112 THE FAUNA OF 



apparently recently taken to the trees, for they are 

 stated to be slow and clumsy climbers. In other 

 kangaroos the forehmbs are very short, in these forms 

 they are nearly as long as the hind ones, and the tail, 

 though not prehensile, is said to be used in climbing. 



Much more dej&nitely arboreal are the phalangers, 

 closely related animals, but as well fitted for life in the 

 trees as most kangaroos are for hfe on the ground. In 

 the forests of Western Austraha occurs the little Tar- 

 sipes, a shrew-like animal with a prehensile tail, which 

 sucks honey from flowers with its worm-like tongue, 

 and presumably, like humming birds, obtains insects 

 also in this way. In North Austraha and in the islands 

 of the Indo-Malayan region is found the spotted cuscus 

 (Phalanger maculatus). As in the other members of 

 the phalanger family the great toe can be opposed to 

 the others, and the long tail is very markedly pre- 

 hensile. Cuscuses feed upon leaves and fruit, but like 

 so many of the forest animals will also take birds and 

 other small creatures. There are several species, mostly 

 about the size of a cat. The feet are naked beneath. 



Just as we have fljong squirrels among the rodents 

 and flying shrews .among insectivores, so among the 

 phalangers (Fig. 33) we have also flying tjrpes. The 

 great flying phalanger {Petauroides volans) of Queens- 

 land and Victoria has both a flying membrane and 

 a prehensile tail ; the squirrel flying phalanger or sugar- 

 squirrel {Petaurus sciureus) has a bushy squirrel-like 

 tail, not prehensile, and a weU-developed parachute. 

 It occurs in Eastern Austraha. The pygmy flying 

 phalanger {Acrobates pygmaea), in which the total length 

 of head and body does not exceed about 2^ inches, 

 has a long tail with the hairs arranged at the sides to 

 imitate the vane of a feather, and a shghtly developed 



