254 POUCHED MAMMALS. 



or medium-sized Australasian marsupials of arboreal habits, which are so closely 

 connected with the kangaroo tribe through the five-toed kangaroo as to render the 

 distinction between the two families a matter of some difficulty. 



The whole of these animals are characterised by their thick, woolly coats ; 

 and, with the single exception of the koala, they have long tails, which are 

 frequently endowed with the power of prehension. The fore and hind -limbs 

 instead of presenting the disproportionate relative lengths characterising most of 

 the kangaroos, are of the normal proportions ; and the front paws are provided 

 with five nearly equal-sized and clawed toes. The structure of the hind-feet is 

 essentially the same as in the five-toed kangaroo ; that is to say, there is a nailless 

 first toe which can be opposed to the others, while^the second and third are slender 

 and enclosed in a common skin. Whereas, however, in the five-toed kangaroos the 

 fourth toe is much longer and more powerful than all the others, in the phalangers 

 it is not much larger than the fifth. The whole group differs from the kangaroos 

 in the absence of any pit on the outer sides of the hinder portion of the lower jaw, 



as shown in the accompanying 

 figure of the skeleton ; while if 

 there is any perforation in this 

 portion of the jaw, it is extremely 

 minute. As regards the dentition, 

 there are always three pairs of 

 upper incisor teeth, of which the 

 first is elongated, and likewise a 



SKELETON AND JAWS OF PHALANGEE. Well - de Veloped tusk OF Canine J 



while in the lower jaw the single 



functional pair of incisors are large and pointed, although they lack the scissor-like 

 action characterising those of the kangaroos. In the adults there are usually five 

 functional cheek-teeth, of which the last four are molars, and the other the 

 permanent premolar. The premolar in each jaw has a tall cutting crown, set 

 obliquely to the line of the molars ; while the latter, of which the fourth may be 

 absent, have usually blunt tubercles on their crowns, although they may be of a 

 cutting type. In young animals there are two milk -molars in advance of the first 

 molar in each jaw ; and between the first of these and the functional front teeth 

 there occur several minute teeth in each jaw, very variable in number and quite 

 useless, which it is impossible to name correctly, several of these rudimentary 

 teeth usually persisting throughout life. While some of the phalangers are mainly 

 or exclusively herbivorous, others are more or less omnivorous ; and it is in this 

 family alone among Marsupials that we meet with species endowed with the power 

 of spurious flight. 



Long-snouted The elegant little creature known as the long-snouted phalanger 



Phalanger. (Tarsipes rostratus), may be compared in form and size to the com- 

 mon shrew ; and is the sole representative of a special subfamily of the phalangers. 

 In spite, however, of this superficial resemblance to a shrew, the creature is a true 

 marsupial, the female having a well-developed pouch for the young. Externally, 

 the most characteristic feature of this animal is the extremely long and pointed 

 muzzle, in which the opening of the mouth is very small. From this tiny mouth 



