THE KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN BEAR. 



467 



quality seems to be really excellent. Some few experiments have been made upon the 

 capabilities of this fur, and, as far as has yet been accomplished, with very great success. 

 Good judges have declared that articles which had been made from this fur presented a 

 great resemblance to those which had been made from Angola wool, but appearedto 

 be of superior quality. The hat-makers have already discovered the value of the fur, 

 and are in the habit of employing it in their trade. 



The natives employ the skin of the " opossum " in the manufacture of their scanty 

 mantles, as well as for sundry other purposes, and prepare the skins in a rather ingenious 

 manner. As soon as the skin is stripped from the animal's body, it is laid on the ground, 

 with the hairy side downwards, and secured from shrinking by a number of little pegs 

 which are fixed around its edges. The inner side is then continually scraped with a shell, 

 and by degrees the skin becomes perfectly clean and pliable. When a sufficient number 

 of skins are prepared, they are ingeniously sewn together with thread that is made from 

 the tendons of the kangaroo, which, when dried, can be separated into innumerable 





VULPINE 



vulpina. 



filaments. A sharpened piece of bone stands the sable tailor in place of a needle. From 

 the skin of the same animal is also formed the " kumeel," or badge of manhood, a slight 

 belt, which no one is permitted to wear until he has been solemnly admitted among the 

 assembly of men. 



In its color, the Vulpine Phalangist is rather variable, but the general hue of its fur 

 is a grayish-brown, sometimes tinted with a ruddy hue. The tail is long, thick, and 

 woolly in its character, and in color it resembles that of the body, with the exception of 

 the tip, which is nearly black. The dimensions of an old male are given by Mr. Bennett 

 as follows : Total length, two feet seven inches ; the head being four inches in length, and 

 the tail nearly a foot. 



THE QUAINT-LOOKING animal which is popularly known by the native name of KOALA, 

 or the AUSTRALIAN BEAR, is of some importance in the zoological world, as it serves to 

 fill up the gulf that exists between the phalangistines and the kangaroos. 



It has been well remarked that this creature, arboreal in its habits, and really ursine 

 in its general aspect, is the representative of the sun-bears of the Indian Archipelago, 

 or of the sloths of America. The Koala is nocturnal in its habits, and is not very 

 frequently found, even in the localities which it most affects. It is not nearly so widely 



