146 The Official Guide to the 
MANIAN WompaT has a singularly ursine appearance, 
and its habits are somewhat similar to those of that 
family. It is entirely a vegetable feeder of nocturnal 
habits. ‘The various species, three in number, are all 
confined to Australia and Tasmania. 
We now come to the family of PHALANGERIDA, of 
which we have four species. Flower and Lydekker 
thus describe them. ‘“ Phalangers are small woolly- 
coated animals, with long, powerful, and often pre- 
hensile tails, large claws, and, as in the American 
Opossums, with opposite nailless great toes. ‘Their 
expression seems in the day to be dull and sleepy, 
but by night they appear to decidedly greater 
advantage. They live mostly upon fruit, leaves, and 
blossoms, although some few feed habitually upon 
insects, and all relish, when in confinement, an 
occasional bird or other small animal. Several of 
the Phalangers possess flying membranes stretched 
between their fore and hind limbs, by the help of 
which they can make long and sustained leaps 
through the air, like the Flying Squirrels . . 
The Gray Cuscus (P. orientalis) was the first of ‘the 
Marsupials of the eastern hemisphere brought to the 
motice of Europeans. . . ..° in. 1611.7) ie 
collection will be noticed the VULPINE PHALANGER 
(Trichosurus vulpecula) ; COOK’S PHALANGER (Pseudo- 
chirus pereerinus), which was discovered by Captain 
Cook at Endeavour River on his first voyage; and 
two of the FLyInG PHALANGERS (Fe/aurus sciureus), 
and the pretty lttle SHORT-HEADED PHALANGER 
(Petaurus breviceps). 
The last family of this remarkable order is that of 
Macropopip#, the Kangaroos, a well-marked and 
numerous group, consisting of a large number of 
species, the great majority of which are found 
in Australia and Tasmania, but they also occur 
