148 MARSUPIALIA 
out laterally, owing to the numerous air-cells situated in the 
substance of the squamosal. 
The Phalangers are interesting from an historical point of 
view, since the Gray Cuscus (Phalanger orientalis) was the first of 
the Marsupials of the eastern hemisphere brought to the notice of 
Europeans, having been described in a work published at Leyden 
in 1611, from an account of a specimen seen at Amboyna during 
the third expedition of Admiral Van der Hagen. 
The present family corresponds to the Dasyuride among the 
Fic. 46.—Tarsipes rostratus. From Gould. 
Polyprotodonts as presenting, on the whole, the most generalised 
types of the suborder. The existing forms may be divided into 
three subfamilies. 
Subfamily Tarsipedinze.—Cheek-teeth almost rudimentary and 
variable in number. Tongue long, slender, pointed, and very ex- 
tensile. Tail long. Ceacum absent. 
Tarsipes.\—So named from some supposed resemblance of its 
foot to that of the Lemurine genus Tarsius; but it must be remarked 
that it has none of the peculiar elongation of the caleaneum and 
navicular so characteristic of that genus, Head with elongated 
* Gervais and Verraux, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1842, p.1. 
