THE FLYING-SQUIRRELS OF ASIA AND AFRICA 243 
colonists) of Australia, since in one respect they present 
a curious analogy with the flying-squirrels of the Old 
World. It need hardly be said that these Australian 
flying-phalangers are true marsupials, with a dentition 
resembling that of the ordinary phalangers, or, as they 
are locally called, opossums. The larger flying-phalangers, 
which constitute the genus Pefaurus, are characterised by 
the full development of the parachute and the rounded 
bushy tail. As in the case of the Asiatic flying squirrels, 
we are unable to point out the non-volant type of 
phalanger from which they are descended. 
On the other hand, the beautiful pigmy flying-phalanger 
(Acrobates), which differs from the larger forms by the 
scantier development of its parachute, as well as by its 
tail being formed after the type of a feather—that is to 
say, being flattened, with a line of hair along each edge— 
is evidently descended from the non-flying feather-tailed 
phalanger (Distichurus), or the immediate ancestor of the 
latter. In this case, therefore, we have an exact parallelism 
to the descent of the flying representatives of the scale-tails 
from the non-flying Zenkerella. 
