Quadrupeds. 6955 



curved inwards at the tip, and is devoid of hairs upon and under that 

 portion. 



The skin on each side of the flank, near the hind thighs, 1 observed 

 to be somewhat loose and extensible, and thus, perhaps, iudicating 

 some rudiment of the loose lateral skin, which is so conspicuous in 

 the %ing opossums. 



In colour, the upper portion of the body is gray, mixed with some 

 brownj and black hairs ; the neck, breast, belly, and inside of the legs 

 arej'ellow, with a rusty red spot and line down the breast, which ex- 

 tends under the forelegs. The cheeks are orange. Tail thick, black 

 and hairy. Insides of the ears pinkish, nearly bare of hairs. 



Length from the nose to the ear about 3^^ inches ; and that of the 

 ear about 2f inches ; width of the same in the middle If inch. 



This male specimen appeared to be fully grown ; but as the teeth 

 were little worn and the claws so sharp, he was evidently of no age — 

 the general appearance of the animal being not unlike a small gray 

 fox, though less sharp across the muzzle and with shorter legs. I 

 found in Bewick's 'History of Quadrupeds,' (Edit. 4, 1800), p. 435, a 

 species of marsupial from New South Wales, called the " vulpine 

 opossum," which in dentition and description seems to agree with it. 

 He describes it thus: — " Upper part of the body grisly, consisting of 

 dusky, reddish and white hairs; the under parts light tawny, two- 

 thirds of the tail black, a blackish space round each eye, and long 

 black'whiskers." 



And in Cuvier's ' Regne Animal,' the same animal is, I conclude, 

 that named " Le Phalanger Renard " {Phalangista milpina). There 

 is, however, another species of Phalangista which is likewise indige- 

 nous in New South Wales, called P. fuliginosa, or the " sooty pha- 

 langista," which, in some characters and dimensions, resembles it. 



Bewick has not given a figure of the " vulpine opossum;" and 

 I must therefore wait until I visit the British Museum and Zoological 

 Gardens, in November, to determine with which of the two species it 

 is to be identified ; but from the descriptions that I have as yet seen, 

 it appears to correspond best with the fox-like Phalangista, which I 

 believe is commonly called, in New South Wales, the "brush-tailed 

 opossum." 



A bird-stuffer, at my neighbouring town of Stockton, has preserved 

 the skin ; but, as it was not finished and sufficiently dried, I could not 

 bring it with me to exhibit to the Section. 



Some of the Phalangistae, being chiefly vegetable feeders, are eaten 

 by the natives of Australia : I inquired of the stufl'er, if the flesh was 



