Lesson awrf Garnot, Voyage de la Coquille . 12i 



Cusc. viaculatus is the Cuscus macrourus, n. s., " corpore griseo, pilis 

 " longioribus nigris, et maculis sparsis brunneis. Capite fulvo, gulu 

 " auriculisque albis, Cauda robusta, longiore, cinerea. Abdomine 

 " albido. Manibus pedibusque nigrescentibus." In fur it resembles 

 some of the protean varieties of the preceding species, and approaches 

 nearly to the Phalangista Quoy, Quoy and Graim., which MM. Lesson 

 and Garnot are disposed to refer to the Citscus maculatus. But charac- 

 ters fully sufficient to authorise its separation are afforded by its size, two- 

 thirds smaller than that of the species just mentioned, its teeth being at 

 the same time those of an adult animal ; by the form of its head, which 

 has no concavity in its profile ; and by the developement of its tail com- 

 pared with its other proportions. The length of its body is twelve inches 

 and a half; that of its tail seventeen inches, of which scarcely seven 

 inches are naked. 



To a second section of the genus Ciiscus, " Auriculis distinctis, intiks 

 " nudis," is referred a third species described and figured as the Cuscus 

 alhus, " pilis in universum subalbis ; vittS. dorsali longitudinalique fulva. 

 " Auribus intus nudis, extra pilosis." It comprehends the Phalangista 

 alba and rubra, Geoff., being synonymous with the Didelphis orientalis, 

 Linn., and the Phal. cavifrons, Temm. 



Under the name of Kangurus Valabatiis, MM, Lesson and Garnot give 

 a description of the Ka7ig. bicolor of the Velins du Museum, the Kang. 

 Brunii, Desm., remarking that the species indicated by these names is 

 not the Didelphis Brunii of Gmelin, with the character of which it by 

 no means accords. The latter animal, for which the name of ^angrwrtis 

 veterum is provisionally proposed, was a native of the burning climate 

 of the Moluccas and of the northern part of New Guinea, while the 

 Oualabat, mistaken for it by M. Desmarest, inhabits in great profusion 

 the temperate neighbourhood of Sydney in New South Wales. The cha- 

 racter of the species is thus given ; " pilis supra brunneis, infra fulvis. 

 " Cauda longissima, ore, manibus, pedibus, et caudse parte superiore, 

 " aterrimis. Genis griseis ; auricularum pilis inferioribus croceis ;" and 

 the description of it, contained in the Mammalogie of M. Desmarest 

 under the name of Kang. Brunii, is praised as correct. An animal obtained 

 by the expedition in New Guinea is stated to have been very probably the 

 lost Didelphis Brunii, the Pelandoc or Aroe Rabbit. It was called bv 



