of their movements. The native cats 

 are small cat-like animals. The Tasmanian devil is of about the same height and length 

 as the domestic cat, but is a great deal broader and stronger, and implacably savage. 

 The thylacine, marsupial wolf, or Tasmanian tiger, as it is variously termed, is the largest 

 of the carnivorous marsupials, being of about the size of a retriever ; it is clog-like in 



THE KMERAI.l) BIRD OF PAKADIM. 



