274 MR. E. R. ALSTON ON THE DENTITION OF CUSCUS. [Feb. 19, 



them near the beach. The natives procure the young birds and tie 

 them by the leg and feed them till they are tame. Afterwards they let 

 them loose, and they go out to sea to get their food, and return to 

 their perches in the villages at intervals. 



I cannot say to what species the Carpophaga is referable, not 

 having seen it myself. Mr. Jansen procured young ones in May and 

 June ; but he, thinking they were the same as the Pigeon found in 

 Samoa (C. pacifica), did not preserve any specimens. Natives of the 

 Ellice Islands who were in Samoa when I left there, told me their 

 pigeon is like the Samoan species, " except that it is smaller, owing 

 to its food being less plentiful." That is their own explanation of 

 the cause of difference. They say it feeds almost entirely on the fruit 

 of the native fig (Ficus, sp.). They also tell me it is not gregarious 

 in those small islands as it is in Samoa during part of the year. As 

 far as they know it does not migrate, but may always be found 

 sparsely distributed over the islands. 



So far as I have been able to learn, no Pigeon occurs in the Gilbert 

 Islands ; but a Carpophaga occurs in the Union or Tokelau Islands. 

 Mr. Jansen tells me that all the birds he procured in the Ellice Is- 

 lands, which are included in the foregoing list, are found also in the 

 Union Islands. This may probably be considered nearly a complete 

 list of the avifauna of those small atolls. 



6. Note on the Dentition of Cuscus. 

 By Edward R. Alston, F.L.S., F.Z.S.,&c. 



[Received January 25, 1878.] 



In reporting last year on the Rev. G. Brown's collection from 

 New Ireland and the vicinity 1 , I observed that the two specimens of 

 Cuscus contained in it differed from the characters usually given of 

 C. orientalis in having but two small teeth behind the large lower 

 incisors, and in wanting the small extra upper premolar. At the 

 same time I corroborated Mr. Waterhouse's remark 2 that the num- 

 ber of functionless teeth is not always trustworthy in this group, 

 and observed that it must be left to future investigation to show 

 whether the New-Ireland Phalangers were or were not constant in 

 the peculiarity of their teeth. 



Mr. Sclater has now kindly placed in my hands a second small 

 collection received from Mr. Brown, consisting of one example of 

 Mus browni, Alst., one of TJromys rufescens, Alst., ten of Belideus 

 artel, Gould, and eight of Cuscus orientalis, Pall. All these species 

 were represented in Mr. Brown's former consignment ; but the series 

 of the last-named now available enables me to decide the question as 

 to its dentition. 



In four of these eight specimens the extra upper premolar is 



1 P. Z. 8. 1877. p. 126. - Nat. Hi*t. Bfamm. i. p. 266. 



