ZOOLOGY. 



dage, being a winged membrane covered on the outside 

 with hair like the rest of the body, and reaching in a 

 square form from the toes of the fore leg to the hinder 

 one. By the spreading out of these, they can descend, 

 in the manner of a parachute, from branch to branch, but 

 at the same time they have no means to fly straight for- 

 wards. Of these families are various species of Didelphis, 

 Sciurus volans, Opossum. But it is not to be supposed 

 that all the animals which reside amongst the branches of 

 the trees are armed with these useful appendages of motion, 

 for the Koalo is wholly without them and seems to have 

 no other means than its claws, which are indeed powerful 

 and deeply hooked for the purposes of climbing or descent. 



The Koalo when fully grown is supposed to be about 

 two feet and a half in height. [Mr. Bullock possesses two 

 in his Museum, the smallest of these, it is imagined, is a 

 young one . ] The predominant colour of these animals is 

 a bright brown or snuff colour, but suddenly growing pale 

 towards the hinder parts or haunches. This animal, like 

 the Capibara and some other quadrupeds, is wholly Avithout 

 a tail, and indeed the possession of such an appendage, in 

 the mode of life which it enjoys, would be of little use, 

 but rather an annoyance, as it is sufficiently defended from 

 the flies by the length and thickness of its furry skin. The 

 ears are dark coloured, bushy and spreading ; it has four 

 teeth projecting in front, like those of the Rabbit ; but how 

 the grinders are situated or what is their number is not 

 hitherto known: The nose is rounded; the forelegs and 

 underside of the belly pale and ferruginous ; the eyes are 

 sharp and sparkling ; each fore foot has two thumbs and three 

 fingers, the latter conjoined; and the hinder foot has two 

 thumbs and two fingers, the latter conjoined ; which sin- 

 gular combination assists them very materially in clasp- 

 ing hold of the branches of the trees. 



