16 Original Articles. [Jan., 



allied to the latter by many characters, and amongst others by the 

 absence of a tail, which distinguishes it from the rest of its family. 

 In Phalangista, discus, and Dromicia, the more typical forms of the 

 Phalangistidae, which next follow, the tail is not only well-developed 

 but of vital importance to the animal, being used as a prehensile 

 organ. The Flying Phalangers of the genera Petarurus, Belideus, 

 and Acrobates, do not employ their caudal appendages in the same 

 way. But this organ which is much elongated in all these groups, and 

 densely clothed with hair, serves, along with the membrane extended 

 between the fore and hind legs, in the manner of the Flying Squirrels 

 (Pteromys), to support the animal in the air when descending from 

 the top of one tree to the base of another. One more very singular 

 little animal must be enumerated before we leave the Phalanger 

 family — the Tarsipes rostratus — small in size but great in interest, 

 even among the many abnormal forms of this wonderful land. The 

 Tarsipes is of the size and general form of a mouse, but " with a long 

 slender pointed muzzle," and the " nails of the toes for the most part 

 embedded in the upper surface of the expanded fleshy pads with 

 which they are terminated," thus affording some resemblance to the 

 Tarsius spectrum of the Indian Archipelago, whence its name is de- 

 rived. Another peculiarity of the Tarsipes is that its food appears to 

 be exclusively honey — no other substance having been found in the 

 stomachs of the specimens examined, and its long and slender tongue 

 being obviously adapted, like the bill of the Humming-bird, and the 

 brush-tongue of the Lories, for collecting such food. 



The Perainelidae or Bandicoots -the fourth family of Australian 

 Marsupials — have teeth adapted to an insect diet , thus leading off 

 towards the truly carnivorous group of Dasyuridas, although we know 

 from the records of trustworthy observers that some of the species 

 feed more or less upon vegetable substances. Such is certainly 

 the case with the Perogalea lagotis, or root-feeding Dalgyte, of Western 

 Australia, which is abundant over the grassy plains of that colony, 

 and from its burrowing habits and large hare-like ears, is commonly 

 known as the " Native Babbit." Of the typical genus Perameles, 

 some six or seven forms are known, which are distributed all over 

 Australia, each colony having its peculiar species. They are all 

 purely terrestrial animals, some inhabiting the densest scrubs, and 

 others the hot stony ridges of the upland plains. The only remaining 

 member of the family is the anomalous Chceropus castanotis, which is 

 confined to the hard stony grounds of the interior of the Southern 

 colonies. Although agreeing in essential structure with the Perame- 

 lidae, the Chceropus differs from its nearest allies, as well as from every 

 other known Mammal, in its peculiar feet, on the fore-limbs only two 

 toes being present, and on the hind limbs but one fully developed, and 

 useful for locomotion. 



The Dasyuridae, which next follow, are the representatives of the 

 Carnivora, in the Marsupial series, and as regards their largest and 

 best developed forms are fully competent to take that place in the 

 economy of Australian nature, which in most countries is filled by 

 species of the genera Cam's and Felis. Before, however, we mention 



