11. PHAIANGEE, 193 



11. PHALANGER. Type. 



Phalanger, StOrr, Prodr. MetJi. Mamm. p. 33 (1780) . . Ph. orientalis. 

 Phalanpista, E. Geoff. Bull. Soo. Philom. i. p. 106 



0.7m^ Pli. orientalis. 



Coescoes, Lac6p. MSm. Inst. iii. p. 491 (1801) Ph. orientalis. 



Balantia, III. Prodr. Syst. Mamm. p. 77 (1811) Ph. orientalis. 



Sipalus, O. Fisch. Zofign. ii. p. 581 (1813) Ph. orientalis. 



Cuscus (emend.), Less. Voy. Coquille, Zool. p. 150 (1826) Ph. orientalis. 

 Oeonyx, Temm. Mm. Mamm. i. p. 10 (1827) {nom. 



provis.) Ph. ursinus. 



Ailurops, Waffl. Syst. Amph. Saug. p. 26 (1830) Ph. ursinus. 



Eucuscus {suhg.), Gh-ay, P. Z. S. 1861, p. 316 Ph. ursinus. 



Spilocuseus (subg.), id. I. c Ph. maculatus. 



Strigocuscus (subg.), id. t. e. p. 819 Ph. celehensis. 



Size large or medium, form stout and clumsy. Fur thick and 

 woolly. Ears medium or short, hairy externally and also in some 

 species internally. Flanks without a flying-membrane. Fore toes , 

 subequal, their lengths in the following relative order — 4, 3, 5, 2, 1. 

 Claws long, stout, and curved. Palms and soles naked, striated, 

 the pads large, low, scarcely defined. Tail strong, its proximal 

 portion furry like the body, its terminal part naked all round, 

 smooth or granulated, coarsely wrinkled, markedly prehensile. 

 Mammae 4. 



Skull stout and strong. Muzzle very short and broad. Nasal 

 notch shallow or obsolete. Interorbital region variable. Palate 

 with large posterior vacuities. BuUse unswoUen, opaque. No 

 opening from masseteric fossa into inferior denttil canal. 



Dentition (generaUy) :-I. i^, C. -J, P. i^,±^, M. \±^^ 

 =16+4x2=40. 



Upper i.' nearly circular in section, not, or little^ flattened in front. 

 Canine either closely touching i.^ or, at most, projecting from the 

 bone about a millimetre behind it ; situated partly in front of the 

 premaxillo-maxiUary suture ; its length always exceeding that of i.^, 

 nearly invariably that of i.\ and often in old individuals twice that 

 of the latter tooth. P.' well-developed, double-rooted in Ph. ursinus, 

 single-rooted, as in all the allied genera, in the other species. P.' 

 minute, single-rooted, often absent altogether. P.* large and broad, 

 obliquely placed, with a sharp laterally grooved cutting-edge. 

 Molars quadricuspid, the pairs of cusps more or less united, and so 

 forming, on each tooth, two indistinct transverse ridges. Lower i.* 

 thick and strong ; minute intermediate teeth ranging from o to 

 five in number, usually two (presumably i.' and p.^) in Ph. ursinus, 

 maculatus, and celehensis, and three, (probably i.", p.^, and p.^) in 

 Ph. orientalis and ornatus. P.* with an oblique cutting-edge, 

 produced anteriorly into a high pointed cusp, considerably higher 

 than the, molars. Molars with distinct transverse ridges. 



Tooth-change weU developed, the milk p.* large and long- 

 persistent. 



Range. Austro-Malayan subregion, from Celebes to North 

 Queensland. 







