PHALANGERS. 255 



can be protruded at will a long, slender, and highly extensile tongue, sharply 

 pointed at its extremity. The rather small ears are rounded and clothed with 

 very short hairs ; and the beady black eyes are small and prominent. The feet 

 are of the same general type as in the typical phalangers; but from the small 

 size of their nails, which are mostly emb3dded in fleshy parts, they appear more 

 adapted for grasping small twigs than for ascending tree-trunks. The tail slightly 



THE LONG-SNOUTED PHALANGER (5 liat. size). After Gould. 



exceeds the length of the head and body, and is cylindrical and tapering, with 

 but a scanty clothing of extremely short hairs, and endowed with prehensile 

 power. The fur is short, close, and somewhat coarse. The colour is subject to 

 considerable individual variation, but its general tint is grey, more or less suffused 

 with rusty red above and yellow beneath. A black line runs from the head along 

 the middle of the back to the root of the tail ; and on either side of this line are 

 two greyish bands, each bordered by a rusty brown stripe passing imperceptibly 

 into the rufous of the flanks. The upper part of the head is brown, passing into 



