PHASCOLARCTOS FUSCUS. 295 



ing with the increased size of the molars, we find 

 in the skull evidences of greater strength in the 

 muscles, and especially in the great depth and thick- 

 ness of the rami of the lower jaw, the angle of which 

 is less twisted inwards than in other Marsupials. The 

 numher of teeth may be thus expressed : Incisors, 

 * ; canines, J: ; false molars, {'.\ ; true molars |ij 

 =30. The absence of tail in the Koala renders it 

 easily distinguishable from other Phalangistidce. 



KOALA. 



Phascolarctos fuscua. 

 PLATE XXXI. 



Phascolarctos fuscus, Desmarest. Dictionnaire des Sciences 

 Naturelles xxxix., p. 448. Mammalogie, p. 276, sp. 450. 



Lipums cinereus, Goldfuss. In Tois, 1819, p. 272. 



Koala, or Kola, of the Aborigines. Native Bear, or Monkey 

 of the Colonists. 



Ears broad, densely clothed with long fur both 

 externally and internally ; head rather short and 

 large ; muzzle naked not only at the tip, but a space 

 on the sides measuring nearly half an inch backwards 

 from the tip, and on the upper surface, measuring 

 more than an inch, is also destitute of hair, or at least 

 appears so, but to the touch the apparently naked 

 part has the texture of velvet, though less soft. The 

 fur of this animal is of an extremely compact woolly 

 character; its general colour is ashy- grey, but on the 

 under parts of the body it is white, with a faint dirty 



