3/0 D*. F. A. JENTINK. MAMMALS. 



collected by Bernstein in Waigëu, viz. : greatest breadth 57 mm., meanwhile its upper molar 

 séries has the usual length of 26 m M. — in this skull the molars also are very used and the 

 sutures almost invisible. I did not point out the thing with the intention of proposing new 

 spécifie names for thèse Schouten Islands and Waigëu-specimens, convinced as I am that 

 they, as well as the larger New Guinea-specimens, are offsprings from animais once inhabiting 

 the large continent of which at présent we see the scattered "débris", but I did so in order 

 to fix the attention upon the very important and interesting question, namely in how far 

 perhaps other kind of food, an island climate and long isolation may hâve influenced, and 

 this is a question not to solve in our Muséums and on dead material, but a matter ofinterest- 

 ful observations to future naturalists in loco. 



I now wish to say a word concerning the not hairy parts of the tail of our animal ; 

 it generally has been called naked, beset with callosities, with fleshy pads a. s. o., but it never 

 has been practically studied and described. And it merits fully a closer examination as being 

 at the same time a climbing, a supporting and a préhensile organ. A study of this organ will 

 show that it is not naked, not beset with callosities and not with fleshy pads. The not furry 

 underpart of the tail is practically fiât, slightly concave in its middle, the proximal half is 

 beset with large tubercles, the distal half not ; thèse tubercles hâve an oval shape and are 

 surrounded by a ring of smaller ones, of which the proximal ones are smallest sized; there 

 also are small and large tubercles ; each large tubercle bears a transversal harsh half oval kind 

 of small nail, so placed that the edge is directed towards the body of the animal (fig. 11); of 

 such large tubercles there are several in a row, meanwhile the rows alternate, so that we see 

 hère the type of an excellent climbing organ as well as an organ for support, the tail always 

 being used in a curling condition and the above described small nail-like organs therefore 

 standing in a somewhat erect position towards the object roundabout it curies itself. The 

 mentioned rows continue on the sides of the tail, abruptedly stopping where the furry upper 

 part of the tail begins, and further along the sides and upperparts of the tail, however in 

 such a manner that the large tubercles diminish in size and loose their sharp edges towards 

 the extremity of the tail, meanwhile finally the above mentioned wall of small tubercles is 

 wholly absent. Hère and there some small hairs are spread between the large tubercles. The 

 distal under part of the tail is divided by transverse furrows in a number of parts, not unlike 

 the proglottids of a tapeworm ; thèse broad sections are clad with numerous parallel running 

 wrinkles, the margin of each wrinkle turned towards the extremity of the tail; we meet hère 

 with the type of a very pliable excellent préhensile organ. This tail présents the following 

 number of vertebrae: thorac. 13, lumb. 6, sacral. 3 and caudales 30. 



14- Phalanger orientalis Pallas. 



a. young spécimen, Sëkâ, near mouth of Tami River, 5 May 1903. 



b. adult female, Manokwari, near Doré, June 1903. 



c. half grown maie, Tanah Merah Bay, died 1 August 1903. 



Thèse spécimens do not give rise to spécial observations. It is very likely that, consi- 

 dering the enormous size of New Guinea, there are to distinguish a lot of local forms of 

 orientalis, however I think we need larger collections, and I am of opinion that as yet it is 



