OF THE WOMBAT, KOALA, AND PUALANGERS, 895 



break up the series of fundamental characters uniting the Koala 

 and Wombat. 



2. Phascolarctos is united to Phascolomys by characters Avliose 

 impoi'tance far outweighs the resemblances between the former 

 and the Phalangeridae. The major ones enumerated on page 892 

 are regarded as of value by anatomists and evolutionists. 



3. The chnracters peculiar to Phascolarctos are not sufficiently 

 important to place it in a separate family. But they are useful 

 foi" distinguishing it from Phascolomys in the family Phasco- 

 larctidee. 



4. I agree with Weber and Winge that there should be only 

 two families, one for the Phalangers, and one for the Koala and 

 Wombat ; and there are characters of sufficient importance to 

 place each of the animals in the latter in a separate subfamily. 

 My views are tabulated thus : — 



Family PHASC'OLARCTIDiE. 



Subfamily 1. Phascolarctin^. 

 2. Phascolgmyin^, 



Family Phalangerid^. 



Subfamily 1. Phalangerin^. 



Phalanger, Trichositrits. 

 Subfamily 2. PsEUDOCHiRiNiE. 



Pseudochirios. 



5. If one simpl}'' enumerates chai-acters and strikes a balance 

 he will obtain one form of classification, but if he considers each 

 feature and tries to detect the part it plays in the animal 

 oeconoray his results will be quite different. They will lead him 

 to place the Koala and Wombat in the same family. 



Bibliography. 



1. Bensley, B. a. — " On the Evolution of the Australian Marsu- 



pialia." Trans. Linn. Soc. London (2), ix, pp. 83-217. 



2. Cunningham, D. J. — Yoy. H.M.S. 'Challenger,' Zool. v.pt. xvi. 



pp. 1-92 (1882). 



3. Forbes, W. A. — "On some Points in the Anatomy of the 



Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus)." P. Z. S. 1881, pp. 180-195. 



4. Gregory, W. K. — " The Orders of Mammals." Bull. Amer. 



Mus. Nat. Hist, xxvii. pp. 1-524 (1910). 



5. Macalister, a. — " On the Muscular Anatomy of the Koala." 



Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. iii. p. 329 (1872). 



6. Meckel, J. F.— Anat. Comp. vol. vi. pp. 166, 167. 



7. Osgood, W.— Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Chicago, Publication 207, 



Zool. Seiues, vol. xiv. no. 1 (1921). 



8. Owen, R. — " On the Osteology of the Marsupialia." Trans. 



Zool. Soc. vol. ii. pp. 379-408 (1841). 



